Bosendorfer Imperial Concert Grand Piano MP3's

[Sam]

I like it, I\'m listening through right now. Finally someone puts up piano demos with acceptable audio quality, this is the first IMO. Kip, you still clipped in too many of the pieces (loud passages, sounded like you needed to turn down the GS masters).

Kip, would you briefly describe the program that was used to play these, I assume it was pretty much a straight up dry reading of the sample. Sounds like no (or minimal) filtering, are the velocity transitions just the sample transitions x volume scaling, or is filtering used to transition between or within layers?

[Bardstown Audio]

Hello Sam,

Thank you for your compliments!

There is absolutely no filtering of any sorts. These samples are all totally unprocessed, and no filtering between the various velocity layers.

There is no clipping on any of these demos. My web master was bumped quiet often during the uploading process of these MP3\'s, and I can detect a few slight glitches in the audio on the MP3\'s that were bumped during the uploading process. Rather than pulling these MP3\'s from the server and reload them, we continued from where we were bumped from the server. This uploading process took several hours with a 56k modem, and we certainly did not want to suffer any longer with this uploading process than we had to. My local internet server is rather primitive, but my studio and equipment are far from being anywhere near primitive.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")



[This message has been edited by Bardstown Audio (edited 01-11-2002).]

[sjduck]

Hurrah - finally some jazz examples!

I really love this GigaSample. It sounds wonderfully powerful and tonally complex. I just whacked the demos through my Lexicon and sat back in amazement.

You see - that\'s all it takes ... a few jazzy examples and I\'m there.

What\'s the best way of ordering from the UK?

[donnie]

WOW....from one developer to another this is absolutely fantastic. I can\'t wait to get my hands on it!!!!!

Donnie

[Mel Tron]

A very fine piano. Lively and Bright without excess hammer hit.Powerful.

I am just wondering who listens to a piano with their ears inside the lid? I find the stereo image jumping back and forth quite drastically. It would not sound like this in a concert hall or larger room.

I would have preferred the mics to be back at least 4 to 6 feet. Yes I am sure that there is a trade-off for signal to noise ratio. But to my ears the piano sound is coupled to its environment. Wood floors, high ceilings, curtains etc. all contibute to the sound. I like this much better than the East West Bos however.

[Bardstown Audio]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by sjduck:
Hurrah - finally some jazz examples!

I really love this GigaSample. It sounds wonderfully powerful and tonally complex. I just whacked the demos through my Lexicon and sat back in amazement.

You see - that\'s all it takes ... a few jazzy examples and I\'m there.

What\'s the best way of ordering from the UK?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hello sjduck,

You can email me your telephone number and I will call you in order to take your order. There is five hours difference in time between my time and UK time. Let me know what time of day UK time is best for me to call you.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[Bardstown Audio]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by donnie:
WOW....from one developer to another this is absolutely fantastic. I can\'t wait to get my hands on it!!!!!

Donnie<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank you Donnie for your Compliments! You have produced some really amazing sampled instrument libraries yourself!

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[Bardstown Audio]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mel Tron:
A very fine piano. Lively and Bright without excess hammer hit.Powerful.

I am just wondering who listens to a piano with their ears inside the lid? I find the stereo image jumping back and forth quite drastically. It would not sound like this in a concert hall or larger room.

I would have preferred the mics to be back at least 4 to 6 feet. Yes I am sure that there is a trade-off for signal to noise ratio. But to my ears the piano sound is coupled to its environment. Wood floors, high ceilings, curtains etc. all contibute to the sound. I like this much better than the East West Bos however.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hello Mel Tron,

Thank you for your compliments!

You are correct. There is a trade off for signal to noise ratio. This piano was sample recorded in a large performance hall. Fortunately, I did not have to do any noise reduction, or any other processing on this piano.

As good as this piano sounds being totally unprocessed, and without any added reverb or room simulation, such as the way these demos were produced, it really sounds like a million dollars when I add some Altiverb performance hall emulation. It truly sounds most startlingly real with Altiverb, as though you are REALLY sitting in a World Class performance hall and listening to a concert pianist playing a world class piano.

Altiverb is a MAS format plug-in for Digital Performer, which works off of the altivec processor in a Mac G4. Altiverb is as good or maybe even better than a $10,000 Sony DRES777, which is an acoustic impulse performance hall emulation reverb unit.

