Favorite Arturia Pianos and Other Instruments

[Loach]

As someone who owns nearly all of the Arturia instruments, I have found myself conflicted regarding their piano offerings. Despite the breadth of the V Collection, I am not a big fan of the Arturia pianos, but I recognize that I may be missing something in how they are meant to be utilized or tweaked.

I am curious to hear from the community: what are your favorite Arturia pianos and other instruments?

Are there specific models that you find particularly realistic or useful? I would also love to know which of their other instruments you consider to be essential.

Perhaps there is a specific approach to the piano settings or the Augmented series that I should revisit. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and learning which Arturia tools you find most inspiring for your productions.

[matjones]

Hi @Loach

I have to admit i’m not really a piano aficionado, but i’ve been blown away a couple of times by people that can really, and i mean REALLY play the piano.
One instance that springs to mind was in a friends’ studio, sadly moved away some time ago now, who played me a piano part he’d recorded in his DAW, i asked him where he’d tracked it as it sounded so good, and the playing was excellent… ‘Just over there’ he said, pointing to his controller, a nice 88 note fully weighted, iirc Akai ‘master’ keyboard.
He showed me the midi and patch he’d used…
I was rather surprised!
In the hands of a good player, it’s VERY convincing imho.

[francoise]

Alto sax genius Charlie Parker aka Bird often played masterfully cheap saxes when he had pawned his alto for dope.

V piano has to be tweaked to get the desired sound. It can be tweaked more than sampled pianos. As a Pianoteq pro user, I easily find what I need. Pianoteq pianos are synthesized rather than sampled, like Arturia’s pianos , and it offers a way to generate random versions and the process can well constrained if wanted.

The Pianoteq basic physical model is a string. This string model shows in the new Syngular synth. It’s always basically a string instrument with different ADSR.

[bigblip]

Regarding the pianos, I like the uprights for ‘thumping’, but I’m less excited by the grands for ‘operatic’ piano. For that I use UAD Ravel, even though it’s far less configurable. I’m not an expert by any means, but I know what I like in our music.

As for other essentials, we rarely fail to use the Mellotron. In fact, on our last album it featured on every song, sometimes several instances. I love it! Other essentials (for me) are the Mini and SEM. I use the Augmented instruments a lot, as well, but that’s only when I’m in our vocalist’s studio, as I don’t own them!

At the risk of a shameless plug, you can hear how we use these brilliant plugins here: Detronics | Spotify

Ravel piano examples in ‘Imagine This’ and ‘The Outer Reach’, Mellotron in all of them (mainly choirs, strings) but especially’Across The Stars’, and the synths in ‘Make It Up’, ‘The Time Before The Time Between Us’ and ‘Panic Rhapsody’.

[Loach]

I am with you on the Arturia uprights—they have some character. I actually prefer them (and Native Instruments) over Ravel as well. Do you have a favorite Upright preset, or a specific ‘tweak’ you always go to for the sound you want?

Also, I fully agree on the Mini and SEM. Check out the Chick C Synth Lead, Jineace, and the G-Funk Split on the Mini—those are total classics. I am still warming up to the Augmented instruments, though I have been finding some cool inspiration in the Yangtze and Mallets lately.

And hey, nice work on the album! I will definitely check out Detronics to hear that Mellotron in action.

[Sean_W]

@francoise

Pianoteq pianos are synthesized rather than sampled, like Arturia’s pianos

For the record, Piano V (as well as Stage 73V, Wurli V and Clavinet V) is using physical modeling, much like Pianoteq does.
Augmented Piano, on the other hand, is sample-based, but with some synth morphing options.

[francoise]

Sorry! My phrasing was ambiguous: I meant Pianoteq pianos are synthesized (by modeling) like Arturia pianos., instead of being sampled like Native’s.

Augmented Grand Piano is sampled. It takes a few seconds to load.

[francoise]

I like the Piano V3 German Grand model. It’s important to calibrate the velocity curve.
In the Pianoteq collection, the Upright U4 is one of my favorite.

[PascalH_HSMR_CIWA]

Hello,

I am the bad student of the class.

I admit I haven’t really spent much time on the use of pianos in the collection.

I have a strong preference for Noire by Native Instruments and have been too busy exploring the banks in Analog Lab and Pigments.

But I promise I will make up for it.

Cheers.

[Jon_Vincent]

Mostly I use the pianos in Logic because they cut through a mix better than the Arturia Piano Vs. If you twisted my arm and told me I had to use an Arturia piano it would be the ‘1982’ piano preset because nothing else in Piano V really cuts through a mix without ridiculous EQ (which just makes them shrill). I haven’t tried any of the Augmented pianos because I don’town it.

If I used pianos as a solo instrument or primary instrument in my music then maybe i’d use more of the Arturia offerings.

[matjones]

@Jon_Vincent

really cuts through a mix

I know it’s not The Piano V this thread is about, but that’s one of the reasons why I LOVE the CP70 V, that and its unique sound.

[Loach]

That is an interesting perspective, I tend to agree with you. I had not really considered the Logic Pro pianos as an option, but I will definitely take a closer look now.

