Thoughts of Akoustik piano

elfy · 15th November 2005, 04:56 AM

Im wondering if this is as good as it is hyped up to be.

Anyone bought this beast.

mogWai · 15th November 2005, 03:10 PM

Hard to say.. and I dont actually own it - but judging by NIs other forays into the ROMpler world ie Electrik Piano - I would say no, it probably doesnt live up to the hype.

The MP3s demos sound weak and unconvincing. I am pretty much sorted for Piano Libraries at the mo, and I havent heard anything special with AP to make me want to go get it.

And Electrik Piano?? I've got better freeware than that for Rhodes.

imo, of course

Roger Starr · 15th November 2005, 08:51 PM

Tried it. Sounds good tho' I found the dynamics in playing not changing, meaning that nomatter how soft or hard you play the sound remains the same...

RS

strauss · 15th November 2005, 09:59 PM

I've played with it a little and quite like it!
It also responds really well dynamically to my Yamaha S80 which I as a master keyboard. Many of the other libraries sound nice too, but just aren't playable IMO.

Quote:

Tried it. Sounds good tho' I found the dynamics in playing not changing, meaning that nomatter how soft or hard you play the sound remains the same...

The dynamics are adjustable as is the sustain resonance, pedal noise and acoustics (using convolution reverb).

Quote:

but judging by NIs other forays into the ROMpler world ie Electrik Piano - I would say no, it probably doesnt live up to the hype

I agree Elektrik Piano sucks IMO. I think Scarbee's libraries are waaay better for rhodes and wurly! But NI sure kind of suprised me in a good way with their Akoustik Piano.

stereotype · 16th November 2005, 04:48 AM

Ivory from Synthogy is the best I tried so far. It's huge. The current version I think is around 10 DVDs. You don't need to install them all; you can just load specific pianos. Not only does it sound the best of all I've tried ( NI Akoustic Pno, Bosendorfer 290, Bardstown and The Grand.........btw, The Grand is a real joke) it plays the best of any I've used.

My one problem with all of them is that none of them offer mono samples. Now before you say, " WHY in the world would anyone want mono piano samples?" let me explain. I use my laptop in a live band as my keyboard rack. Even in today's high tech world, most sound systems are still mono. Or.......stereo doesn't work well when both sides of the house are too far apart to accurately image stereo for the audience. Or the sound crew is just too lazy to run 2 lines to you. Even if stereo house IS an option, you need enough lines and you'd need stereo stage monitors to hear it yourself. So unless you carry your own stage rig or you're successful enough to get stereo stage monitors or in-ears, you either get 1 side or both sides panned center. When you throw both sides of all these samples left, right or center to accomodate 1 line or monitor........or when the signal gets summed at the monitor console, the sound of ALL these pianos gets phasey or in some cases really hollow due to the ambience-happy sample companies or just the bleed of each note into each mic. And just using the left or right sides makes playing toward one end of the keyboard dis-proportionate to the other volume and dynamics-wise.

So for those times.............it would be nice to have a piano that was recorded with 1 mic placed dead center of the soundboard.

aapee · 16th November 2005, 09:24 AM

Your explanation makes sense...
But I think you should chance your name as a Monotype!

respect,

AaPee

stereotype · 17th November 2005, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aapee

Your explanation makes sense...
But I think you should chance your name as a Monotype!

respect,

AaPee

Actually, as soon as my new Mac G5 gets here, I'll be going by the moniker Quadtype

soultrane · 25th November 2005, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stereotype

Ivory from Synthogy is the best I tried so far. It's huge. The current version I think is around 10 DVDs. You don't need to install them all; you can just load specific pianos. Not only does it sound the best of all I've tried ( NI Akoustic Pno, Bosendorfer 290, Bardstown and The Grand.........btw, The Grand is a real joke) it plays the best of any I've used.