Perhaps in the next few days, I could post another demo of the Bosendorfer processed with Altiverb. You would be absolutely amazed at the sound of this.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[sjduck]

Thanks for the info Kip. I shall email you my details as soon as I have decided (pretty soon, hopefully.)

I do have one piece of constructive criticism about your demos and many other developers\' demos; to my (relatively inexperienced GigaSample) ear, many of the performances seem to be quite heavily played. By this, I mean that we regularly hear several of the highest velocity samples in a row. Is this to demonstrate the full dynamic range of these samples or a problem with MIDI velocity ranges - *or* my duff ear?

Steve

[This message has been edited by sjduck (edited 01-10-2002).]

[Bardstown Audio]

Hello sjduck,

I did set the velocities fairly high on these demos, because so many people have indicated that they want a \"balzy\" and powerful sounding piano.

What I am going to do is to have a few free articulation file downloads from my web site, with different velocity settings, for people who have different taste in pianos. There will be an articulation velocity file download for people who want a lighter touch for stronger velocities, and there will also be an articulation velocity file download for people who want to really play a keyboard controller with more force, in order to trigger the louder velocity levels.

There will also be another free articulation file download for people who would like to have a \"lite version\" of this piano, in addition to the full version.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[Chadwick]

Kip,

Any chance of a demo which spends a little more time at the other end of the velocity spectrum? Just to show us how it sounds when played in a more \'personal\' manner.

Thanks
Rick

[Bardstown Audio]

Hello Rick,

In Fantaise Impromptu, Golliwog\'s Cake Walk, and Scherzo in Bb, there are soft parts which utilize the softer velocity layers.

All of the jazz/blues selections are fairly powerful by contrast.

In the next day or so, I am going to post another MP3 of the Scherzo, utilizing Altiverb performance hall emulation.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[john g]

The velocity range of the midi file is absolutely crucial. It might explain my perception of \"tinniness\" in the sample, apart from the other theories I offered.

Could something more be said about \"alti-verb,\" verb being the big Achilles Heel in the mastering of sampled pianos IMO.

J.G.

[LHong]

John,
As far as I know, the Altiverb is only available for Mac ProTool used, not for PC unfortunately! Sonar Reverb is not bad, have you tried it at all? If you are interested, I could give you A quick Chopin track-demo?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by john g:
The velocity range of the midi file is absolutely crucial. It might explain my perception of \"tinniness\" in the sample, apart from the other theories I offered.

Could something more be said about \"alti-verb,\" verb being the big Achilles Heel in the mastering of sampled pianos IMO.

J.G.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Mel Tron]

Kip; re: Altiverb. I am running my entire Orch thru this on a separate Mac. Still... I am finding that there are some instruments that are so dry that not even Alti can save them.
e.g. Vitous Flute vs. Dean flute. Vitous flute breathes \'cause it was recorded in a Hall. Dean flute is too dry even with the Alti. In fact it sounds better on a Lex \'cause there is more spatial processing/synthesis going on in the Lex algos. So.. if you run the instrument completely through the Alti you lose the high end and it sounds washed out. Perhaps I should explore more Alti Halls than my fave Vredenberg front hall cardioids. The BOS Alti preset is just plain goofy. I really want to HEAR the Piano from the Audience\'s perspective. So what preset do you recommend? And how does your Bos sound in Mono?

[Bardstown Audio]

I tend to favor the Vredenberg Hall emulation over the other acoustic impulses in Altiverb.

In terms of stereo versus mono piano, I always much prefer a sampled piano with a quality stereo image. That is one of the several outstanding features of the new Giga Bosendorfer Imperial, is its superb stereo image.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[LHong]

Bardstown Audio,
The Demo is pretty nice! I like some jazzy personality! The high tones seem be brighter than Steinway and darker than Yamaha. Except, some clipped at a few places, I think that you might need better PC performance for the Giga-workstation. Just a thought!
Regards,
Long



[This message has been edited by LHong (edited 01-10-2002).]

[Bardstown Audio]

Bardstown Audio\'s web site has been updated to include the new MP3 demos of the \"Bosendorfer Imperial Concert Grand Piano, Model 290.\"

The MP3 demos of this world class piano are totally unprocessed, without any reverb, room simulation, or any other effects. What you hear are the raw samples of this beautiful instrument. Any room resonance that you hear on these demos are from the various velocity layers of pedal up, pedal down, and the release trigger samples.

