VI Labs: Modern U Review

HZPiano I've got Tone at -5 now

Hi @johanibraaten,

See this post and maybe you can try that as well.

Cheers and happy fine-tuning,

HZ

Yes, I think the tone may be the better alternative to the EQ FX I used.

HZPiano See this post and maybe you can try that as well.

Oh, thanks. With all the love the modern U gets here I’m becoming more and more certain that it’s me that’s faulty and not the modern U😊. May I ask what you mean with “layer instances”. You may have wrote it earlier but I can’t find it.

HZPiano Inspired by the microphone pairs used in sampling Modern U…

Hi @johanibraaten, I'd say neither you nor Modern U is faulty 😉.

I probably used hazy 🌥️ terms -- follow the link and read from that sentence onwards to see what I tried to refer to.

Cheers and happy experimenting,

HZ

I experimented today and mixed the player mics (binaural?) with the room ones, as well as toned down the treble the proper way: through the main "tone" knob. It's a VERY dark and intimate upright sound. Here's a demo I recorded. Guess what I am recording this time? Yes, you guessed right, Scriabin! 🤣

CyberGene player mics (binaural?)

Hello,

As I understand it, the player mics are a pair and are on a stand a little above the player position height, just as depicted in the on-screen graphics.

That would not "literally" be binaural.

But as you like it, who cares? I'm just being pedantic here 😌.

Cheers and happy Scriabin,

HZ

CyberGene Scriabin

Hello,

Just played it through my hi-fi. Whoops that does sound dark! Yet very intimate and musical.

(And yes, I'm now happy with the Tone knob finding too).

I just love that Modern U (and may have said that sometime before? 🤭).

I bought the NI Noire BF offer a few days ago and am now in the process of taming it into usefulness, but in terms of authenticity it will never become a Modern U.

Cheers and happy playing,

HZ

Here's the settings I used:

The room mic is at -5.81dB. For the touch response I'm using "heavy 1" together with the default touch response of the N1X.

Hello,

I just tried practising a piece (in a rusty state of practise) first using a "pure" Noire (which just isn't pure, however I tweak/tune it) and then on the Modern U.

The Modern U really is pure and authentic, and as such is a great piano for learning and practising.

I don't think Noire could ever reach that. It is/stays more of a toy, even though it is a fun toy to go nuts with e.g. its sub bass and extreme tonal depths. It inspires other improvisations, more a piano-borders-on-atmospheric-synth. Where (sampled) resonances on the U sound so sweet and lovely, I find them ugly-ish on Noire (where they are modeled).

Cheers and happy authenticity,

HZ

HZPiano the first true love is always the best and can't be easily, if ever, replaced 😍

Jose EB5AGV the first true love is always the best and can't be easily, if ever, replaced 😍

😀 I like that. My first significant crush dates decades back and we're still dear friends. And this time I'm not talking pianos ☺️.

Cheers and happy special feelings,

HZ

HZ: you were warned about how dark is noire (pun intended)... Very cinematic, but the exact opposite of Modern U or the VSLs...

vagfilm HZ: you were warned

I was!

Curiosity killed the… eh… whatever it killed.

I got into piano from my first instrumental love, which is the double bass. Learning melody and harmony on piano makes for a better understanding of and feel for the specific role of the bass. Or so Rufus Reid says and he's right of course. I can't have one (a double bass) in my current personal situation (am building an electric surrogate but that takes ages) but still want to get on with some bass as well. That is what tipped me into Noire more than other qualities (or lack thereof) of it.

Cheers and happy Jazz,

HZ

HZ:in my non-expert opinion, NI pianos are hopeless, in the same way as Pianoteq - are almost there, definitely not bad, but there are better options. And you don't need a second not-great piano.
My suggestion: let all BF offers expire, and then put Noire to sale (if that is possible with Native Instruments...). Keep the money to a future VILabs or the Bluethner.

vagfilm put Noire to sale

Not there yet!

I'll first see what I can learn from it and to what Jazzy use it may take me.

And see after that.

Cheers and happy explorations,

HZ

Thanks for the words of welcome, guys!

Yes, I'm JaneF on pianoworld. When I signed up there in 2008 some imposter(!!) had already used "Jane" as a username so I added my initial.

I played with VSTi a bit many years ago (posted some comparison MIDI recordings back in 2010 with the old Ivory 1 pianos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Kj8KQjzBbIZRudXczWQBA).

Then thereafter used only my piano's built-in voice up until this summer. (It's another story as to why VSTi reared its head then. )

So I've been interested in the opinions and advice on the instruments' capabilities and settings tricks and tweaks. And have purchased several VSTi in the past months.

Cheers,

Jane

Jane welcome Jane!

I am curious about which VSTs have you bought, if you don't mind to tell us. I am a confessed VST hoarder 😇 and always curious about other people's preferences 😄

Jose

Hi @johanibraaten,

I was wondering if you'd have made any satisfactory progress in balancing out note volumes from low to high with Modern U? And if so, whether you like the results?

Just curious…

Cheers and happy playing,

HZ

HZPiano I was wondering if you'd have made any satisfactory progress in balancing out note volumes from low to high with Modern U? And if so, whether you like the results?

Hi.

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to fiddle with Modern U lately. But I've made some progress with it by adjusting the velocity curve and dynamics to tit the lower registers and "tame" the treble with the eq and tone-knob. As I mentioned earlier I've got the VelPro app to balance the velocity response but haven't had the time to use it yet. My biggest problem with the modern U though is still the C5-C6 region with it's clucking attack…..

johanibraaten It’s a shame you are not liking the Modern U. It sounds and plays really well to my ears (HD600 headphones). It is distinctly an upright sample and I use it for practice. To record, I will most likely use Ravenscroft or the internal SK Jazz/Ballad.