My one problem with all of them is that none of them offer mono samples. Now before you say, " WHY in the world would anyone want mono piano samples?" let me explain. I use my laptop in a live band as my keyboard rack. Even in today's high tech world, most sound systems are still mono. Or.......stereo doesn't work well when both sides of the house are too far apart to accurately image stereo for the audience. Or the sound crew is just too lazy to run 2 lines to you. Even if stereo house IS an option, you need enough lines and you'd need stereo stage monitors to hear it yourself. So unless you carry your own stage rig or you're successful enough to get stereo stage monitors or in-ears, you either get 1 side or both sides panned center. When you throw both sides of all these samples left, right or center to accomodate 1 line or monitor........or when the signal gets summed at the monitor console, the sound of ALL these pianos gets phasey or in some cases really hollow due to the ambience-happy sample companies or just the bleed of each note into each mic. And just using the left or right sides makes playing toward one end of the keyboard dis-proportionate to the other volume and dynamics-wise.

So for those times.............it would be nice to have a piano that was recorded with 1 mic placed dead center of the soundboard.

hey stereotype

how are u using your computer for live gigs?

are u running a sequencer? or how are you changing your sounds/soft instruments? do u make use of alot of controllers?

just curious?

stereotype · 25th November 2005, 04:51 PM

I have the Keystation Pro 88 by M-Audio as a controller. By nature, for the gigs I do, I don't need very extensive setups. I run Ivory as an AU plug through the Rax software; it stays on midi channel 1 and I don't need to change pianos during a show. I like the Yamaha best. It's bright and cuts well when I'm just the rhythm section but still sounds good when I need to step out a bit.

I run Reason at the the same time. I have several samplers set up in a Reason rack with personal sounds or samples; some from older keyboards I formerlly carried. This does mostly strings, elec piano and a few "specialty" samples of FX ( extra vocal parts or sound FX from pulled from an artists cd or multitracks.

The biggest hurdle is CPU. I've put this through it's paces and know what I can and can't get away with. Depending on the gig, or sometimes the point of time in a show, I may run B4 for an organ. Rather than just have everything open and active, I can many times plan according to the setlist and say..........quit Reason and start B4 or the other way around so I don't have to pay too much attention to CPU usage. They load pretty quick and it's only a problem when I get surprised by something unplanned. I usually leave Ivory going all the time just because piano is the core of what I do and it DOES take a while to load. If I ever need more keys than I can get by splitting or mapping the Keystation, I have a little Oxygen 8 that works well enough for bit parts. The powerbook has 2 USB ports. Both controllers attach via USB. So I end up with 4 cables max; 1 power to laptop, 1 USB to each keyboard and an audio out of the laptop. The controllers work fine powered by USB and I've never had any problems related to it. ( I'm STILL amazed each time I set up just because I can't help but think back to the amount of cabling I formerly had to carry for controllers, keyboards, mixers and pedals.) Sometimes I fly to gigs and have to use a keyboard provided by the show. In that case, I keep a Midiman Uno USB midi unit in my bag. If the keyboard provided doesn't have a USB connection, I can use that to interface my laptop.

I don't need any sequencing and I don't drive any loops for what I do; although I have a few times used loops in a sampler in Reason. It works great with planning, mainly back to the CPU issue, but overall, it's not what I do live. If I were needing more of that, I'd be getting a laptop with more power. ( All this runs on my lowly 867Mhz G4!!) I keep everything on a respectably low buffer setting for latency, although never the actual lowest settings.

I can asign any knob, button or slider on the Keystation to almost any function I need on any of the soft synths for volume or mixer settings. The Keystation even has sliders that can be assigned as drawbars on the B4. I keep settings and keyboard mappings in programs in memory, although to make major changes like switch organs or start and quit apps, I have to go to the Powerbook.

Overall, it takes some plannng if I need anything more than a normal traditional setup of piano, organ, elec piano and strings. Several things that make this work are the Rax software and the fact that Reason has 4 banks (A,B,C,D) of midi assigments. Also the fact that the output of the Powerbook is quite strong and sounds good. It really surprises most sound guys when I just hook the outputs up to a DI and go. They always se what I'm doing and assume there won't be a hot level. They're aways wrong and usually give themselves a good blast in their cue wedge as a result

An added benefit to this is the fact that I write soundbytes and jingle music also. I can carry the laptop and O8 all inside an M-Audio bag, sit on my hotel room bed or desk ( sometimes I've even laid in my bunk on tour buses) and write. Several of the pieces I've done this way have been my biggest sellers without any remixing at home!!

