The Grandeur Piano

[Karren Bangura]

VSL still reigns supreme in terms of playability and realism, but the Noire and Grandeur have enough character to render them useful and fun to play. If they only fixed the pedaling they would be right up there with VSL.

Basically, advanced pedaling in Kontakt sucks. Some of us have been trying to improve it, but it's a limitation of the engine I think. Garritan (which is based on SFZ/Aria), VI Labs, and VSL all have different sample playback engines that are NOT Kontakt.

I have The Grandeur as part of Komplete 13 CE and it is a nice sounding instrument. As my playing is not so advanced as to notice repedaling issues, for me is good enough. But I appreciate your insights, now I see where to look ??

David: Try turning up the "color" knob on the Grandeur. I feel the need because the sound is too mellow at the center position. But there's a downside: the bass notes (sometimes) produce a honking noise when pedaling.

MacMacMac The color knob changes the velocity mapping. Right now I have the velocity curve editor in Kontakt setup to give me easy access to all 18 layers/zones. The velocity curve editor in Kontakt is essentially accomplishing the same thing as the color knob in the Grandeur UI.

I do use the color knob in conjunction with the velocity curve editor with the Noire library because it's so dark otherwise. This is what the velocity curve looks like on the Noire with a 10% boost across the entire spectrum with the color knob. With the Noire velocity curve I eventually get to a 113 input/127 output (my N1X doesn't reach 113), but it is actually brought lower than 113 with the 10% color knob increase across the entire spectrum.

For the Grandeur, I usually turn the color and dynamics knobs both up to around 2 o'clock and then set the velocity curve at Linear -10. This seems to give a very nice sound profile and optimal control over response and dynamics, at least on my keyboard.

Re: the strange "honking noise" I have noticed this very occasionally - maybe 8-9 times total in the roughly six months or so I've been using it. I'm not quite sure what triggers it, but since I settled on my current parameters it hasn't happened at all, so I'm guessing it only occurs with certain combinations of settings.

Incidentally, I decided to take advantage of the ongoing sale and currently favorable Euro-dollar exchange rate to bite the bullet and purchase the VSL Bosendorfer Imperial today. Haven't downloaded it yet, but I'm very curious to see how it compares to the Grandeur and Noire, which are my current favorites. I'm hoping it offers an appreciable bump in realism and playability over these two, but if not, at least they have a refund policy.

jdg78 Re: the strange "honking noise" I have noticed this very occasionally - maybe 8-9 times total in the roughly six months or so I've been using it. I'm not quite sure what triggers it, but since I settled on my current parameters it hasn't happened at all, so I'm guessing it only occurs with certain combinations of settings.

jdg78 Incidentally, I decided to take advantage of the ongoing sale and currently favorable Euro-dollar exchange rate to bite the bullet and purchase the VSL Bosendorfer Imperial today. Haven't downloaded it yet, but I'm very curious to see how it compares to the Grandeur and Noire, which are my current favorites. I'm hoping it offers an appreciable bump in realism and playability over these two, but if not, at least they have a refund policy.

I love the soft, dark, and warm tone I can get with the Noire that I can't get with the VSL BI. I like the clear and direct bell-like tone of the Grandeur that I can't get with the VSL BI. However, when it comes to the overall package of tone, dynamics, playability, and realism, I love what the VSL BI gives me that the Noire and Grandeur doesn't.

I like the close mics (condenser/tube) of the VSL BI so I had to get the full version even though I'm currently not using the ambient mics (except for mid 2). VSL has a return window which is nice. The velocity curve is paramount to get right just like with any virtual library. Let me know if you'd like a copy of my current settings to try out.

For quite a while, I had actually been planning on getting the 280VC, as the more intimate recording venue appealed to me, but after listening to a lot of samples online (esp. a very helpful blind test of all 4 VSL grands on Youtube) I kept picking the Imperial as my favorite, followed closely by the Steinway. Hoping I made the right choice.

The original story, a novel that tells the tail of an American WW1 hero in England, eventually gave rise to a big screen adaptation. Due to artistic disagreement, production is indefinitely on hold; the executive producer wants Einaudi for the soundtrack but the director insists on Vangelis.

I am too. I am disturbingly close to selling my VPC1 and getting a Yamaha P515 to replace it. The VPC1 is great, but, I have been unable to come to any kind of truce with Microsoft Windows and the VSTs I've tried (Garritan CFX, Pianoteq, VI Labs German Grand). I think I may have just enough tolerance left to try one more VST before forever abandoning that mode in favor of an all-in-one package.