This piano is now available for sale, exclusively from Bardstown Audio at www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

Complete ordering information is available on our web site. U.S. and Canadian customers may call our toll free 800 number.

International customers can either email, fax, or call.

International customers can also email to us their telephone numbers where they may be called from us, at our telephone expense, in order to save them the expense of long distance telephone calls and to place orders.

The price on this high quality sampled Bosendorfer Imperial Concert Grand Piano, Model 290 is $199 USD.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")




[This message has been edited by Bardstown Audio (edited 01-10-2002).]

[Bardstown Audio]

Hello LHong,

Thank you for your compliments!

I do not know what clipping you would be referring to. The piano was sample recorded as hot as possible without any clipping. There was no clipping anywhere on any meters in my chain. I use all high-end pro level gear. If you are detecting anything that resembles clipping, it could be that somehow MP3\'s may become slightly corrupted when uploading to the internet server.

I do notice a few glitches in a couple of places on these MP3\'s, but they are not clips or anything that is in the original audio. When my web master uploaded these MP3 demos using a 56k modem, we were bumped quiet often during the uploading process and had to re-log onto the server quiet a few times. Each time we logged back onto the server, the upload would continue from where it left off, and these are the places where I have detected a slight \"Skip\" in the audio. It took several hours to upload all of these MP3\'s, so we were not about to pull them off and go through the lengthy uploading process again, only to be \"bumped off\" even more. The local internet server is a bit primitive, but my studio facility and equipment are far from being anywhere near the primitive side.

The original 24 bit 44.1 audio files of these demos did not clip and they sound perfect, and also when dithered to 16 bit.

MP3 demos do not sound nearly as good as the original audio before encoding to MP3 format.

Being a full time sound developer and engineer, I do have two fully optimized Giga PC\'s, which I have personally built with the best quality components available.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")


[This message has been edited by Bardstown Audio (edited 01-11-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Bardstown Audio (edited 01-11-2002).]

[john g]

Is every note sampled, or every other note or so? The Chopin sounds a wee bit tinny, at least on the mp3 version.

J.G.

[Bardstown Audio]

Each and every note has been sample recorded without pitch shifting.

MP3\'s are low quality audio. This Bosendorfer sounds amazingly better than what MP3\'s will depict.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")



[This message has been edited by Bardstown Audio (edited 01-10-2002).]

[LHong]

Sorry, It sounds like a click (001.mp3 Left-Ch) rather than a clipped! Never mind, we understood it!
Regards,
Long

[Bardstown Audio]

No problem...

Kind regards,
Kip

[thesoundsmith]

Kip-
You might try DSL. Or Cable. Or satellite. You do yourself a disservice by having even minor glitches in your demos. (It\'s a business expense, so write it off...)

We don\'t know it\'s a problem with the server, or the upload process, so we go away thinking, \"Oh, those samples have glitches.\"

Not being critical-it\'s just that we\'re in a business environment where we can\'t buy your product and then say, \"Oh, I don\'t like it-please refund my money.\"

If this were possible (and that\'s not the issue here) a few problems with demos wouldn\'t matter, but all we have to go on is those MP3s (which, in and of themselves are not accurate-we should all be listening to streamed WAVs!) Anything less than absolutely accurate is translated as \'problem\', or at least \'not the sound I\'m looking for.\'

Dasher

[Bardstown Audio]

I just talked with my internet server and they said that my web master and myself could bring the MP3 files to their office and load them directly onto the server using one of their computers in their office. This will eliminate any flaws in the MP3\'s such as skipping. We will probably do this latter this afternoon.

Kip
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[donnie]

I just listened to the rest of the demos so I\'m going to chime in on this one again.

I know that pianos are like drum sets...everyone has an opinon on what they like and what the think it\'s susposed to sound like. To my ears this is exactly what I want out of a piano. The closest thing before this was the East/West Bosendorfer but this piano blows that one away!

Donnie

[Bardstown Audio]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by donnie:
I just listened to the rest of the demos so I\'m going to chime in on this one again.

I know that pianos are like drum sets...everyone has an opinon on what they like and what the think it\'s susposed to sound like. To my ears this is exactly what I want out of a piano. The closest thing before this was the East/West Bosendorfer but this piano blows that one away!

Donnie<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hello Donnie,

Thank you for your compliments!

