Hi everyone,

I've gotten used to the sound of my electric piano but now, using ableton and plugins I can't seem to find a way to emulate it and the feeling of playing an electric piano. I think my buffer-size is low enough (64 samples) such that a delayed reaction should not be the problem.

But I can't seem to get the "ringing"/"crispness" of the high notes, almost hurting the ears at exactly the point where an electric guitar would distort but it's just clean and reverberating (I'm sorry, it's hard to describe a sound without getting creative).

Also I want a certain "harshness" and "bluntness" a really direct sound in the low notes, clear and crisp also, such that every note is discernable from every other.

I added a 24h sample here: https://clyp.it/ndlr0wbs , recorded with my microphone which is imperfect but maybe it can give an idea. I just can't accept that the sound of my 10 year old piano (kawai cl 35 btw https://www.kawai.de/products/archive/cl35/) would be impossible to emulate on my modern computer.

Basically I am looking for a clean piano sound with a touch of electric and maybe a tiny little bit distortion

Any ideas? Reverb? Compression?

Thanks a lot

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2018

The closest I've come so far is the Kontakt Galaxy Vintage D, but it's not perfectly satisfying

 

Btw: In the recording the low notes don't come across the way the do in the room, I think the microphone is not perfect for that.

 

Try "Erosion" Ableton built in device , use the sine (wave) it can help to get the "ringing"/"crispness" of the high and low notes (it depend on how you use it) be careful with the amount you put in it can ruin your sound as well.

 

try http://www.yohng.com/software.html maybe

 

Have you tried Longe Lizard? My personal choice for most things Rhodes based.

There are quite a few Kontakt based electric pinano emulations so, research needed. One I stumbled across is
Session Keys Electric R from e Instruments.

Session Keys Electric R walk through video:

Lounge Lizard EP-4 video:

 

Lounge Lizard all the way!

 

What you're looking for is simply a certain type of acoustic piano sound.
What @junh1024 wrote is one option and a good start, also there are many piano libraries for NI Kontakt.
You'll have to pick your own personal favourite, there are plenty of high quality pianos out there.
You won't get this sound with Ableton alone.

Edit: AcousticSamples Kawai EX Pro might be your thing

 

Last edited: Mar 6, 2018

@junh1024 Thanks, that is very nice I will explore those. It doesn't sound like I can emulate the sound I imagine with it but I also like new piano-sounds

Lounge Lizard sounds great. I will consider it, though it is always hard to judge without playing it myself.

And I should have thought of looking into Kawais own products myself - my bad :D Thank you, that sounds really intriguing

 

I will also start a new thread more general than just the sound of my own piano

 

well if you cant emulate it with tension and collision inside of ableton then maybe you can simply record in the audio from your keyboard instead of using a vst?

 

If you're really after your old piano sound you could just try to sample it.After all a midified keyboard with a 1/4" jack is one of the simplest instruments to sample.
That will take some time, but afair there is software like Samplerobot to help you in the process.