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+----- Thread: Nothing beat the real thing (/showthread.php?tid=3781)
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Nothing beat the real thing - muzicmuzic - 17-09-2010
I happen to be a pianist..
No matter how good the synths are,
I still prefer the good old acoustic piano, it has life in it.
Different levels of pressure on the keys gives off the emotions perfectly.
Unlike an electronic organ, which is a dead instrument for me..
Nothing beat the real thing - pauldrake - 21-05-2011
I have to agree somehow on that one. If you would play the piano then that would be the best thing possible. For everybody else, playing the keyboards or synths would be okay, but the classic feel of the piano is still the same. I just hope everybody would appreciate it so much in the long run.
Nothing beat the real thing - CraigCyril - 13-09-2011
When you play softly piano, the sound is quiet and warm. And of course, it never needs tuning! The 88 keys is an investment in the future so that as the level of playing ability progresses, they won't run out of keys.
Nothing beat the real thing - Jerome - 13-09-2011
But there is one thing samplers have over the real thing. You can record the piano in different virtual environments. You can move it from a basement, to a concert hall to the grand canyon all in a few minutes. Try doing that with the real thing and see what it costs. Plus if the room you are in has bad acoustics but the piano has a fantastic sound you are stuck with it. There is no way of removing natural reverb from an analogue source. The software/recording industry has been trying to do this for years with no success. There is no 'deverb' switch. Synthogy's 'Ivory2' piano sampler is pretty impressive. As is Native Instruments B4 emulation of the Hammond organ. Remember that the average person in the street can't tell the difference. And if tastefully mixed with the correct reverb most musicians can't either.
Nothing beat the real thing - CRAZY-HORSE - 13-09-2011
i find most if not all of your 'technical' answers quite interesting Jerome, even if some of it goes over my head at times.
Nothing beat the real thing - Jerome - 13-09-2011
CRAZY-HORSE Wrote:i find most if not all of your 'technical' answers quite interesting Jerome, even if some of it goes over my head at times.Speaking of which - I had some dealings with Bob Katz some time ago. His knowledge is quite incredible. I bought the latest release of his book 'Mastering Audio' - I think I understood about 10% of what he was saying. I have only scratched the surface with this and really learning as I go along. But to the point above - it has taken me a lot of time and money to find musicians who can actually deliver - you'd be surprised at how unprofessional some of the 'professionals' are. For every part I eventually use there are probably between 5 and 7 parts that are abandoned due to - believe it or not - bad tuning, not playing in time, not even playing the right notes, total disregard for what the other musicians are doing at any one particular point (see under 'ego'), etc. etc. I now have a core element of people I can rely on to get it right and I will stick with them. Somtimes samplers are the only solution, especially when you have tried 6 or 7 musicians and still don't have the part nailed down. It becomes very expensive after a while. And then there are the more obscure instruments like the 'Ondes' and the 'Novachord' which you simply can't lay your hands on anymore. Samplers have their place just like everything else. The real challenge is in the final mix - getting all the different elements to sound like a cohesive whole regardless of where the source material comes from - sampled or real. Now there's my nemesis! I can see why some of the top engineers are breaking away from mixing and focusing solely on mastering. After a while it can drive you nuts.......speaking of which I have to go - therapy classes again tonight!
Nothing beat the real thing - livioguerra - 14-09-2011
I am a pianist also and yes ... nothing beats the real piano ...
even a middle-range vertical piano is a thousand times better than any electronic grand piano ... wether the actual instrument or the VST ...
of course in real life you often have to compromise ...
1- you surely can't haul your acoustic piano for a gig, at least almost never ...
2- if you record your music, often a short-cut is to generate the midi file from a keyboard, then you edit it, perhaps improve a bit here or there and in the end the recording sounds sort of cleaner ... but it will always sound different from acoustic piano properly recorded in a studio ...
more often than not it not easy, even for a pianist, to describe the difference in words, but no doubt it is there ...
the only thing is it's less perceivable than for strings or wind instruments, not to mention choirs !!!
Nothing beat the real thing - Jerome - 14-09-2011
I agree about the strings and woodwinds - I find it easier to detect a sampled guitar than a sampled piano. Any instrument that is solo or 'upfront' in the mix should never be sampled but if it sits in the background you might be able to get away with it. I have a rule when using samplers and midi - I either record the sampler in one go or I don't use it at all. Once people start editing and fiddling with the original midi file that's where they go wrong. To make a performance 'cleaner' or tidied up - whether sampled or real - is the rock many perish on. Just my opinion and not neccessarily correct.
Nothing beat the real thing - Jerome - 14-09-2011
livioguerra Wrote:I am a pianist also and yes ... nothing beats the real piano ...even a middle-range vertical piano is a thousand times better than any electronic grand piano ... wether the actual instrument or the VST ...of course in real life you often have to compromise ...1- you surely can't haul your acoustic piano for a gig, at least almost never ...2- if you record your music, often a short-cut is to generate the midi file from a keyboard, then you edit it, perhaps improve a bit here or there and in the end the recording sounds sort of cleaner ... but it will always sound different from acoustic piano properly recorded in a studio ...more often than not it not easy, even for a pianist, to describe the difference in words, but no doubt it is there ...the only thing is it's less perceivable than for strings or wind instruments, not to mention choirs !!!Just listening to your stuff on your website now - bloody great! Will be buying some later today. Excellent work.
Nothing beat the real thing - Jerome - 14-09-2011
And talking of woodwinds and flutey, blowy things - saw Paul Simon's 'Graceland' concert in Cape Town many moons ago. He had a saxophonist, Michael Brecker, who demonstrated what he could do with an EWI - Electronic Wind Instrument. The whole stadium was reverberating from just that one instrument. It sounded like a complete orchestra and totally captivated the audience - a mesmerising moment.