Kip McGinnis
Bardstown Audio www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[dandean]

As Kip was compiling this instrument, I listened to a 1 layer version of it as a test. I was very impressed by just the 1 layer. I just loaded the full version. It sounds fantastic. Clarity, depth, punch...you can feel the air between the mikes and the soundboard. You can feel the hammers. It is extremely quiet as well. The acid test of a sound library is how it SOUNDS. This one sounds great!

Nice job again sir,
Dan Dean
Dan Dean Productions, Inc.

[sjduck]

I feel I must agree with Donnie. This GigaSample sounds so much more \'alive\' than anything I\'ve heard before. Where other GigaSamples sound boxy, distant or dull, this one seems to have power, presence and sympathetic resonances that I previously (and almost exclusively) associated with Steinways.

I\'d would be particularly interested to hear further comment from Sam and John G on this one. Sam - have you had any thoughts on filtering/crossfading these samples yet? John - will you ever find a replacement for that Steinway?!!

[Bardstown Audio]

Hello Dan and SJDuck,

Thank you for your compliments!

Kip

[john g]

It would be REAL helpful if the midi files were not too sacred and could be posted along with the corresponding music. That way the listener could a) examine the velocities and durations of the notes being played b) directly comparer to his/her existing sampled piano playing the same material (and reduced to mp3 for a fair comparison.) I think the mp3 file is provided at the shootout site.

J.G.

[Bardstown Audio]

Posted below is a quote from Pete Leoni, who is an engineer, producer, and tech writer for \"Mix Magazine\"

____________________________________________

The tonal quality of this one is completely unlike any of the other sampled
pianos I\'ve heard, it is powerful, it cuts right though a mix, there is not
a wimpy bone in its body. I have been sitting here and playing every
conceivable type of pop music I can think of on it looking for holes.

The release samples sound superb, so much so that they have that distinctive
\"reverb\" quality that you usually only hear when sitting in front of an
actual grand.

There are no ranges on the key board that have \"dead zones\" That is to say
it sounds consistent, harmonically and spectrally balanced from one end to
the other. That is a first for me, It always seems there is a range of notes
on a sampled piano that just don\'t cut it, not on this one. It sounds
great all the way up and down the keyboard. Some of you guys may remember
that I\'ve bitched about every sampled piano I\'ve ever tried because of all
of these issues.

This piano has tremendous dynamic range, It will knock you out of your stool
when you really dig in. It will not \"wash out\" I\'m going to use it on the
gig. Another first.

It is both \"bright\" and \"fat\" all at the same time, as a real piano should
be. The first time I\'ve ever played a sample that didn\'t send me lunging for
some kind of EQ. This one needs none at all, it is just \"there\"

I have found really only one fault with this piano. If you want to play
classical music that contains very soft passages this one is not for you.
This piano was sampled from med-soft to slamming hard. It sounds like a
Billy Joel or Elton John style piano, or a Floyd Cramer or Pig Robins. Every
note is distinctive and will cut its way through the rest with a little
harder pressure, the dynamic range is there, no problem playing jazz chords
on one hand and single note melody one the other, Or even pounding Little
Richard style \"guitar chord\" open fifths on the left hand and playing trills
way up high. Nothing gets lost as it always has in every other piano I\'ve
played but a real one. This piano sounds HUGE and although it can get very
soft it doesn\'t seem to know how to be delicate, That is not a bad thing in
almost all cases in a combo. All of the other sampled pianos that I\'ve ever
tried to use had the inverse problem, far far more limiting. This baby was
apparently designed to work inside the context of a mix. It has finesse but
it always has balls. If Kip left anything out of this it was no doubt
because of the file size restrictions of Windows 98XX. This piano is over
1.6 megs in size, and has 4 velocity switches pedal up and 4 down.

I have been threatening to do a piano like this myself for a while but I
have to say, I think Kip beat me to it. This piano works in a mix, but never
sounds tinny or un-natural. I wish to hell I would have done this myself,
because I have a feeling that Kip is gong to make a bunch of money with this
one. Oh well I would rather play it myself than do all of that sample
editing anyway. If it sounds like I\'m happy I am, I\'ve been waiting for this
for a while. This piano might not be every player cup of tea, but it\'s damn
sure mine!

Pete




[This message has been edited by Bardstown Audio (edited 01-13-2002).]

[Bardstown Audio]

accidentally repeated a post, so I deleted this one

[This message has been edited by Bardstown Audio (edited 01-13-2002).]

