This was surprising to me too. The I wonder how much of it is just that the velocity curve is do much different on my MIDI controller. The real piano sounds like I’m pounding as hard as I can.
I wonder how much of it is that it can’t replicate it, or that the samples I use just tend not to try. I have heard sample libraries that are much more raw sounding than alicia’s keys, but I tend to find those harder to work with sometimes.
I considered that, but found that of all the sample libraries I have, Alicia’s Keys seems to feel the most natural when I play it. I like it waaaaaaay better than all the other kontakt pianos. I did mess with PianoTeq, which actually sounded way more natural in terms of tone and dynamics, but there is something about it that feels plastic about it. I hate that word, but it’s the only one I can use to describe it.
I think this is the conclusion I’ve definitely come to. They sound quite different, and I’m glad that they do.
Well, I guessed wrong! And it is like the “Is it live or is it Memorex?” test, not scientific, but there is a difference, just not very easy to discern, even in a solo performance. Such fine playing, I might add, made both feel extremely real. I felt no shortness of emotion or expressiveness in either. To me, the piano has been digitized.
These are some of the reasons that made me second guess my first assumptions. The brightness of the first piano made me assume it was the MIDI recording…But, then I listened closely to both of the recordings from start to finish wearing headphones. There were many clues that convinced me to change my mind on my original assumption, as I wrote about a few posts above.
I’d say the MIDI is pretty damn convincing though!
I think another context is whether the real or digital piano is being used as a solo instrument or as part of an ensemble. If you wanted to record an album of Chopin’s greatest hits, you’d be hard pressed to find a reputable concert pianist reaching for his / her copy of Addictive Keys and dusting off a MIDI keyboard. But when you need a piano in the background of a song with other instruments, I think it would be a lot harder to discern what kind of piano was being used in the song.
Yep, I can think of many times where the focused sound of the samples is more desirable than the real thing, and many more times where it wouldn’t really be better one way or the other.
Something I really seemed to notice in the 1st clip was these ‘thumps’ and bumps … I’m guessing it was the pedals or the hammers? I didn’t really guess before I looked at the answer, just listened afterward and tried to notice the differences. The 2nd one does sound ‘cleaner’ and more focused, while the 1st has an ‘organic’ quality. But the noises seemed to really suggest an acoustic recording, they were like little explosions or a kick drum in the background (or sounding far off in the distance). Did anyone else pick up on that?
Yep, it’s the pedals. Most sample libraries have the option of turning on pedal noise, but pedals aren’t really velocity sensitive controls, so it tends to be too much when turned up.
Yes, that was one of the reasons I assumed the first recording was the real piano. The second recording had a bit of those clunking sounds too, but there was much less of them.
bozmillar,
Thank you for listening to my music. If that is you playing piano, you are very good! The top mp3 sounded more like a real piano to me. Both clips sound very nice.
