Well, I had to play this, so I played a little in the last 30 minutes. Mainly with the default preset. The first impression is of a very warm and intimate sound, maybe a bit bright in the higher notes, but mostly due to the touch response, not because of the actual frequencies. I put the N1X to a hard touch response to tame that down but it affected the entire keyboard. I will have to play more with the touch response. As a side note, when working on the Cybrid, I noticed that if I use the same velocity measurement across the entire keyboard, this would make the higher notes louder than they should be. I believe the reason for this is, it's easier to throw a light hammer with a higher velocity, however on a real piano that won't result in louder notes because the higher velocity is offset by a lighter hammer (hence the momentum is the same which is what translates into note energy) and also the higher strings are shorter and under higher tension which means they are more rigid and would require higher energy to generate louder volume (might be wrong but the general consideration is the same). Ultimately I had to gradually compensate the velocity curve on the Cybrid and reduce the produced MIDI velocity from the same measured physical hammer velocity the higher on the keyboard I am. Well, that's with Garritan CFX. I'm not sure how other manufacturers program their touch response to sound volume but I've had this problem with Pianoteq and now with the Modern U.
All that being said, it's a subtle effect, I think I can live with it. Another observation I have is the pedaling and re-pedaling are slightly abrupt and unforgiving compared to the N1X and Garritan CFX (with my "fix"). I couldn't always blend between harmonies and create a nice legato melody. But I may have to see the half-pedaling setting.
I enabled the sordino samples to be triggered by the left pedal and it was a fairytale experience! Perfect for lyrical and dreamy pieces.
For now, it seems like a nice piano I can use from time to time. I also purchased it because I will need it for some modern type of music where an upright sound works better and where I don't care too much about very precise half-pedaling, etc., so it's definitely a keeper 🙂