[Bardstown Audio]

Here is an additional quote from Pete Leoni, who is an engineer, producer, and tech writer for \"Mix Magazine\"
_____________________________________________


I just got home from my weekend house gig.
I loaded the piano sample up on the Giga machine I usually use for my left
hand bass sound, but tonight we had a bass player. I don\'t usually post this
late at night but I\'ve got to tell you guys, I\'ll be damned if I didn\'t want
the gig to last another set or two, that is how jazzed I am over the way
this thing sounded. I simply didn\'t want to stop playing it. That is saying
a lot after 25 years or so of playing piano in a club, It is easy to get
bored, but not tonight! This sample floored me, completely amazed the other
guys in the group, (one of them being a real rock and roll and country
grizzled veteran with many top 20 credits to his name and a hell of a fine
picker) In my earlier comments I remarked that the sample might possibly be
unable to sound \"super mellow\" . That does not seem to be the case at all. I
had no problem whatsoever with timbral dynamics. I will stick with the
comment that this sample may not be suited for very, very soft classical
solo piano but that is the ONLY limitation that I can discern. It was sort
of a surreal experience. The same licks that I\'ve been playing on the same
songs for years took on what I can only describe as a strange sense of
\"profoundness\" That has never happened before! The chordal rhythm stuff
blended with the other instrument in the band and the rides simply \"jumped\"
out of the mix. I\'ve never seen that happen either to this degree, other
than playing a live grand. Even the club owner (and you know how they are)
made unsolicited and positive comments about the sound of this piano! Weird!
If anyone can beat this, it sure as hell won\'t be by much. This thing kicks
*** ! If Steinbergs \"The Grand\" Is any better than this, I might never leave
the piano bench long enough to eat. (Wouldn\'t hurt me) Kip sent me a CD
demo of the piano along with the sample CD, it does sound great, but I think
this might be one instance where you will just have to play this thing to
get the full impact of it. In case some of you make the great mistake of
thinking that I have anything to do with this project in any way shape or
form, you are so very, very wrong. Over the years her on this NG, when I
have found something that I considered to be evolutionary, I have gushed
just as bad as this. Remember how insane I was about the B4 and some other
things (Like overclocked Celerons) and PDrums? Well this is another one of
those examples, I\'m going to bed now!

Pete Leoni




[This message has been edited by Bardstown Audio (edited 01-13-2002).]

[Bardstown Audio]

One particular feature of the \"Bosendorfer Imperial,\" which I have failed to mention on any of my previous postings, and was brought to my attention by a customer who was pleased about this particular feature, is that the release trigger samples on the Bosendorfer are programmed to be controlled with the mod wheel. In other words, you can have the full release trigger samples effect with the mod wheel all of the way forward, and you can completely turn off the release trigger effect by moving the mod wheel all of the way back. Any mod wheel setting in between will vary the degree of the release samples effect.

I have also programmed this same mod wheel control for release trigger samples on all of the instruments in the \"Vintage Guitars and Tenor Banjos\" collection.

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[Bardstown Audio]

Hello Stephen,

The above quotes from Pete Leoni were posted on a different News Group forum. I merely copied and pasted these to this thread on the NS forum. Pete Leoni is a tech writer for \"Mix\" magazine.

The best achievable sound for live performance would be a quality stereo PA, with the speakers off of the floor. Though I was classically trained for years on piano, I did jazz gigs for over twenty five years, but have not played a gig in over four years considering how busy I am with producing sampled instrument libraries, so I am not really up on all of the latest and greatest PA gear for live performances.

Perhaps some of the others on this forum have good suggestions regarding quality PA gear for live performance.

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[Mel Tron]

Piano Wars: I have decided to buy both the Bard Boes and The Steinway D from Post. Then I will have the best of both worlds. Fair enough? I think they are both excellent and present a very much needed professional choice/quality. Now how about a Fazioli or Bechstein?

[Bardstown Audio]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mel Tron:
Piano Wars: I have decided to buy both the Bard Boes and The Steinway D from Post. Then I will have the best of both worlds. Fair enough? I think they are both excellent and present a very much needed professional choice/quality. Now how about a Fazioli or Bechstein?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hello Mel,

Very well stated. As a professional pianist, I like having several quality flavors of pianos as well to choose from, depending on the music and my mood.

