Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards VSL Synchron Bluethner 1895

Great voice, nice playing, David !
Can you share some settings of your 1895?
Im just getting used to this period sound comparing modern grand, and VSL presets are ungelivable as always.
Btw, what's the Aliquot system?

Thank you.



I do feel that there is a more organic experience playing the Bluthner. There is more body resonance without there being more reverb. You feel like you're sitting in front of an old (but restored) piano. It seems like you can hear the mechanics of the instrument more. I turned off the pedal noise because it was WAY too loud.



I'm not at home right now so I don't have the exact patch information in front of me. I just added the Ribbon and Condenser mics to the Player/sur preset. Everything else stayed the same (with the exception of turning off the pedal noise).

I never heard of the "Aliquot" system until VSL introduced the Bluthner. Evidently, it is a 4th string added to the keys that usually have three strings and it's tuned an octave higher. The 4th string is not struck by the hammer, but rather allowed to sympathetically resonate with the other strings. It adds a very beautiful quality to the upper register. It unlike anything I've ever heard before.

God bless,
David

Many Thanks David,

Learn more for about "Aliquot" system, it's a wonderful design.
I can feel the upper notes have beautiful and special voice, comparing with metallic taste on D274 or silvery bell on CFX.
But good skill is necessary to play this instrument well, I have to keep practicing.
will try mics setting as ur patch.

Hello and thanks for your demo and insights.
I created this account for a question I have regarding the additional mics coming with the Full Library.

I got the Synchron Yamaha CFX and like it a lot, but as someone already mentioned before there is a lot of reverb in those samples (might be a personal impression, but for me I'd also like to have the option to a have a less wet sound), admittedly I only got the Standard library though.
So my question would be:
With those additional mics of the Full Library of the Blüthner (Ribbon, Sphere, Mid 2), is it possible to achieve a relatively dry sound? Is it considerably "dryer" than the mics you get in the Standard library?

Most likely I will get the Blüthner, because of its rich and warm sound, which I like a lot. I'm not sure yet though if Standard of Full Library for me.
For those who have played it already, what's your impression of dry/wet and in general of Standard/Full Library?

Thanks,
Philipp

IMO, for dry sound, close-mics are necessary.
But both of CFX and Bluthner std is only one close mic, it's not enough to create a fully near field.
That's the value of full version, not only atmospher mics.

That's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for, thanks. I will have to dig deeper into my purse then.

I bought and installed the Bluthner full library today, and I'm quite happy with it. It sounds different that most 'modern' VST grands (and I have a lot of them in addition to the very good Kawai SK-EX samples in my Novus 10). The sound and feel is very realistic, in this respect better than most VST's. If you are looking for a recent 'period' grand, this is it! Pianoteq's historical collection is also great, but this Bluthner beats them all.

These are not single mics, but stereo pairs of spaced mics. The only single mic is the centre mic of the Decca Tree array.

I use one not single, and it means one set of close mic, not mono mic.
Std version of CFX and Bluthner only provides one set of close mic. But full version will add other 1~2 close mics.

Before, I had only Yamaha CFX by VSL. This is the VSTi that made me delete all the other piano virtual instruments including Garritan CFX Full version. It is really hard not to be satisfied with it when you find the perfect settings. For me it is still the most perfect virtual instrument that you can own nowadays and the sound is so authentic that it made me practice more than usual (And it killed my urge for looking for another VSTs). I thought that I don't need anything more but few weeks ago I bought a bundle that includes all the Synchron pianos (because of the price) and now I'm in heaven. Both Steinway and Bluthner sounds awesome and when you own the bundle it feels more like you really own three different pianos and not like owning three different vsti's. In the end the Bluthner is the piano I'm using the most.

Bluthner sounds really nice but it is a bit difficult to make it sound beautiful and the struggle certainly pays off. With this piano I feel like I must be more careful when pressing the keys which I think is perfect for practice especially when you own other piano from VSL for comparison. I learned one piece by Scarlatti using Bluthner and even though at the beginning I had some worries at the end I learnt to play it in a way that it made me think that this piano is awesome and fell in love with it! After that then I played the same piece using Yamaha CFX by synchron and wow.... it sounded so good that I couldn't believe that I play it myself. I think I really improved by using this old sampled piano. When you play badly you can hear it more clearly by using Bluthner. When I was satisfied with some old pieces that I learnt using Yamaha CFX then when using Bluthner I discovered many other things that I should work on which is a very good thing. I think It was the best buy I could make in my current situation and I have no regrets.

Yes Engelm,

VSL CFX made me feel I can play so beautifully,
VSL D274 made me feel I can play so powerfully,
But Bluthner1895 made me realize how bad my skill was.
It needs more careful work of both setting and playing.

Engelm & robinlb - I'm interested to know what type of systems you are running the VSL pianos from (CPU, RAM & Disk type). I am put off from buying them because of the high specs required, including an SSD which I don't own. Really want this Bluthner!

Hello,

I use i7 9700 48GB RAM and Nvme M2 SSD(Samsung evo) for full version VSL synchron piano,
and usually set 6~8 mics active. The whole system runs well and smoothly.
Btw, if you use Windows Steinberg or RME USB audio interface will be more permanent and low latency by their software driver.
Above for your reference.

~~~~~
If you choose Bluthner of the three, should be aware of the different period sound comparing with other two modern grand.

Thank you for the detailed reply - much appreciated. I'm aware of the unique tonal character of the Bluthner, which for me is a welcome contrast to all the Steinway & Yamaha sampled pianos out there

Yes, it's very unique and need good skills.
To get a better and accurate playing, can make the fine tuning for some notes if needed(VSL piano player can edit key volume and EQ for each note).
If you only use Bluthner(relative small sample amount vs other 2), I think slightly lower hardware configuration than I mentioned will be OK.

I have lite version of each library (and I have no motivation to upgrade because I'm really satisfied with what I have). I'm using it with old generation CPU that actually is very cheap. My present configuration looks like this:
Intel i5-3470 3,20GHZ
8GB Ram
ssd drive 500GB (ssd drive is crucial because when you have normal hard drive you will have to wait around 15-30 minutes to load the library depending how many mic positions are you using. With SSD it takes around 10 seconds to load)
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (For low latency)

Before, I was using CPU i3-3xxx 3,20GHZ and it worked as good as with new CPU. But I'm using only two mic positions at once and I noticed it is really hard to use processor more than 60% in that configuration (you must be at least at level 8 abrsm to be able to play pieces that make you CPU usage reach 50% of it's power. Even if you play 'Flight Of The Bumblebee' by Rimsky-Korsakov it would be really hard to exceed CPU over 60%. Additionally I have cheapest version of focusrite which enables playing at low latency but I think with asio4all it will be fine if you are short of money. You really don't need supercomputer to use that library, : )

Thanks Engelm - great information. Much appreciated.

I had the demo tracks via soundcloud for the Blüthner on repeat. I'm honestly not sure i can hold out until black friday for a discount. But I need to pull back on my spending.

first world problem.