VI Labs: Modern U Review

Well, as we say in Bulgaria, "you can't carry an awl in a cloth bag", meaning I can't wait until my vacation and decided to record something with the Modern U. I made my own patch by mixing two of the microphones, applying some EQ to tame down the highs, using custom half-pedal values to avoid the abrupt pedaling (it's pretty good now!), etc and then recorded a Scriabin piece I'm currently learning and still playing from the score and towards the end it's too sloppy and I'm dragging it too much while seeking for the notes... And because I've been so busy at work, I have a total of 1 hour at the piano for the last 2 weeks 🙁

Anyway, here's the recording:

CyberGene I'm dragging it too much while seeking for the notes...

You're being too harsh on you. I am often sloppy, dragging it too much and seeking for the notes myself -- if in that condition I were playing 10% of the quality you are playing, I'd consider myself and accomplished pianist.

On the sound, I can't comment because the kids have taken all the headphones and left me only with computer speakers for now (I could use the NU1 speakers, but I'd need to boot another computer and don't have time now). If you ever record this same piece again with another virtual piano, please share so we can compare apples-to-apples.

In any case, thanks for sharing!

CyberGene decided to record something with the Modern U.

Very beautiful song and nicely played.

I'm curious, since you grew up playing an upright, does the Modern U provide the illusion of actually sitting behind an upright when you're playing it?

In my limited experience, it seems to me that there wouldn't be much difference playing the Modern U compared to an actual Yamaha U3. Of course, I could be way off, that's why I'm interested in your experienced opinion.

God Bless,
David

David B it’s a very familiar experience indeed. My upright is a rather short one and doesn’t sound as rich and “in tune”. If a real U3 sounds as good as the Modern U, I’d love to have one.

That being said it’s an upright sound and I prefer Garritan CFX for those commercial-grade polished grand piano recordings 😉

CyberGene That being said it’s an upright sound and I prefer Garritan CFX for those commercial-grade polished grand piano recordings 😉

Yeah, I prefer the full bass response of VSL's Bösenderfer Imperial over the diminished bass of the Modern U upright sound, but in terms of realism, I give the Modern U the advantage because it doesn't have to reproduce the massive power of a concert grand (which is hard/impossible) to do with speakers. However, reproducing the realism of an upright can be more convincing with good speakers.

God Bless,
David

To all of you out there, better pianists than me (easy feat, so nothing to brag about😊): are there technical characteristics (pedaling, staccato, light notes, ???) that are better captured in the Modern U compared to garritan cfx or synchron engine?

My turn to share experience.

Use case: play in the headphones, as similar as it gets to the actual upright I'm sitting in front of (Petrof P118).

Mission almost accomplished. It's of course a totally different instrument, but sounds like an upright. In my memory, U3 was like a whole lot bigger and much more powerful, but probably it's not fair to compare an instrument to its recording played over the headphones.

Here my settings, should anyone be interested:

Velocity curve is the default one, just the bend on the gain response is set to 0.1

Cheers

Mike

vagfilm

I also own the Garritan CFX, but it's a huge grand, not really comparable to Modern U.

Sitting in front of an upright, a captured upright feels more real in all regards😀

Garritan CFX sounds too funny, to play scales and the whole theoretical stuff on, couldn't stop laughing, so switched to Modern U.

MHirsch My turn to share experience.

That's a very nice mic combination. The mono mic along with the -1 timbre shift really tones down the brightness and shimmer in the upper range, which I've always felt was a little too much.

I've never experimented the the mono mic and I'm really liking your settings. Thank you for sharing.

God Bless,
David

David B That's a very nice mic combination. The mono mic along with the -1 timbre shift really tones down the brightness and shimmer in the upper range, which I've always felt was a little too much.

Ohh, that’s also my main gripe which I tried to fix with the EQ. I didn’t even try the timbre shift because I intuitively thought it would be something weird. I’ll definitely try it. What does it do exactly? Is there a user manual, I couldn’t find one.