Beckstein and Fazoli are wonderful pianos as well. I do not have any immediate plan for doing either of those pianos. I am working on a Baldwin SD10 Concert Grand Piano, which is the piano of choice for Dave Brubeck, George Shearing, Marian McPartland, Boston Symphony, Andre Previn, plus many other professional classical and jazz pianist.

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[mal7]

[Hi everyone,
I am a jazz pianist, have been using mainly East West Bosendorfer, Malmsjo and Holy Grail.
I\'m very impressed by the new Bos Imperial. The most realistic of all the demos I have listened to. Very realistic and authentic sound...
One question, after reading the earlier posts,and listening to the jazz MP3\'s ....
Is the dynamic expressiveness adequate? In other words, does it respond to PPP PP P MF and F like an accoustic instrument.

[sjduck]

Pete,

I really enjoyed reading your comments, particularly as I intend to use the Bosendorfer GigaSample for live jazz trio work.

May I ask how you amplify your sound live? Do you have a band PA or do you handle your own amplification through monitors or powered live speakers? I\'d really appreciate your comments.

Many thanks
Stephen.

[Bardstown Audio]

Hello Mal,

Thank you for your compliments! Very much appreciated.

The \"Bosendorfer Imperial\" does respond to all velocity levels.

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[JoE]

I think Mel has had the right idea! Especially the (almost) direct comparison between the \"Fantasie Impromtu\" demo and Michiel\'s \"Grandioso\" (nice coincidence!!) tells me that there\'s no way to decide which is the better library. But if I may, I\'d like to ask the same question as in the Steinway D thread. Is there any way for European customers to avoid the double taxation (US sales tax + EU import tax)?
Thanks,
Jens.

[Bardstown Audio]

Hello Jens,

Both the Steinway Model D and Bosendorfer Imperial are great pianos. I think that people who are wanting to have good pianos should have both the Post Steinway Model D and the Bosendorfer Imperial.

Jens, send me an email and I will explain ordering and shipping information to you.

Thanks,

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[Bardstown Audio]

New \"User Comments\" have been added to the \"User Comments\" page on the Bardstown Audio web site.

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[Bardstown Audio]

I have just posted an additional MP3 demo of the Scherzo No. 2, which has been processed with \"Altiverb,\" for \"world class\" performance hall emulation with the \"Bosendorfer Imperial.\"

You can listen to all of these MP3 demos by going to the MP3 page at www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[MarkusH]

Sounds very good to me, however octave 6, particularly F6 samples, are clipped (the recordings are, not the playback). Is that going to be updated? For the price I\'d definately like to be able to use the whole range of that grand.

thanks

-Markus

[Bardstown Audio]

I can say with total honesty that no samples on this piano are clipped. Certain notes may tend to be slightly brighter than others, due to hammer felt voicings. You will find these slight variations on any quality concert grand piano, especially on any world class concert grand piano where you have different world class concert pianist performing and playing on the same piano, and each one of these professional concert pianist wants the \"house\" piano technician to voice that same piano differently, just for them before a performance. Typically, hammer felts on these pianos are replaced quiet often, due to the wear from constantly having to re-voice these pianos for different performing concert pianist.

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[Bardstown Audio]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bardstown Audio:
I can say with total honesty that no samples on this piano are clipped. Certain notes may tend to be slightly brighter than others, due to hammer felt voicings. You will find these slight variations on any quality concert grand piano, especially on any world class concert grand piano where you have different world class concert pianist performing and playing on the same piano, and each one of these professional concert pianist wants the \"house\" piano technician to voice that same piano differently, just for them before a performance. Typically, hammer felts on these pianos are replaced quiet often, due to the wear from constantly having to re-voice these pianos for different performing concert pianist.

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Despite all of these things mentioned above, which do apply to all world class concert grand pianos, whether it be a Bosendorfer, Steinway, Beckstein, etc., all of these wonderful pianos do sound amazingly wonderful, and each has their own special characteristics from note to note, which gives them character in a very good way.

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[sjduck]

Hi all

I received the Bosendorfer in the post today. Wow - I ordered this from the US late Monday pm and it managed to reach the UK in just over a day!

Although I\'m somewhat of a GigaStudio newbie, I have to say that Kip\'s Gigasample is wonderful. Very rich, very bright, very playable. I can\'t stop playing it...

As expected, the velocity mapping requires a bit of tweaking (each controller is different after all). Can anybody give me some clues on how to do this? I\'m having trouble ...

