creating a sampled piano

udp · Post by **udp** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:10 pm

I'm seriously considering recording my Yamaha upright and mapping it into multiple instances of Sampler in a Rack. I would record p, mf, f for sustained, staccato, and sustained(pedal). So 3 instances of Sampler with velocity controlling dynamics. It's a nice sounding intrument and it's been recently tuned. I figure I'll open the lid and use 2 stereo mics, dividing the instrument into thirds. Can anyone think of things I've not got in my equasion?

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 2:23 pm

You should consider where you place your mics for each sample. If not consistent, then some samples will sound more dull or more bright than others. Also, try to capture it as dry as possible. Then normalize to get the loudness about right.

If on the other hand, you want realistic room sound, you don't have to adjust the mics and just sample away, but then you could just record a performance and it's the same thing.

Also, not sure why you'd need racks with Sampler, unless you wanted multiple outputs. A Sampler instrument can have multi-samples.

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:38 pm

Sounds like a cool project, but very labor intensive!

When you're done you're going to post a .zip of the sample set, right?

scientist · Post by **scientist** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 3:42 pm

for recording my upright, i take the front panel (the part you stare at when playing) off and do two mics pointing in very near the harp, equidistant from center about 3-4 octaves apart. for me this gets the brightest sound and records the keys i actually play (as in i don't care about the really high and really low notes) pretty well. be warned though that recording pianos is hard, especially for an accurate multisample. unless you're going for 'character' (i.e. not an accurate recreation) i'd almost say don't do it. nebulae is right. if the mics are stationary, you get a performance...to get a consistent dry sounding multisample you're probably best off making mic adjustments as you record. i just did this for recording vibes and it worked out well...recording with only one mic, moving it every 5 or so notes. also, start out by just recording and building a sampler from an octave or so...this'll at least help you decide if its worth the effort and you can quit straight away if its not. oh one more thing to watch is noise...when playing back multisamples, the noise from recording can really add up. does sampler have the capability to attach a sample to note off messages? if so you can record some hammer release noises...really helps with realism.

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 4:10 pm

I suppose it must because there are hammer samples on the EIC pianos

nolus · Post by **nolus** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:41 pm

The EIC piano uses one sampler for sustained notes and one for release sounds, the note length effect is used to trigger the release sounds from the note off messages.

If you record release sounds then you probably won't need separate stacato samples.

Best of luck with your project, it is notoriously hard to sample a piano well. keep us up to date on progress, problems encountered etc.

Kenny D · Post by **Kenny D** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 6:20 pm

There's many ways to skin this cat, but I would consider doing something that'll give you a unique, one of a kind sample set. There's already a lot of great sampled piano instruments out there.

I would focus on the instrument itself - have a good stereo miking set up in a great sounding room, just as if you were going be recording it for an album, and then do multiple velocities. I think to get it sound as realistic as possible, I would go with 5 different levels: pp, p, mf, f, ff

Best of luck!

-Kenny D

udp · Post by **udp** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 12:19 am

Thanks for all the encouragement and great suggestions. And yes if the samples turn out acceptable I'll post them freely. This is likely to take a while with two young daughters at home, and a dishwasher and a furnace, ect. Fortunately, I've got Sound Soap to help, but my fear is I could really wreck some work if I use Sound Soap. I'll keep you all updated.