Rain Piano

[Worra]

Hi.

I just wanted to tell you a bit about what we\'ve been up to at Bigga Giggas and let you hear the very first result from our next release, the Rain Piano.
There\'s so many great grand pianos around right now, (and yes, I\'m currently working on yet another one), so I figured it was time to sample a ordinary upright piano.
Since I always like to find a different angle, I also wanted to add a special touch to it, so I came up with the idea of the Rain Piano.

I simply gave the pianotuner the instruction to make the piano, sligthly, out of tune, but in a musical way. I wanted the piano to sound like it had been out in the rain for a day or two.....
After the initial shock, the pianotuner agreed on doing what I asked. I must say he did a very fine job!

The piano got exactly the kind of personality and character that I wanted it to have. Nope, it\'s not a Steinway or a Bosendorf, it\'s a \"Nordiska Pianon\", a nice Swedish piano, and nooo, it\'s not perfectly in tune, it\'s perfectly out of tune, if you get my point......
It hasn\'t got the classy style and perfection that many of the current sampled pianos have, but it has tons of personality.

The people who have betatested this and another piano (a 8/8 layered concert grand, perfectly IN tune), ends up just doodeling around on the Rain Piano with a silly smile on their face. One comment was, \"I get a feeling that someone is gonna bring me a glass of whisky when I play this...\"

Here\'s a first mp3-example of the Rain Piano (it\'s the midi from the piano shootout page, so you can compare it with the others, but really, this is something different...):
Rain Piano Beta 0.1 (\"http://www.hastmassoren.com/demos/RainPianoBeta01.mp3\")
Enjoy!

[passacaglia]

Yes, quite a lovely little piano ... reminds me alot of the one i have sitting next to me ....

only one thing is can see wrong with the plan ...

it would be wise to also include a version that is \'finely\' tuned .... for the sake of controversy .... otherwise, there will be somebody who says \"boy i just love the tone, but the temperment keeps me from playing it with other acoustic samples.\'

otherwise .. great idea ! was thinking of doing the same for my lil\' upright, although .. probably just easy to keep her in the physical world.

passacaglia

[J.P. Schwinghamer]

Love it!

JPS

[Maarten Spruijt]

Very nice!

The detuning is actually what would HAVE to be in this samples, else it would be \"just another\" piano samples! images/icons/smile.gif

Btw something really weird happens to the mp3 here, from 0:34 on.

Worra will you keep me updated on those sax samples please? images/icons/smile.gif

Maarten

[Worra]

Abou tuning:

The piano is detuned in a way that gives it character, but not so much so it wont fit into a musical context. That is, it works with other samples/instruments without sounding sour. We did a first version where it was more over the top, tune-wise, but it became to much a \"silent movie\" piano, so we took it back a bit. I\'ll make a couple of demos that has some more instruments in it so you can hear that it works with other instruments.

About the mp3:
Oooops, it does sound baaaad after 0.38.... I\'ll make a new one!

About saxes:
The tenor is soon ready for betatesting...... hopefully we\'ll have sommething for you before christmas!

[Worra]

I\'ve now fixed the mp3 so it plays correctly:

Rain Piano Beta 0.1 (\"http://www.hastmassoren.com/demos/RainPianoBeta01.mp3\")

[Jake Johnson]

Sounds interesting. Any idea when this piano will be available?

[meeehoon]

Brought back lots of sweet memories when I was about 7 years old. Reminds of that time in Malaysia when my older sister was learning ballet and I would sit in a little corner of the hall reading my \"Lady Bird\'s\" book series and the piano that they used to dance to sounded exactly like that... images/icons/smile.gif

Been looking for samples like this for a long time now!!! Finally have something to work!!! I am sure it will also bring back lots of memories for my mum and sis... ehehhehe...

Great work!!! images/icons/grin.gif

meeehoon

[Worra]

Originally posted by Jake Johnson:
Sounds interesting. Any idea when this piano will be available?<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Within a couple of weeks.

[J. Whaley]

Very cool. How much??

[Worra]

Originally posted by J. Whaley:
Very cool. How much??<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Price not really fixed just yet, but under $100.

[Worra]

I made some new demos using the Rain Piano, if you have any comments, suggestions or other input, please let me know.

