How do I make a Garritan Steinway sound real?

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Al Fine
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Post by Al Fine » Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:13 am

Greetings all! Simply put, I’m seeking any and all advice about how to make a Garritan Steinway piano sound as close as possible to the real thing, by only mastering within Finale, using Aria Player. I don’t need the playback to sound like Daniel Barenboim in a concert hall, but instead, am wanting something along the lines of Little Suzie playing in a student recital in a small hall, or, her teacher’s living room, even. So matching the sonority of a real piano is my primary goal. I don’t want the first thing someone says to be, “Oh, I can tell right away that it’s a fake piano”. At the very least, I’d like them to say, “Hey, that’s a really good fake piano”. :-D I have poked around a bit in Aria Player, have seen the options for a smaller venue sound, adjusting things like reverb, but I’m brand new to this aspect of Finale, so am hoping to get input from those of you who have had a lot of experience with adjusting piano sonority. As always, thanks in advance!


ttw
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Post by ttw » Tue Jun 19, 2018 4:21 am

Here's another setting used in addition the those I've already posted.

For the chosen Aria player, use the Garritan Steinway D (the others are fine too, I like the sound of the D).

In Aria, choose the convolution reverb; I suggest the Medium Piano Hall. Turn off the Ambience Reverb (you can adjust this latter if you are really good a reverbs.)
In Controls, I just turn on the equalizer.

For Human Playback, I chose "Custom" copied either from "Latin" or "Romantic" the on the "Interpret" check boxes, I leave all checked except for "Final Bars." (This one inserts a ritardando at the end of the piece.) For the "Advanced Settings" everything is unchecked except for the following:
Baroque Style for Ornaments (Optional, either way is OK)
Auto Piano Playing (I like the program to insert pedal stuff now and then.)
String Harmonics (If I'm going to use strings later else off.)
Strum Plucked String Chords (If using strings else off.)

Other arrangements are fine. These seemed to do well without much study.

Al Fine
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Post by Al Fine » Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:34 pm

Thanks, TTW, much appreciated! For others who might join in here, I'll add that my pieces are for piano solo, so whatever sonority I eventually end up with has no other instruments to blend in with, nowhere to hide, heh.

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MikeHalloran
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Post by MikeHalloran » Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:45 pm

In a recent discussion of piano VIs, I was one of those who felt that the Garritan CFX Abbey Road was the most realistic of those in the Sweetwater shootout.
https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/virtu ... amples/?id

The piano is not my instrument—never was. I don’t notice pedaling much when it is well done but always notice when it’s not.

I wasn’t a very good player before becoming disabled. In fact, before we bought my wife’s, I never attempted to learn and treated it, as Tom Lehrer put it, like “an 88 stringed guitar”. But there’s a nice piano in the room; why not try, right?

So, while working through this and that, my wife (who has her Master’s in piano performance) walked in and asked, “Who taught you how to pedal?”

“Uh... no one. I’ve never thought about it. Why?”

“Don’t let anyone teach you. You’re doing fine.”

Ok, I get it. Having spend decades controlling articulation and phrasing with my right hand (pick, bow, damping etc.) my brain shifted much of that ability to my feet and I never thought twice. But you can’t take it for granted when creating piano tracks.

So, while a good VI and the right reverb are good, pedaling is what I always notice when a piano track sounds canned and artificial.
Mike Halloran

Finale 27.3, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 13.2.1; 2017 iMac Pro 18 Core, 128G RAM, 4TB; 2021 MBAir M1
NotePerformer3, Dorico 4, Overture, Notion 6, DP 11, Logic Pro

Al Fine
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Post by Al Fine » Wed Jun 20, 2018 3:47 am

Thanks!

Al Fine
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Post by Al Fine » Wed Jun 20, 2018 4:18 am

Ttw, I followed your suggestions, and must say, I like what I'm hearing, so thanks for the input. You mentioned that you turn on Equalizer (under Controls). Do you just use the presets? I'm looking at ALL the various dials under Controls, Effects, and Mixer, am wondering if there's some sort of fine tuning I could be doing. Unfortunately, I don't know what everything does at this point, so I guess I'll have to do more research, test out some settings. Seems like less is more for what I want.

ttw
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Post by ttw » Wed Jun 20, 2018 8:29 pm

I use the presets because it's easy. I used to use Ambience Reverb but that meant adjusting the dry (direct) vs wet (reflected off walls, floors, ceilings, etc.), rates and other stuff. I had not heard of Convolution Reverb (though I did know what a convolution is) until I saw it in the Aria player. It's a nice idea.

A convolution reverb works by recording an impulse sound (gunshot, handclap, clave stroke, etc.) in a venue (club, auditorium, cave, etc.) This effectively gives the frequency response of the venue at all frequencies. A musical instrument is recorded in a room with little echo; I don't know if an anechoic chamber is used, but the recording studios used are pretty flat. Then a mathematical convolution between the two recordings gives the response of the venue to the instrument. Thus one can record the venues and the instruments separately; then combine the signals which in effect gives the effect of recording the instrument at that venue. A recording device and a pair of claves or a starting pistol are cheaper to move to various places than an orchestra or soloist.

This sounds good enough in general that I don't bother tweaking things (as I don't really know how to do that; it would be trial and error.)

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MikeHalloran
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Post by MikeHalloran » Wed Jun 20, 2018 9:03 pm

Has anyone used PianoVerb from PSP? It’s interesting. There’ a free version:

http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/rev ... _pianoverb

And an inexpensive paid version:

http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/rev ... ianoverb2/

With PSP, the more you buy, the less future purchases cost on a sliding discount scale. Of course, you’ll get the occasional email offering time-limited discounts and occasional freebies (some are really nice!). They do not deluge you with spam which I appreciate.
Mike Halloran

Finale 27.3, SmartScore X2 Pro, GPO5 & World Instruments
MacOS Ventura 13.2.1; 2017 iMac Pro 18 Core, 128G RAM, 4TB; 2021 MBAir M1
NotePerformer3, Dorico 4, Overture, Notion 6, DP 11, Logic Pro

Al Fine
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Post by Al Fine » Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:39 pm

Thanks again.

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Djard
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Post by Djard » Mon Jul 16, 2018 4:25 am

Nothing beats a better soundfont, but the next best option is a masterful EQ in a good DAW. Even the free but excellent Audacity allows you to shape the sound of an instrument in great detail, including a myriad of reverb effects and other potential enhancements, like the envelope tool for refining crescendos and diminuendos. It even lets you create a realistic stereo effect for an instrument played solo. I posted an extensive step guide at my blog for mastering sound, but I think the moderators here would need let me know if it were OK to mention the name of the site.

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