I'm glad I got a 30% discount on it. It's doesn't have the playability that makes me want to use it exclusively. It's too bad that both Noire and Grandeur can't get the pedaling right. None of the other big names seem to have a problem with it. VSL still reigns supreme in terms of playability, realism, and overall satisfaction. However, I do see myself playing the Noire/Grandeur on occasion to add some variety to my experience.

Ralphiano I am too. I am disturbingly close to selling my VPC1 and getting a Yamaha P515 to replace it. The VPC1 is great, but, I have been unable to come to any kind of truce with Microsoft Windows and the VSTs I've tried (Garritan CFX, Pianoteq, VI Labs German Grand). I think I may have just enough tolerance left to try one more VST before forever abandoning that mode in favor of an all-in-one package.

I ask because I've been thinking of getting a VPC1 myself sometime down the road. I currently have an older Kawai with a decent but fairly plasticy feeling action and a very lackluster onboard piano sound, so I've been using VSTs pretty much exclusively.

So far I've been quite happy w/ the VST experience overall, so currently leaning towards the VPC1 route as it would be much less expensive than getting a comparable action in an all-in-one upright style.

I actually didn't realize it right away that there is zero repedaling even though there is a button for it. I reinstalled Noire hoping it was a weird glitch, but still no repedaling. That soured my relationship with it. It would probably be my primary piano if the pedaling worked. It has a smooth dynamic range with the 22 velocity layers and I really like the overall dark tone of the piano.

my resentment toward Microsoft for taking ownership and control of my computer for me using the Microsoft Windows operating system, my resistance thereto by not allowing my piano computer any access to the internet, and my perception that Microsoft goes out of its way to punish persons who make such choices;

About 3 years ago my regular piano was a Casio Privia PX-760. I eventually grew weary of the sound and wanted better. I bought what I now recognize as inferior studio monitors. They helped, but not enough to satisfy me.

With Pianoteq Standard, I spent a year tweaking, adjusting, etc., etc., all at the expense of my piano practice time. I have made little progress at piano in the last 18 months as a result. At times, I have been very happy with the sound of my Pianoteq adjustments. At other times, I detest Pianoteq, even with the exact same settings that I loved yesterday. I do not know if my perception changes from day to day, or whether Pianoteq changes from day to day, or both. All I know is that I have lost thousands of hours of practice time fiddling with the software.

The computer, kept gradually getting worse and worse. It was not a steady decline. Rather it would decline for a while, stabilize or even improve or recover, but then again decline. Each low point was lower than the previous low. Eventually, about a month or two ago, it died and I could not resurrect it. So, I decided to fuck Microsoft completely, I erased the hard drive and installed a linux OS. However, that has left me with Pianoteq as the only available VST.
Shortly before switching to Linux, Pianoteq started really annoying me. I spent considerable time just listening, to see if I could identify with certainty, just what it was that bothered me so about its sound. When it was bad, I did notice that the sound had a wavering, almost tremelo or vibrato aspect to it. This effect might have been in the upper harmonics rather than in the fundamental. I do not trust my ear to say for sure.

I decided to record and save samples of my playing in the hopes of capturing the tremelo effect, and capturing the sound when it sounded good. One day, when it sounded very nice, I recorded and saved a file. Then, I waited for the next episode of deteriorated sound to occur. A week or two later, it happened. So, I recorded that ugly sound as well.

In all of this, I detect no deficiency, whatsoever, in the VPC1. I believe it is a great instrument, and highly recommend it to those who have the skills, knowledge, and wherewithall to withstand or deflect the barrage of attacks and assaults from Microsoft and possibly others who will not tolerate their captive slaves trying to escape from their plantation.

Just got back Saturday from the grandeur--there are two places kinda like what you are looking for--the Schooner bar on deck 6--I think has a piano player that sings really good-- also in the Centurm they usually have someone singing and playing as well.:)

When I was on Grandeur last fall, I spent quite a bit of time in the Schooner bar near the piano. I really like piano music, and the guy was pretty good. I wasn't particulary impressed with the way they had it set up there though. My previous experience was on Explorer, where the Schooner bar was much larger, and better laid out. Of course they have a little more room to play with.

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