I eleborated upon my earlier Ska-oriented preset this past week, to create one that works well on more classically-influenced projects that have arpeggios and/or ostinatos. It uses all of the close and mid mics, and none of the ambience mics, to retaiin an intimate setting.

Due to the heavy Philip Glass influence on the pieces that I thoroughly vetted this preset on, I am calling this one Glass Piano. It also uses the Full Library of the Bluethner.

As all five close mics are in use, this preset may not work well in a broad array of contexts, without sounding a bit phasey. There are probably edits that could take care of that, but in the context of the projects I am using it for at the moment, this attribute is advantageous.

It's only been a few days since I bought and installed the new Boesendorfer Upright, but it was a perfect match for some of my island genre music, so I am calling it Dub Piano even though it ended up being used instead on stuff that is more Calypso inspired (albeit with Reggae and even Ska influences).

As with my other intimate-oriented presets, this one requires the Full Library as it pulls in some of those close and mid mics. It uses no ambience mics at all.

I suspect I may need a tiny bit of EQ on one or more mics, but in the current project use, there are no hump frequencies or other issues.

One thing to note about the new Upright library, is that even the mics that are further out, aren't (for the most part) ambience mics per se, due to the smaller room that was used for this sample set. And of course the close mics are fairly crowded, so this preset might sound somewhat phasey in certain contexts.

I forgot that the earlier preset postings from the original library release topics didn't get moved here, so I'm going to re-post my first two now.

This one is for the D-274, and was initiated by some work on jazz projects but has since then been vetted in other contexts. The version I am attaching is a newer revision than what I first posted way back, as a result, but I think I updated it already in the other topic.

I think this one requires the Full Library, but can check later -- I'm too tired as it is several hours past mnidnight.

The same caveats apply to this Rock Preset for the Yamaha CFX, as it probably uses mics from the Full Edition.

This one has not been as intensely vetted as the others, simply because I ended up switching piano models in all but one or two projects where I was using it, as I generally am not a fan of Yamaha pianos and now we have a wealth of choices that I feel work better in a broader array of styles. I may revisit this library later on though.

I am reposting my Ska-oriented preset from May 2019, made for the Bluethner when it was brand new, as it was a bit too quiet compared to the others. Only two mics are used, but I raised them both by a hair, keeping the same balance though.

This is an intimate patch that moght require the Full Library (I'm too tired at this late hour to check), and was tweaked to work well in the context of the "bubble" used for reggae and ska music.

It also works well outside those genres, but my newer Glass Piano preset is perhaps a better starting point for a lot of other contexts outside the island genres.

For many years, I had been using various Yamaha grand pianos and uprights -- or even the hideous but commonly-associated-with-late-80's-reggae Korg M1 -- but I am finding that this Bluethner piano really opens up the sound more and helps the brass to shine better when present in the arrangement (common for ska, and sometimes for reggae as well).

By now, I have vetted this preset on far more than just up-tempo ska, including slower reggae, calypso, and even some pop songs that have a 60's influence such as early R&B.

I did retain, and mildly tweak, some EQ presets that came with one of the factory "intimate" settings. I always turn off the reverb though, as these are already pretty roomy libraries, even when using mostly (or exclusively) the close mics.

Hey guys,

I want to see what you did with the new Bösendorfer upright. I like it's mellow tone, however I am not a fan of the lowest octaves (as expected with an upright). I would like to see a preset that manages to really balances the sound nicely :) looking forward to it :)

I agree, but I am very disappointed with the Bösendorfer Upright so far.

here's one I did with the Steinway, just the Condenser mic, very close and warm...

condenserEQ.zip-1696491633079-g3o4a.zip

but the bass is very uncomfortable in the ears. They are no longer clear and blur very much when you press the sustain pedal. I think. that's a bit too much. I'd turn the bass down a bit and take the room mix in with it.

@Snoopy10 said:

but the bass is very uncomfortable in the ears. They are no longer clear and blur very much when you press the sustain pedal. I think. that's a bit too much. I'd turn the bass down a bit and take the room mix in with it.

maybe, but I was looking for a close and intimate tone, and I like it as it is... in my monitor headphones it doesn't sound overly bassy. The kind of sound you would get when sitting at the piano at midnight, that's the idea. On which kind of monitors are you listening, Georgy if I may ask?

@Snoopy10 said:

but the bass is very uncomfortable in the ears. They are no longer clear and blur very much when you press the sustain pedal. I think. that's a bit too much. I'd turn the bass down a bit and take the room mix in with it.

maybe, but I was looking for a close and intimate tone, and I like it as it is... in my monitor headphones it doesn't sound overly bassy. The kind of sound you would get when sitting at the piano at midnight, that's the idea. On which kind of monitors are you listening, Georgy if I may ask?

if you can, I'd love to try your modified patch... when it asks if you want to upload a file, go on and it will present you with a button to load from your disk. You'll have to compress the file in order to be accepted...

EDIT: you were faster than me :) thank you, I'm going to bed now, tomorrow I'll try it

very nice variation, thank you Georgy!

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your experience,

This patch (complet version), it's general purpose Steinway, can work for variété style and different sound system without hard requirement, any suggest welcome 😊

best

Pierre

Ps: v3

I am confused.  My VSL steinway is looking for an fxp file for a preset.  Where are there fxp files on this forum?
Thank you!!!

When I open an attachment I do not get a fxp file.  I get a vsynpreset file.  Are you finding an fxp file in an attachment on this thread?

@Keepitsimple said:

In the zip files ATTACHMENTS OF ALMOST EVERY POST IN THIS THREAD.

@Keepitsimple said:

In the zip files ATTACHMENTS OF ALMOST EVERY POST IN THIS THREAD.

I misread your post and totally igonored the fact that you're looking for an fxp file. Why would you need an fxp file? Just place the vsynpreset file inside Documents/VSL/Vienna Synchron Pianos/Presets.

Anyway - I figure it out along what you are saying.  The vsynpreset files in this thread have to be moved to a VSL preset folder in the computer before they will open up!  

BTW - when I save a preset on my computer from the save preset function, it does create an FXP file.  And they do load into it as well.  A little confusing, but I think I understand it all now!

Thank you,

AB

I've renamed all of my personal presets, to be more recognizable in the context of which piano as well as close vs. stage etc. But the last time I tried to rename attachments here, it kept the old ones and added the new ones, creating confusion, so I'm just leaving it be for now, as I didn't really tweak any of the settings yet anyway. Hopefully the descriptions I provided earlier are enough to help, if the preset names are confusing or seem genre-specific where they shouldn't be.

I may have a couple more (new ones) to post shortly, and I did modify my Yamaha preset but I'm not posting it yet because it hasn't made it all the way through a production cycle, which is what I consider the proof in the pudding.

UPDATE (6 March 2021): I have tweaked all of my presets now, and was about to post them (including new 280VC and a heavily revised CFX), but then there were two updates by VSL (one to CFX and one to all of the pianos) right afterwards, so I need to integrate the new features and do a final review before posting, as well as see whether I learn anything from the new presets in Rabih's post that follows mine.