It's not quite as extensive as I used to get when I carried 2-18 inch racks with hardware and midi mappers. But since I don't need the big layers of synths ( like in the 80s) and need more "traditional" keys now, it's wonderful to save wear and tear on my actual Hammond and Rhodes.........not to mention everyone's backs.

groovuru · 29th November 2005, 11:16 PM

I find akoustic piano perfectly acceptable for the price, nothing like as bad as the elektric, I find the sounds are really pleasing and have ben inspired a couple of times to actually write something

idrisguitar · 1st March 2007, 09:42 PM

i think akoustik piano has a great sound, messed around on my mates studio and i am in fact saving up for it.

it has a good sound out of the box, but when you start adding the righ treverb and other things it really can be beautiful.

its the second best library next to ivory imho.

Igotsoul4u · 7th March 2007, 02:20 AM

i own it. Its barely better then the motif. Go with ivory.

Mats · 7th March 2007, 09:00 PM

Akoustik piano is far from as good as the hype i think. Unfortunatelly it has quite the 'midi piano' feel to it, especially around the 2 octave. I don´t dislike it but ther are a few out there that is far better IMO. The Grand 2 is really good. There´s quite a difference between The Grand and The Grand 2, so don´t be mistaken from listening to the first edition. Ivory is quite expensive but really good. Take a lot of space on your drive though. Before bying anything, listen to the Grand 2, won´t regret it.

Mats · 7th March 2007, 09:01 PM

Akoustik piano is far from as good as the hype i think. Unfortunatelly it has quite the 'midi piano' feel to it, especially around the 4th octave. I don´t dislike it but ther are a few out there that is far better IMO. The Grand 2 is really good. There´s quite a difference between The Grand and The Grand 2, so don´t be mistaken from listening to the first edition. Ivory is quite expensive but really good. Take a lot of space on your drive though. Before bying anything, listen to the Grand 2, won´t regret it.

JariNi · 8th March 2007, 11:04 PM

I think akoustik piano lacks character especially in the middle. All of the models are kind of boring when played with short repeated notes, but you can get away with some dreamy and soft passages quite well. I'm still looking for something else. Can't wait to hear what those guys from Steinway & Sons are planning...

statikcat · 8th March 2007, 11:08 PM

The Upright is really cool. As far as any grand models.. they are not up to par with The Grand 2 and Ivory. You can tell by the mp3 demos alone.

runamuck · 9th March 2007, 03:20 AM

I own Akoustic Piano, Ivory, and several others.

In my opinion, Akoustic is no better or worse than Ivory - just different.
They are both at the top of the heap although I ocassionally still use Bardstown Bosendorfer for some things.

I've been using the demo version of PianoTek lately and can recommend that as well.

It really depends what you're looking for. Some people like Steinways, some Bosendorfers, some Yamahas, etc.

You'll find the same sort of differences in opinions among digital piano users as you will between users of the real thing.

Jim

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15th November 2005, 04:56 AM	#1
elfy Gear nut Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 84	Thoughts of Akoustik piano Im wondering if this is as good as it is hyped up to be. Anyone bought this beast.

16th November 2005, 09:24 AM	#6
aapee Gear maniac Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Finland Posts: 186	Your explanation makes sense... But I think you should chance your name as a Monotype! respect, AaPee __________________ APart-Studio "The Sound meets the Art" ******************************

29th November 2005, 11:16 PM	#10
groovuru Gear interested Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Glasgow UK Posts: 6	Akoustic Piano or Pianyes I find akoustic piano perfectly acceptable for the price, nothing like as bad as the elektric, I find the sounds are really pleasing and have ben inspired a couple of times to actually write something

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15th November 2005, 03:10 PM	#2
mogWai Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 729	Hard to say.. and I dont actually own it - but judging by NIs other forays into the ROMpler world ie Electrik Piano - I would say no, it probably doesnt live up to the hype. The MP3s demos sound weak and unconvincing. I am pretty much sorted for Piano Libraries at the mo, and I havent heard anything special with AP to make me want to go get it. And Electrik Piano?? I've got better freeware than that for Rhodes. imo, of course

