The Piano Thread

Thank you so much! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Nope, but good selections.

I have a… Roland FP10 :smiley: Started to really want a piano two years ago but crappy musician :smiley: . For now, I am exploring the fact to use it with the OT via Thru machine and Neighbor tracks. Not midi in/out though and it is a bit of a shame as I would have abused the midi tracks of the OT to play chords while improvising or playing bass at the same time. Or maybe if I find a Midi USB to MIDI module one day. Not sure it is worth the struggle but will see.

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https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/pianoverse/

New Piano Pluginns in Town!

New Yamaha P-525, replacing the P-515, and priced pretty much the same too

I’ll definitely drive up to our favorite music shop once it gets the 525 in stock. I’d love to try this new Grandtouch-S keybed with escapement. I lack the touch and control of a skilled concert pianist but I’d like to compare this keybed to those of competing digital pianos, especially the Kawai ES920, which is also said to have a grand piano like action.

The nicest digital piano I’ve ever had was a Yamaha P-200. I regret getting rid of it. I thought I could get by with a lower cost replacement. I’ve had a few but none had as good feeling a keybed as that P-200.

Another thing I like about the P-525 is compatibility with the new FC35 triple pedal - no need to buy a bulky, heavy stand and triple piano pedal attachment that requires the stand.

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During a recent Amazon sale, I bought a Roland RD-88 for a secondary studio room. The key action and sounds are fairly decent. It is also a good transportable piano option due to its light weight. No complaints so far.

Started a daily practice regime, instead of playing only when songwriting. Seriously considering taking Jazz piano lessons again next year. Not trying to play on the level of the keyboardist I gig with (and realistically could not at this point in life), but there is space for significant improvement and that is all I can expect in light of other commitments.

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Not sure how I am going to accommodate the time, but I scheduled lessons with a Jazz piano professor at a local university. I am pretty excited to study piano again, especially since I might be forced to eventually give up guitar.

I had wrist surgery on my fretting hand a few years ago and continue to have severe numbness after extended playing. Thankfully, my bass playing is not impacted and piano seems okay as well.

While I will never be as good as the keyboardists I gig with while on bass and guitar, there is lots of room for realistic improvements for music production and songwriting.

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This takes me back, this was an excellent blog with so much great music.

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Good free lesson, with free PDF

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Interesting: so do you prefer the piano sounds from the PurePiano plugin to those on the CP88?

If apps have replaced your use of the sounds from the CP, couldn’t you swap it for a good weighted midi keyboard for the same experience?

PurePiano really only offers piano sounds (with various modifications though), whereas the CP88 offers a lot of other sounds as well. PurePiano couldn’t compete in general;

I bought the CP88 because I wanted a digital piano that feels really good, and doesn’t have endless options – for me, it was the perfect fit. Now with an iPad and Drambo, I use the CP88 mostly for composing – so my focus aren’t its sounds anylonger.
As a consequence: yes, I could replace the CP88 for a good weighted MIDI keyboard. It would work, since I never touched the CP88’s sounds since using the iPad workflow with Drambo and PurePiano.

I use the KeyStep with my Syntakt and A4, and it makes me happy every time. I compose differently when having a full-blown keyboard under my fingers though, so a replacement would have to have a lot of keys :slight_smile:

Here’s a PurePiano/Drambo track:

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What a lovely track and beautiful piano sound. I need to investigate both PurePiano and Drambo. I had associated the latter with more Elektron style, linear techno type stuff, so it’s eye opening to hear it used like this.

I you are ever looking for a nice option for electric pianos on your ipad, I’d also recommend checking out neo-soul keys.

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<3 thank you!

I cannot recommend Drambo enough. I’ve been using DAWs for nearly 30 years, and no single piece of software let me write the way that the Elektron devices did. And now Drambo emulates this really nicely, but with a way better MIDI adaptability for my specific use case.

I simply play what I want to play, on the CP88, and Drambo records with perfect quantization. I don’t know what the other DAWs keep doing differently. I’m clueless. But I can finally write the way I play. <3 <3 <3

Here’s another track :wink:

Ah, details: PurePiano can currently run in 6 parallel instances, in Drambo.

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Thanks re neo-soul – i’ll check it out!

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Very interesting! I still have no Elektron hardware but I’d like to try something with that kind of sequencer, so I’ve been meaning to give Drambo a try. I appreciate the recommendation and the music!

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I somehow overlooked the Roland FP-E50, introduced about a year ago. I hope to check this out next time I visit the local shop. He does say the PHA-4 action was stiff out of the box like on his Roland Fantom-08, but apparently the stiffness wears off

I ‘learnt’ (sic) the piano using a piano plug in and a really cheap Midi keyboard with a sustain pedal. Before that I could noodle and come up with things on my ancient Yamaha 80s consumer keyboard. Both were great fun to be honest! A few years back I got a Nord Electro, which had semi-weighted keys. They are much heavier than the keys on my Midi controller… but still nowhere near as heavy as an actual piano! So when I play a proper piano I find my touch really does desert me as I have to focus much more consciously on how I’m physically pressing the keys. I may get a proper hammer-action keyboard at some point…

The dream though is to get a real piano. My current place is way too small for one, but if I move one day it will be top of my list!

It’s amazing how different things come out when playing piano compared to a synth… I will often write something on the piano first which ends up as a synth part, and vice versa. There’s definitely something magical about the piano… even if I don’t have a real one!

Very happy to find this thread here… :slight_smile:

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I’m still learning on my Keylab 88 and it’s gotten way easier to play in the months since I got it, but I don’t know if that’s down to me, or the keybed wearing in.

I totally agree that the piano is quite different to playing the synth. I have come to much prefer the piano action for synths. Mine also has aftertouch, so it’s really the best of both worlds. I can lose hours just playing, although I probably need to get a proper stool at some point so the blood doesn’t stop flowing into my legs.

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When I was in university I took a piano class. The instructor turned out to have a baby grand piano in an apartment, facing his wife’s baby grand piano. The wife was also a music professor at the same university. Yes the way the 2 pianos were fit together in that apartment made me think of Tetris.

This was in La Jolla, CA, near the university (UC San Diego). The climate was typically mild, hardly any humidity to speak of. I’m guessing they did not require the services of a professional piano tuner as often as someone living in, say, southern Florida would.

I don’t play piano at their level and am unlikely to get close in my lifetime. So I’m fine with not having a real grand piano in my home. I am however tempted to upgrade from my Casio Privia that I bought back in the mid 2000s.

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these really interest me, but i haven’t been practicing or progressing enough to buy one. it’s really felt hard to form a practice routine lately.

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