I am currently jumping between Logic Pro and Ableton Live 12 Suite. While I find that Ableton has a slight edge with its native effects, its acoustic and electric pianos leave a lot to be desired. I do own the Arturia V Collection, which includes the Augmented Grand Piano, but I am not really a fan of it. It has some okay, unique presets, but I generally prefer purer sounds unless I am working on experimental electronic music.

Given the recent updates to Logic, you have given me a good reason to hop back in and see how those pianos sit in the mix.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

[DillyTumly]

Could not agree with you more about the Arturia piano instrument.

I’m a pianist first and my go to is NI’s Noire in a patch I made from the basic Noire, and a bit of compression, because I’m not performing classical pieces, per se. If I want to play classical pieces, I still use the Noire, but with a very straightforward implementation, and it is truly a masterpiece of sampling - or I use a real piano. The Gentleman upright is my go to for plunking out parts and playing on a track with a band, but I have a lot of pianos now over the years, and the mixes speak for themselves. Hands down, the NI sample-based pianos are solid and groovy for recording - especially film cues.

My view on the Arturia piano is that it’s not meant to be a recreation of an actual piano, but a piano-like instrument born of modelling and maths, and endlessly alterable in vastly different ways than a sample-based instrument. It’s just a different instrument.

When you’re recording multiple tracks, what sounds “good” by itself, often won’t sound “good” in a mix, unless it just happens to match all of your acoustic requirements, or there’s only a couple of things going on in the mix at the same time.

If you took just the piano TRACKS from most of the hits from the last 30 years, most people would be shocked at just how much is chopped out from the low-end. Those parts by themselves sound thin, tinny, shallow, even brash, but you drop them in the song, and they’re perfect. Imagine Steve Nieve playing piano with Elvis Costello and recording the full range of that piano - there wouldn’t be room left for DP MacManus to even sing, let alone have a band on there!

It’s a bit of a catch-22, because if it sounds awesome by itself, it’s probably taking up a LOT of the human audio spectrum, and for it to sit with other tracks, will probably have to be high-passed, and EQ’d, or low-passed if it’s doing bass duty.

Cheers!

[LBH]

Hi all,

Just some thoughts i have had.

I have yet to find a virtual instrument that is just like a real acoustic Piano.
Skilled classical concerto players do not use them in a Piano concert. They may even try out several Pianos of the same type to get the right one for them.

Modeling Pianos have the potential to be the most realistic over sampled Pianos, as they can react precise to velocity and to the modelled soundboard no matter how many notes are played. Each velocity layer have a different timbre and volume.
A Sampled Piano is sampled one note at a time, and need to be sampled in as many velocity layers possible in MIDI to get all nuances. The way multiple notes sound in a soundboard and such when played together will not be captured realistic.

No doubt the quality and response from the keybed is important. The player too.

Piano sounds from Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Yamaha CP and Yamaha DX was made famous. In a way to substitute a acoustic Piano. But actually something new was the result.

This is the Arturia Sound Explorers Community. Perhaps exploring will lead to something new. Arturias instruments including the pianos offer many possibilities in that direction. Piano V3 can even sound pretty much like a real acoustic piano. The sampled Pianos i have are absolutely not better, but they take a lot of disk space because of the large sample libraries.

Even though there exist so many virtual pianos out there, and even though people have several of them, then it look like people still search the right one. One can think about why.

Why not create new sounds and modelled instruments that may sound like acoustic instruments but still is their own and use the possibilities that offer. It’s not a problem to use a real acoustic instrument either. Each instrument offer different ways to play anyway.

[dockahn]

Virtual piano sound is controversial in terms of how “accurate” they sound. In my experience, it’s that way for real pianos as well. When I was young and brash, I used to go to local piano stores (do they still exist?) and auditioned many pianos. What I found was inconsistent. I never liked the sound of a Baldwin, although this is what Bruce Hornsby uses and endorses, but I did find one that sounded excellent (to me). I played a 9-foot Steinway that was used by touring orchestras and touring rock bands at large local venues, its soundboard covered with autographs, and didn’t like the sound. The same Steinway place had a couple dozen pianos, and I only found one that I felt was special.

A few years later, I was helping a friend shop for a piano, and we came across a gorgeous Horugel, an upright grand (upright style with grand-length strings and key length) with a transparent-cherry-over-mahogany finish. If I had had the space and the money, I would have bought it then and there. After I got out of school and did have space and money, I came across another Horugel, same model, in black, at a price I couldn’t turn down. It didn’t sound as good as the previous one, but it was good enough.

Pianos brighten as they age, and mine was a little muffled for my taste, but I figured that if I was patient, it would sound better over time. It took about 20 years, but I’m now well pleased.

I guess what I’m getting at is that acoustic pianos each have their own sound, and the likelihood that the preset one uses sounds “real” depends on what each individual’s “real” piano should sound like.

I have spent more time on the Arturia’s synths than with my Piano V2 and/or Piano V3. I have found presets that I like, and understand that the potential for tweaking is wide open, so I feel confident I could “create” something that sounds “real” to me. At this time, though, I mostly use the presets on my Korg Nautilus, which are also very tweakable, and which I owned before I jumped into the V collection. Still, I have a couple dozen presets (some factory, some user-created) that don’t sound like each other, but still sound like a “real” piano to me.