15th November 2005, 08:51 PM	#3
Roger Starr Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Millcorner, Holland Posts: 652	Tried it. Sounds good tho' I found the dynamics in playing not changing, meaning that nomatter how soft or hard you play the sound remains the same... RS

16th November 2005, 04:48 AM	#5
stereotype Gear Head Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 66	Ivory from Synthogy is the best I tried so far. It's huge. The current version I think is around 10 DVDs. You don't need to install them all; you can just load specific pianos. Not only does it sound the best of all I've tried ( NI Akoustic Pno, Bosendorfer 290, Bardstown and The Grand.........btw, The Grand is a real joke) it plays the best of any I've used. My one problem with all of them is that none of them offer mono samples. Now before you say, " WHY in the world would anyone want mono piano samples?" let me explain. I use my laptop in a live band as my keyboard rack. Even in today's high tech world, most sound systems are still mono. Or.......stereo doesn't work well when both sides of the house are too far apart to accurately image stereo for the audience. Or the sound crew is just too lazy to run 2 lines to you. Even if stereo house IS an option, you need enough lines and you'd need stereo stage monitors to hear it yourself. So unless you carry your own stage rig or you're successful enough to get stereo stage monitors or in-ears, you either get 1 side or both sides panned center. When you throw both sides of all these samples left, right or center to accomodate 1 line or monitor........or when the signal gets summed at the monitor console, the sound of ALL these pianos gets phasey or in some cases really hollow due to the ambience-happy sample companies or just the bleed of each note into each mic. And just using the left or right sides makes playing toward one end of the keyboard dis-proportionate to the other volume and dynamics-wise. So for those times.............it would be nice to have a piano that was recorded with 1 mic placed dead center of the soundboard.

25th November 2005, 04:51 PM	#9
stereotype Gear Head Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 66	I have the Keystation Pro 88 by M-Audio as a controller. By nature, for the gigs I do, I don't need very extensive setups. I run Ivory as an AU plug through the Rax software; it stays on midi channel 1 and I don't need to change pianos during a show. I like the Yamaha best. It's bright and cuts well when I'm just the rhythm section but still sounds good when I need to step out a bit. I run Reason at the the same time. I have several samplers set up in a Reason rack with personal sounds or samples; some from older keyboards I formerlly carried. This does mostly strings, elec piano and a few "specialty" samples of FX ( extra vocal parts or sound FX from pulled from an artists cd or multitracks. The biggest hurdle is CPU. I've put this through it's paces and know what I can and can't get away with. Depending on the gig, or sometimes the point of time in a show, I may run B4 for an organ. Rather than just have everything open and active, I can many times plan according to the setlist and say..........quit Reason and start B4 or the other way around so I don't have to pay too much attention to CPU usage. They load pretty quick and it's only a problem when I get surprised by something unplanned. I usually leave Ivory going all the time just because piano is the core of what I do and it DOES take a while to load. If I ever need more keys than I can get by splitting or mapping the Keystation, I have a little Oxygen 8 that works well enough for bit parts. The powerbook has 2 USB ports. Both controllers attach via USB. So I end up with 4 cables max; 1 power to laptop, 1 USB to each keyboard and an audio out of the laptop. The controllers work fine powered by USB and I've never had any problems related to it. ( I'm STILL amazed each time I set up just because I can't help but think back to the amount of cabling I formerly had to carry for controllers, keyboards, mixers and pedals.) Sometimes I fly to gigs and have to use a keyboard provided by the show. In that case, I keep a Midiman Uno USB midi unit in my bag. If the keyboard provided doesn't have a USB connection, I can use that to interface my laptop. I don't need any sequencing and I don't drive any loops for what I do; although I have a few times used loops in a sampler in Reason. It works great with planning, mainly back to the CPU issue, but overall, it's not what I do live. If I were needing more of that, I'd be getting a laptop with more power. ( All this runs on my lowly 867Mhz G4!!) I keep everything on a respectably low buffer setting for latency, although never the actual lowest settings. I can asign any knob, button or slider on the Keystation to almost any function I need on any of the soft synths for volume or mixer settings. The Keystation even has sliders that can be assigned as drawbars on the B4. I keep settings and keyboard mappings in programs in memory, although to make major changes like switch organs or start and quit apps, I have to go to the Powerbook. Overall, it takes some plannng if I need anything more than a normal traditional setup of piano, organ, elec piano and strings. Several things that make this work are the Rax software and the fact that Reason has 4 banks (A,B,C,D) of midi assigments. Also the fact that the output of the Powerbook is quite strong and sounds good. It really surprises most sound guys when I just hook the outputs up to a DI and go. They always se what I'm doing and assume there won't be a hot level. They're aways wrong and usually give themselves a good blast in their cue wedge as a result An added benefit to this is the fact that I write soundbytes and jingle music also. I can carry the laptop and O8 all inside an M-Audio bag, sit on my hotel room bed or desk ( sometimes I've even laid in my bunk on tour buses) and write. Several of the pieces I've done this way have been my biggest sellers without any remixing at home!! It's not quite as extensive as I used to get when I carried 2-18 inch racks with hardware and midi mappers. But since I don't need the big layers of synths ( like in the 80s) and need more "traditional" keys now, it's wonderful to save wear and tear on my actual Hammond and Rhodes.........not to mention everyone's backs.

