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Since Christmas time is nearly upon us:

The V-Piano (to my ears anyway) has a very acoustic-like quality to it, including outstanding resonance/sustain, especially with the decay times. It is a perfectly suited instrument for playing holiday favorites.

Thought I would share with everyone the Christmas recordings I have recently done at my newly acquired Roland V-Piano, here:

1) Silent Night / O Little Town of Bethlehem / O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

http://www.box.com/s/k7roebxvrxg3llimcok1

2) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas / The Christmas Song

http://www.box.com/s/qeeo31d5d6qk4nv6zu3k

3) O Come, All Ye Faithful + Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee ("Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9) medley

http://www.box.com/s/0rc55lvaikkau5xirm26

4) Christmas Time is Here, from "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

http://www.box.com/s/lfj365qqpols4ni1n1au

Please note that I continue to add recordings to the "V-Piano presets exchange" thread, some of which are not Christmas songs, etc.

V-Piano presets exchange

Hope that everyone enjoys the music!

Best regards,

pv88

The post has nothing to do with acoustics.....but I enjoyed listening! There is a Christmas music thread in the Adult Beginners Forum.

Glad to hear that you like the music... 'Tis the season.

All of the tunes are at least intermediate playing level (or, higher) and, the medley for "O Come All Ye Faithful" / "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" is an advanced concert level arrangement.

The V-Piano gives the player superb and complete tonal control over the dynamics, from "pp" to "ff," including excellent sustain.

Your playing is very good... wish I could play that well.

However, I could tell the piano was a digital right off the bat... It's hard to hide that electronic fingerprint.

Rick

Hey PV88, you did a nice job on those recordings. I agree with Rickster that there is a digital fingerprint, but I will also say that it's one of the best digital pianos I've heard. In a "mix" of other instruments, unless the piano was extremely exposed in the recording I doubt many people could tell the difference between that and a very well recorded and fine quality acoustic piano. That's one thing about the v-piano, it's a darn sight better than most acoustic pianos on a recording, however, it still can't quite touch a very fine piano in excellent condition with a fresh tuning and great microphones. Now, Rickster is one of those lucky guys that does have a very fine acoustic piano, and since Rickster is also a tuner, his piano can be freshly tuned any time he desires. In his case, in a piano showdown, I believe Rickster's Yamaha C7 semi concert grand piano would definitely beat out a v-piano.

"O Come All Ye Faithful" sounds very much like an acoustic piano. Are you using a different setting?

Thanks, very nice pv88, and excellent sound for a DP. However it reminds me again that I'm glad I'm back into an acoustic.

Hi Dave B,

The setting (or, preset) used for O Come All Ye Faithful was "Triple Large," meaning (in modeling) there are three strings per note being struck by larger hammers, giving off far more resonance than a single copper wound string. The result is a big sound, very much like a larger-than-life concert grand. In reality, an acoustic grand with three strings (per note) would have to be longer to accommodate them, and, it would also have a larger soundboard.

So, the V-Piano can produce these futuristic sounds, which makes it very interesting in which to play.

Hey PV88, I have a question about your V piano. Does the plastic key top material feel smooth? We had a local store that had a v piano on display. The first time I tried it I didn't notice anything different about the keys, but the next time I played it the keys had a textured surface, almost as if someone had tried to "rough up" the key tops. After that, I didn't enjoy playing it anymore. The keys were just too rough. How does yours feel? Is it a textured finish on the keytop or smooth like most pianos? My feeling is that someone at the store tried to "improve" the keytops and in the process totally screwed them up.

Another thing I noticed about the piano is that it greatly benefits from an absolute high end monitor system. A simple, low end speaker system with four or five inch woofers won't do it justice, but play it through some premium speakers and amplification with a good sub woofer and it sounds fantastic.

Extra note:

Thanks to everyone (above) as I do appreciate all of the comments.

Have to agree with "Pianolance" that a real acoustic instrument has definite advantages over a digital. However, I bought the V-Piano since it is capable of being listened to silently with headphones, which is not an option with an acoustic.

And, it is a lot easier to make recordings with the V-Piano (as compared with recording acoustics), as you only need a stereo cable connected to the computer along with some recording software.

The best part of playing the V-Piano is the long (and, natural sounding) decay, and, the responsive feel with dynamics. It is that "live" connection (between touch and sound) that makes it respond like an acoustic.

As for your question about the key tops, yes, they are slightly textured in appearance (upon closer examination) although the feel of it being so is hardly noticeable, as they are quite smooth when they are new.

Roland uses an "Ivory Feel" key surface in some of their digitals, and, I suspect that what you witnessed at the store was a combination of dirt and grit from players hands being transferred to the key surfaces. If the ivory tops become dirty (and, you do not clean them) then the keys can become rough, or, uneven.

There also have been reports by customers that other Roland digitals with the "Ivory Feel" key tops had started to show wear during playing, and, they had their key tops replaced, accordingly. Perhaps you had played one of these pianos, where the ivory tops were either dirty, or, worn away?