Rain Piano Beta 0.1 Demo 2 (\"http://www.hastmassoren.com/demos/RainPianoBeta01Demo2.mp3\")
Rain Piano Beta 0.1 Demo 3 (\"http://www.hastmassoren.com/demos/RainPianoBeta01Demo3.mp3\")

[Jake Johnson]

Well, you know us--we want all the details. What mics did you use? Placement? Number of velocity levels? Color of the shirt you were wearing when you recorded the p layer of E3?

[PeterRoos]

Very nice instrument indeed, Per.

Couldn\'t resist running a demo through SoundStage and trying a \"round the corner\" reflection setup.

Great for emulating \"just a piano\" being played in another room, down a hallway, etc.

Thumbs up,
Peter

[midphase]

This piano would work great on some Kid TV show music. The 2nd demo sounds like it was taken from a Sesame Street segment!

Interesting and intriguing.....sign me up!

[sporter]

Originally posted by midphase:
This piano would work great on some Kid TV show music. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Interesting you mention that...remember Mr. Rodger\'s Neighorhood and the piano that played in the background? Dead ringer!

[Worra]

Some info about the piano:

Recorded at Studio Kuling in Sweden. The studio has a recording room that\'s designed for acoustic instruments and are great for things like Pianos. Originally sampled in 24 bits 44.1 kHz stereo using protools.
The piano has 8 velocities pedal up and 8 pedal down.
To keep the size down the samples are aprox 10 seconds long. They will be looped to emulate a full envelope, but in 99.9% of the playing situations the 10 seconds will be sufficiant.
The piano is sample in thirds, that is, C, D#, F#, A in each octave are sampled.

Why 10 seconds samples and not all notes? Well, I figured that 8 velocities pedal up and 8 velocities pedal down would improve the sound more then having full envelope samples and using all notes. If I was to have that option, I probably would have to do with 4/4 velocities, and as I said, I really wanted 8/8.
If I would have gone for 8/8, full envelope + all note, the file would be enormous and the production cost would have gone up = higher MSRP, and I wanted this to be under $100.
...and, ehhhh, I can\'t remember the colour of the shirt I had on, but it could have been black......

[Jake Johnson]

Thanks for the details. Worra. (What mics did you use?)

[tob]

Sounds great Worra!!!

[shawn]

Worra,

This instrument sounds wonderfully alive. It seems like it would be really fun and inspiring to play. For $100 or less, you can count on an order from me.

-Shawn

[Worra]

Originally posted by Jake Johnson:
Thanks for the details. Worra. (What mics did you use?)<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Sorry Jake, missed your question:

The piano was taken using a MG UM-70 at the bass side and two AKG C414 for mid and high. I then used a pair of Milab DC96B for ambience.

[SQUARESET]

Originally posted by Worra:
Hi.

I just wanted to tell you a bit about what we\'ve been up to at Bigga Giggas and let you hear the very first result from our next release, the Rain Piano.
There\'s so many great grand pianos around right now, (and yes, I\'m currently working on yet another one), so I figured it was time to sample a ordinary upright piano.
Since I always like to find a different angle, I also wanted to add a special touch to it, so I came up with the idea of the Rain Piano.

I simply gave the pianotuner the instruction to make the piano, sligthly, out of tune, but in a musical way. I wanted the piano to sound like it had been out in the rain for a day or two.....
After the initial shock, the pianotuner agreed on doing what I asked. I must say he did a very fine job!

The piano got exactly the kind of personality and character that I wanted it to have. Nope, it\'s not a Steinway or a Bosendorf, it\'s a \"Nordiska Pianon\", a nice Swedish piano, and nooo, it\'s not perfectly in tune, it\'s perfectly out of tune, if you get my point......
It hasn\'t got the classy style and perfection that many of the current sampled pianos have, but it has tons of personality.

The people who have betatested this and another piano (a 8/8 layered concert grand, perfectly IN tune), ends up just doodeling around on the Rain Piano with a silly smile on their face. One comment was, \"I get a feeling that someone is gonna bring me a glass of whisky when I play this...\"

Here\'s a first mp3-example of the Rain Piano (it\'s the midi from the piano shootout page, so you can compare it with the others, but really, this is something different...):
Rain Piano Beta 0.1 (\"http://www.hastmassoren.com/demos/RainPianoBeta01.mp3\")
Enjoy!<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">images/icons/rolleyes.gif