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Hello everyone,
I have a Vpiano hooked up to two Yamaha speakers.
When I play the demo of the Chopin Ballade (which comes pre-installed on the piano), it sounds great playing through the speakers. The sound of the piano through speakers when I actually play, though, sounds nothing like the sound of the demo. It sounds muddled and washed out. For this reason, I have stuck to playing through my headphones, which sounds fine. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to tweak the Vpiano to sound the exact same way in the demo mode as it does through normal playing through the speakers? Thanks for any help on the matter.

I know nothing about the V-piano, but is it possible that the demos have a different EQ setting or other sound setting (reverb, touch sensitivity, etc.)? I'm kind of guessing it may be that the demo was done on a different setting than what you use when you play, but not exactly sure of that.

It's also possible the demo is an audio recording done on a V-piano, and played back through the speakers, but usually demos use the on-board sounds so I doubt that's the problem.

Yes - with those demos, they have their secret ways of tarting things up, even using the raw materials of the sound engine in question.

Back in the 80's, I had a Roland D110 modular synth which had a selection of 6 or so very professionally finished demos to show off its (then spectacular) multi-timbral capabilities. There were people who would mutter that it was impossible to reproduce that quality of sound just with the D110, but I remain convinced that it would have been possible with the module hooked up to a computer with Cubase. But even so, it would have taken very profound programing skills: there were sophisticated effects with stereo placement and ambiance, among other things.

The V has so many possibilities to tweak it that you'll probably need to spend several days just to try to replicate as closely as possible a particular piano sound you've heard.

Have you gone through all the parameters that are tweakable (which are basically just about everything)?

First, you have to use the speakers to tweak the sound from, not your headphones, which will give different tonal characteristics. Then on Vintage Piano 1, go to 'Tone Parameter' and increase the 'tone color' to +1 or +2 to brighten up the sound, and increase the 'sound lift' slightly. On my V-Piano, that's the same sound as on the demo that I hear through my headphones (I don't have speakers).

maximumtiti, you can perhaps contact Roland to ask which settings/preset was used to record this demo, then select it for your own performance.

Kind regards,
James
x

I did try contacting Roland directly. The support department wasn't very helpful. They didn't know the actual settings for the demo. They basically told me to mess with the EQ settings.

Most likely the people who spoke to had nothing to do with recording the demo. I'm sure someone knows, but tracking that info down would be a pain and most people wouldn't want to go through the trouble. I would have been very happily amazed if they offered to do this, but oh well.

All I can think of is posting a recording of a portion of the demo and then of you playing (preferably the same segment as on the demo), and then people here may be able to offer you suggestions on things that you can tweak to get it in the ballpark (I'm presuming here, of course, that those knowledgable in such things with ears for such things would be willing to spend a little time doing this).

I did try what you suggested. It helped a little, but the bass notes still lack the punch of the demo. I'll mess around with all the settings and hopefully get something closer. I realize that sound through the headphones is not going to sound like the sound through the speakers, but I didn't realize that the demo for the Vintage Piano setting would sound (with the same speakers, at the same volume level on the speakers) so different (and this case, superior) to the untweaked setting for Vintage Piano. Thanks for the advice.
On a side note, have you ever used Pianoteq with your VPiano? I know nothing about Pianoteq, but I saw a Youtube video of a pianist named Phil Best who, from the video, looks like he uses Pianoteq in conjunction with his VPiano. Wanted to know if you had any experience with it. Thanks again.

Hmmm... perhaps Roland Jay (a member here on Pianoworld) will be able to offer some alternative suggestions?

I believe there are also 3 (4?) V-Piano owners on this forum, so perhaps bennevis, Kona, or pv88 will also provide some additional ideas.

Kind regards,
James
x

I don't use an external computer with my V - actually, I don't know how to. But as I play it like a real piano anyway, I can't really be bothered having to spend several minutes connecting my laptop to it every time I want to play.

The recording level of the demo music is set much higher than that when you play - I nearly deafened myself yesterday when listening to it via my headphones (I haven't changed the volume setting on my V for three years, and haven't listened to the demos for four years....).

Speakers sound brighter, punchier and clearer when the volume is pushed up - try matching the volume of your playing (by pushing up the volume control) to that of the demo music and see if the sound matches the demos.

I concur with bennevis, it is probably the volume in this case causing most of the problem you are hearing.