Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards The V(itriol) Thread

The V is a marvellous piece of engineering. The sound behaviour is the best in any DP and the connection is nearly identical to an acoustic. I happen to like the look, and I think the PHA III feels superb in it.

Where the V falls short is the sterile metallic sound and near total absence of mid range. I've spent hours and hours, even using bennevis's settings to no avail. Roland really has something great, it just needs some polishing. Some of the VPG videos I've seen are nearly indistinguishable from acoustic grand piano sounds. They need to evolve the modelling technology, which is only bound to happen.

I don't know what MIDI values are, but I reach the upper limit of the AGs very easily (and I'm no Russian bear when it comes to hard-hitting pianism) - I just can't get a true ffff as I can from an acoustic grand, or my V-Piano. With acoustic pianos, the sound becomes more strident and harsh, as well as louder when you hit harder, and classical composers exploit this by requesting up to fffffff (as in Ligeti for example). The cheap uprights and baby grands reach that harsh level ('going through their tone') at lowish dynamic levels, which forces the pianist to tone down his dynamics unless he intends an ugly sound. Concert grands allow you to push the power much higher before their sound becomes very percussive. The AG simply doesn't allow you to get anywhere near that level (the level at which the sound becomes harsh) - you hit with all your might but the sound stays exactly the same. It's one of the annoying things about sampled DPs that keep reminding the pianist that what he's playing on isn't real - fine if you don't play demanding music, but a real damper on your ability to express the composer's intentions otherwise.

I always liked that word - fisticuffs. I don't like fisticuffs, but the word funny.

I don't know anything about the V-Piano - I've never played one, heard one, or seen one that I can remember. I couldn't care less about them - that's too much money for a digital kbd. I'd rather spend a fourth of that, and use the rest for something else.

Mychal

The V-P Grand is identical in its sound generation to the original V-P - it just has speakers that are strategically placed in the cabinet and amplification equipment etc that are optimized for the V-P. So, if what you hear through the store's speakers or headphones sound 'sterile/metallic' or whatever, it can't be an inherant fault of the V-P if the VPG sounds like a real concert grand on some videos.

I could describe the sound of my V-P is several ways, depending on which of my settings I use (and a few of them are metallic sounding, because the original grands on which I based the settings do sound metallic to me - some acoustic pianos are like that, and some people like that kind of piano tone), but it also depends on which headphones I use too.

And interestingly, my classical friends who've tried out my V-Piano prefer one or two settings that I don't particularly care for, though they all agreed that the V behaves like a real piano in the way it responds to the touch, when it comes to actually playing it. Each to his/her own....

I'm no good at carpentry or DIY in general. I just buy stuff off the shelf, ready-made, and the best I can find. Including DPs .

Because my life is so dependent on my gear when climbing, sky-diving, scuba-diving etc, etc (as you know), I can't afford to use any sub-par gear.

Including DPs .

You climb, sky-dive, and scuba dive with a V-Piano tied to your back?

Which falls faster: a ton of feathers or a ton of V?






Answer: neither, because they're both worth nothing after they leave the store.

Yeah it sounds like $hit too .....

....though not as smelly as the AG .

But I love the AG, I really do.

What do you love about the AG bennevis if I may ask? Can't be the sound, as you've pointed out its lack of dynamic range, and the action you feel is stiffer than any concert grand you've played. Not being smart, just curious. Surely the VPG has a bit more warmth than the VP with its speakers and cabinet.

I don't think he really does.

What he likes is that the construction of the AG series lends itself to being easily hoisted underneath a helicopter and air-lifted onto the tops of the mountains he's forever scrabbling up (although he doesn't like to talk about it much, being the modest type) - then he plays chopsticks on the summit in a wanton act of self-indulgence - before abseiling down the other side. For this he holds the rope in one hand and with the other he tweets his achievements via his iPhone and updates his Facebook page - he loves his hi-tech gadgets too remember. He then has a pre-arranged rendezvous with a speedboat at the nearest coastline from where he water-skis home (across oceans if necessary).

Bingo!
For once you've got it right .

P.S. My innate modesty forbids me to elaborate further .

My innate modesty forbids me from elaborating further

Oh DO tell. We are agog.

You're partly right: I was parodying someone else...

However, I actually do enjoy playing it for short periods - but only to give my fingers a bit of a workout, not for anything serious. I often play fast runs and tricky figurations etc from various pieces I've been practising at home on it when I'm at Yamaha before their lunchtime concerts. It's great for this kind of thing, because the problems inherent in sampling aren't really that noticeable then, and I'm concentrating on my technique rather than the music. The lack of 'connectivity' (when compared to my V-P or any acoustic piano) and the constant reminder that I can't push it to extremes (because it won't respond as I expect it to) is for me a serious drawback if I want to play any heavy stuff.

Zac Forbes,
I've only played the VPG once in a venue it's probably designed for, a concert hall, and yes, it does sound better than my V-P through my headphones. But then I suppose any piano will sound better in that venue because of the warmth of the acoustic. And the VPG through its speakers sound to the pianist sitting at the keyboard as you'd expect a real grand to sound, at a 'natural distance' from my ears. When I was playing it at full pelt (at the Britten Theatre, RCM) last year, another punter walked all around the VPG to listen intently to see if he could detect any artificial spotlighting of different frequencies from some locations, but told me everything sounded as natural as if it was from a real concert grand. So obviously Roland had done their homework and placed the various speakers of various sizes (?tweeters and mid-range and woofers) in the best places within the cabinet.

Aw, OK then (overriding my innate modesty with great difficulty... ).

First, I don't 'scrabble' up mountains - I scramble if I'm using my hands. More usually, I front-point with my crampons (the mountains are very high, after all, and therefore, by the laws of nature, there'll be snow and ice ).

And I don't play chopsticks at the summit - it's too difficult for my present level of technique (but I'm working on it). I play the beginning of R. Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra, in my own (very easy) piano transcription. Or the 'arrival at the summit' scene from the same composer's Alpine Symphony, again in my own very easy transcription.

The rest are as our friend so vividly describes....

Gosh!

Are you or have you ever been a nun?

Elsewhere on this forum (but not here, mind you!), Bennevis has just revealed that:



Man! (or indeed 'Woman!' as the case may be), you put ordinary folk such as ourselves in a very inferior position, you know. Just by discussing your day to day arrangements.

Cooking & Climbing
Tundra and tropics,
Ice and fire
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Nietzsche and ......

What else? Where is this all leading?

I enjoy singing hits from 'The Sound of Music', accompanying myself on the guitar or piano. Does that suggest anything to you?

or batman