1st March 2007, 09:42 PM	#11
idrisguitar Gear Head Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 73	i think akoustik piano has a great sound, messed around on my mates studio and i am in fact saving up for it. it has a good sound out of the box, but when you start adding the righ treverb and other things it really can be beautiful. its the second best library next to ivory imho.

7th March 2007, 02:20 AM	#12
Igotsoul4u Lives for gear Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,607	i own it. Its barely better then the motif. Go with ivory.

7th March 2007, 09:00 PM	#13
Mats Gear maniac Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 187	Akoustik piano is far from as good as the hype i think. Unfortunatelly it has quite the 'midi piano' feel to it, especially around the 2 octave. I don´t dislike it but ther are a few out there that is far better IMO. The Grand 2 is really good. There´s quite a difference between The Grand and The Grand 2, so don´t be mistaken from listening to the first edition. Ivory is quite expensive but really good. Take a lot of space on your drive though. Before bying anything, listen to the Grand 2, won´t regret it.

7th March 2007, 09:01 PM	#14
Mats Gear maniac Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 187	Akoustik piano is far from as good as the hype i think. Unfortunatelly it has quite the 'midi piano' feel to it, especially around the 4th octave. I don´t dislike it but ther are a few out there that is far better IMO. The Grand 2 is really good. There´s quite a difference between The Grand and The Grand 2, so don´t be mistaken from listening to the first edition. Ivory is quite expensive but really good. Take a lot of space on your drive though. Before bying anything, listen to the Grand 2, won´t regret it.

8th March 2007, 11:04 PM	#15
JariNi Gear interested Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Finland Posts: 17	I think akoustik piano lacks character especially in the middle. All of the models are kind of boring when played with short repeated notes, but you can get away with some dreamy and soft passages quite well. I'm still looking for something else. Can't wait to hear what those guys from Steinway & Sons are planning...

8th March 2007, 11:08 PM	#16
statikcat Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: USA - Indiana Posts: 774	The Upright is really cool. As far as any grand models.. they are not up to par with The Grand 2 and Ivory. You can tell by the mp3 demos alone.

9th March 2007, 03:20 AM	#17
runamuck Gear nut Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 102	I own Akoustic Piano, Ivory, and several others. In my opinion, Akoustic is no better or worse than Ivory - just different. They are both at the top of the heap although I ocassionally still use Bardstown Bosendorfer for some things. I've been using the demo version of PianoTek lately and can recommend that as well. It really depends what you're looking for. Some people like Steinways, some Bosendorfers, some Yamahas, etc. You'll find the same sort of differences in opinions among digital piano users as you will between users of the real thing. Jim