Click and crackling sound on Steinway D

[Hakan]

I have a click sound when I play E4. It appears after a second or so if I hold the key down. Also, I have a more crackling (like someone is walking on gravel) sound on C3. Has anyone experienced the same thing? I have a audio recording of these sounds but I don't know how to make it available on the forum.

Best,
Hakan

[Curt]

It's about TIME that somebody else stepped up and confirmed that sound on E4! YES! When that note is played at, or near, max velocity and the the note is held down, there is a distinct CLACK sound - almost like something fell over during the recording. It is present on three of the five perspectives.

Everyone poo-poo'd me when I reported that almost a year ago. I even had a screen shot of the waveform where the spike from the noise is undeniably visible! No one else could hear it and I was told by others that I must "have a bad copy" because theirs sounded fine.

Thank you for confirming that at least two of us now have bad copies!

I'm having trouble finding the crackle on C3 however. I tried several velocities on the Classic perspective. Could you be more specific as to perspective and velocity and also if it's a soft pedal sample?

Curt

[Hakan]

Hi Curt,

Thank you for your response! On C3 it is a more subtle kind of "walking on gravel sound" or like someone is wrapping paper. I used the Player perspective. The E4 sound is VERY distinct and impossible to miss.

Do you know if I could make an audio file available to the forum? It would be so much easier than just describing the sounds.

/Hakan

[Curt]

There is a web host that allows you to share audio files, but I don't recall what it is! Search around in this forum and I'm sure you'll find a link to it in someone's post. You could check the Piano World forum - it's quite busy with lots of helpful people there.

piano world dot com.

[DPDAN]

I played C3 with many different velocities and can not find any artifacts.

E4 does indeed have the sound of the floor creaking after the note was struck,
a kind of wood creak, that's all it is and I am sure Jeff Hurchalla will fix it in the next update.

http://www.dankury.com/temp/E4_wood_creak.2.wav

quite a few people here use http://www.box.net if you don't have your own website or webspace.

[Curt]

I am sure Jeff Hurchalla will fix it in the next update.

Can you be sure of this?

[DPDAN]

Can you be sure of this?

no,

but he reads this forum and the Steinway is his baby.

Ultimately, this noise is in this one sample and is only noticeable if this note is played all by itself and with a high velocity. It certainly does not prevent anyone from using the library.
I don't remember this ever coming up, but it must have as you mentioned, so let's trust that it will be fixed. If I know Jeff,... and I do,.... he will fix it.

Dan :)

[Jeff Hurchalla]

I'll try to make some quick sfz changes today that you can informally use if you wish, before an official update. I have a written list, but off the top of my head I believe there's 3 samples that got through with a crack sound (including that E). I'll substitute them out for unaffected samples.
Just fyi, the original acoustic source of that noise was an occasional pop of the wood backing in a concert hall seat, probably due to changing humidity and/or temperature.

[Curt]

Just fyi, the original acoustic source of that noise was an occasional pop of the wood backing in a concert hall seat, probably due to changing humidity and/or temperature.

Interesting!

[DPDAN]

I could tell it was wood creaking like the floor but not the piano :)

[Hakan]

Thank you all for the help and comments! I am very much looking forward to the 1.5 update!

[Curt]

I'll try to make some quick sfz changes today that you can informally use if you wish, before an official update. I have a written list, but off the top of my head I believe there's 3 samples that got through with a crack sound (including that E). I'll substitute them out for unaffected samples.

Has anyone requested these fixed samples yet? If not, may I formally request them now?

Thanks Jeff!
Curt

[Jeff Hurchalla]

Hi Curt,
I put the sfz files in the zip PRO_STANDARD_SFZS.zip on my site, at
jeffhurchalla.com/steinway_sfzs
They are for the Pro or Standard versions. There's no changes for Basic.
Though I expect to use the same changes to the sfz files for the official update later, using these early sfzs right now isn't officially supported. You're very welcome to use them, but view them as you would a beta release.
Here's how to use them:
1) Go to your Garritan Steinway's "Programs" folder (C:\Program Files\Garritan\Steinway\Programs on Windows; on Mac it's at your Applications folder-> Garritan Steinway-> Programs).
2) In this Programs folder, make backup copies of all the sfz files you see there.
3) Unzip the 4 sfz files from PRO_STANDARD_SFZS.zip into the Programs folder.
That's it.
The E a 10th above middle C was changed for one sample, and the F# an octave and a half below middle C was also changed on one sample.
Hope this helps-

[Curt]

Nice! Jeff, thanks. The clack is gone!

So, to risk asking something that's already been answered... what is the major content of 1.05 going to be? Improvements to the sympathetic resonance, yes?

Curt

[Jeff Hurchalla]

Hi Curt,
I'm mainly aiming at pedaling improvements, and a couple changes of samples (like above) where helpful. I don't have sympathetic resonance improvement planned for any update.

[Curt]

Thanks for the update. I may have confused sympathetic resonance with the planned pedalling improvement.

It's still an extremely playable piano at this point. Any improvements are frosting on the cake.

Curt