CyberGene intuitively thought it would be something weird

Hello,

Same here, but now I might give that shift another chance too.

If I am not mistaken, such a shift setting on many piano VSTis means picking the next-higher or next-lower (or a distance of more keys depending on the +/- number set) key's samples and then re-pitching those to the actually played key's pitch. Which I see as more artificiality introduced and therefore I initially steered clear of it. But who knows, maybe it works differently in Modern U (and/or the underlying method of the UVI Workstation).

I believe there is no user manual. There is a very elaborate description on the Modern U product page, I reckon (VI Labs thinks) that doubles as a manual.

Cheers and happy playing,

HZ

Maybe this helps a bit with settings

https://www.vilabsaudio.com/download/True%20Keys%20Manual%20V1.pdf

CyberGene Scriabin

Hello,

Just listened to your recording. As a "self-taught pianist" you should pat yourself on the back a little more! 👏

And, doesn't it sound lovely and realistic? Wonderful. I'd like to see a screenshot of the settings you used there. Your recording also shows (near the end) that the bass/tenor regions have more difficulty resolving the chords in such a way that the individual notes in the chords keep standing their own ground. This is something I also ran into playing Modern U. But -- I should add -- on real-world uprights that usually is just like that, so I don't mean to point out a fault here.

Cheers and have a good weekend,

HZ

HZPiano
Thanks for the nice words!

The final few chords I played with the sordino samples assigned to the soft pedal which is why it’s not very distinct but in all fairness Scriabin just put a lot of notes in a low register which is a tricky situation for any piano.

I’ll share my multi and also screenshots.

CyberGene The final few chords I played with the sordino samples assigned to the soft pedal which is why it’s not very distinct but in all fairness Scriabin just put a lot of notes in a low register which is a tricky situation for any piano.

Ah, I see!

Cheers,

HZ

David B

Well, I can explain my choice 😀

Main mic is the player one, kinda makes sense if you sit in front of a piano:

"This is the most natural mic setup in the library and really does emulate the experience of sitting at this piano, with just the right balance of direct and room detail along with a natural stereo image. This is the go-to classical mic."

Then you definitely want to hear the soundboard:

"A unique perspective away from the hammers capturing only the piano's soundboard up close with a wide image, the tone is warm and immersive, a bit 'woody' with a broader hammer attack."

The mono one sounds very important:

"Positioned just above the action front and center, this mic captures everything, the warmth and detail all with a modern edge."

As for timbre, I've seen a description of what it does somewhere, so turned it a bit down.

And eliminated the pedal noise, that's really disturbing, the piano has to be in a very bad shape to make noises like that…

CyberGene

What does it do exactly?

Timbre Shift: Shifts the timbre by pitching samples upon playback, resulting in a warmer sound with negative values and a brighter sound with higher values. Interesting results, especially suitable for soft playing.

Found it here.

The interesting thing about timbre shift with VSL is that you lose notes on the piano depending on which direction you shift in. For example, -1 will drop the highest C, -2 will drop the highest C and B, etc. That's why I never use it with VSL products. However, zero notes are dropped with the way VILabs has implemented it.

I really don't understand what's happening with timbre shift. It obviously changes the tone color, but other than that, I can't say what's going on. It's definitely better implemented with VILab's software.

God bless,
David

Weird. I hoped the terminology would be the same…

Another timbre related blog.

David B CyberGene decided to record something with the Modern U.

Very beautiful song and nicely played.

Yes, I listened to it more carefully and it's wonderful. I understand one does never like his or her own voice, but it's not sloppy at all!

David B In my limited experience, it seems to me that there wouldn't be much difference playing the Modern U compared to an actual Yamaha U3.

I never played a real modern Yamaha U-something. The sound of this U is very different from any other upright that I've owned or played. Well, I guess because most of them were not modern 🤣

My take on the instrument is that it's nice to have a variation, but it's not something that I'd long to have (or buy) per se. Simply my opinion, obviously!