Steve

[Bardstown Audio]

I am going to have several different articulation file downloads from my web
site in the next couple of weeks, in order to address various different things with
the \"Bosendorfer Imperial\" Concert Grand Piano, in order to accommodate different people who have different preferences, as to what they want in a piano. Bear in mind that some of these downloads will not necessarily make for a better sounding or playable piano to everybody, but these articulation downloads from my web site will accommodate different people in different ways, who have different feelings as to what they personally like in a piano, based on their personal playing techniques and styles of music that they play. Therefore, these free articulation file downloads from my web site will be a \"pick and choose\" type of selection in order to accommodate different individual preferences of this Bosendorfer. For example, some people such as myself, prefer a sampled piano with the velocity levels set at a higher level, thus permitting for more forceful playing on a keyboard controller in order to trigger the louder velocity layers. I will have a different velocity layer setting articulation file download, for people such as myself, who prefer these types of velocity settings. Also, some people like some filtering on the various layers, in order to make for a smoother sounding piano. Personally, I do not like filtering because in my opinion it takes away from the life and character of the samples to a certain extent, even though it may be minimal. Many people have been accustomed over the years to having smoother sounding sampled pianos, and that is what they are accustomed to hearing on sampled pianos over the past several years, because that has very much been the norm in producing sampled pianos over the past several years.

Bear in mind, that a smoother sounding sampled piano is not necessarily a
better sounding piano. In my opinion, sampled pianos over the past several
years have generally sounded too smooth, which has always been a shortcoming
to my ears in order to achieve true realism from a sampled piano. In my humble opinion, the un-processed and un-filtered samples have more realism and definition, sound better, and set better in a mix with other instruments, though others will differ with my personal thoughts on this. This is why I will also have an articulation file download with some filtering processes to address this issue as well, for people who prefer this type of filtering process on a sampled piano.

There are a few certain notes on this piano which appear to be slightly brighter than some of the other notes. This is due to the felt on various hammers, which is the true character of this piano. I will also have an
articulation download in order to slightly soften these various individual notes as well. Bear in mind that on a real piano, you do hear slight variations from note to note, but people seem to be more aware of these individual character variations on a sampled piano, than they are on a real piano. Also, bear in mind that there are many people who prefer leaving these certain slightly brighter notes just as they are, considering the fact that these certain notes do depict the character of this Bosendorfer Imperial that was sample recorded, and that these notes are not at all offensive. However, as I previously
mentioned, I will also have another articulation file download in order to
accommodate people would like to have these certain notes with slightly softer attacks.

Several people have commented that this is the first sampled piano that they did not have to apply any EQ processing, in order to bring it out into a mix. These people are also saying that this piano sounds better in a mix than any other sampled piano, for both classical and jazz solo, and group performances. For solo and group piano performing and recordings, I personally
prefer the sound of this sampled Bosendorfer Imperial as it is, being totally unprocessed, though in some situations a quality reverb performance hall emulation is a very nice enhancement to this piano, which does soften the overall sound of this sampled Bosendorfer Imperial piano, and thus gives the effect of hearing this piano at a distance in a \"world class\" performance hall. You may hear this comparison by listening to the two different \"Scherzo\" MP3
demos on my web site. One of the Scherzo\'s is totally unprocessed, while the other one is processed with Altiverb performance hall emulation. Both of these MP3 demos are of the same original audio recording source.

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")

[esperlad]

I got my CD today of Der Bosendorfer. Es ist sehr toll!
I must say that this is the most powerful sampled piano that I have heard yet. It can really pack quite a punch.
The size the gig file is larger than that Bosendorfer from East-West.
I really like this instrument. I wonder how the next piano will sound......
I made my own demo. If anyone wants to hear it, email me.

[Bardstown Audio]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=\"1\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by esperlad:
I got my CD today of Der Bosendorfer. Es ist sehr toll!
I must say that this is the most powerful sampled piano that I have heard yet. It can really pack quite a punch.
The size the gig file is larger than that Bosendorfer from East-West.
I really like this instrument. I wonder how the next piano will sound......
I made my own demo. If anyone wants to hear it, email me.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hello Esperlad,

Thank you for your compliments!

I am glad you like this Bosendorfer Imperial!

Kip
Bardstown Audio
www.bardstownaudio.com (\"http://www.bardstownaudio.com\")