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Very happy with upgrade but 1rst D below middle C has a blend of highest C# plain as day. I think that's called a flying harmonic which WDCO refers to as Mike error. That's not the only one but it's definately the worst. I think F right above D also has a touch of harmonic mike error. I don't notice them that much while playing but Bach and scales you can hear them. Still love this piano though only time will tell if I start to focus on them and let them bother me. Any comments? By the way when I run Cfx Standalone I can hear it with no problem on my laptop speakers too.

Every piano is imperfect by definition. A perfect instrument would produce only sine waves -- but probably you will not want such an instrument.

The question is, can a player apply a given instrument for performing music and for making it beautifully sounding. Try to concentrate on the former, and to apply for this the instrument as a whole, including its imperfections, which sometimes may define the instrument individuality rather than be annoying.

I am not much of an expert on these virtual instruments but most of the time I hear Garritan CFX I like the way it sounds.

Nope, I don't think so.

I really want to like Garritan CFX but the envelope of hiss around each note ruins it for me. It is highly dependent on the type of speakers and headphones though. I like a bright and revealing sound so it is probably more apparent on my setup but I'm not the only one who faces this problem with the Garritan.

NI Noire, on the other hand, is far more to my liking with its cleanly recorded and beautifully voiced CFX.

I would agree with that, however I had a bit of luck that I used Sennheiser HD650 with Garritan CFX since the beginning and their dark character attenuates the hiss. But moving to any other headphones I have makes the hiss more audible.

I have the lite version... I used it few times 'cause I really can't stand the background hiss, so I unistalled it.
I can hear it with both my Audio Technica ATH-M50X and my Beyerdynamic DT770 PRO headphones.

I've only ever used HD598s with Garritan CFX, and the hiss has never been noticeable during regular use. From what you've said, I probably lucked out with my initial selection of headphone

I did a clean install of Windows 10 and Garritan CFX earlier this year. The irritating background hiss seems much reduced and no longer irritating to me. Using the same digital piano, same computer, same interface, same headphones.

This is completely subjective and unverifiable so I would call BS on anyone else proposing this witchcraft lol.

That said, the Garritan CFX software is a bit wonky and reinstalling Garritan CFX only takes a few minutes. Clean reinstall of Windows is a bigger project.

Given the cost of CFX and all the extra time most of our hands, reinstall might be worth a try vs binning the software.

Does Noire work with the free version of Kontakt?

yes

I think the CFX lite that I have now sounds great. I have not heard any hiss to my knowledge and I’m using audio-technica ath-50x headphones.

I hear no hiss at all (white noise I think everyone is referring to) Please can somebody else play their d below middle c and tell me if it doesn't cause a sympathetic harmonic highest c# it's plain as day in my room. MooganDavid

I reinstalled Garritan CFX Lite to give it a second try and:
- The hiss is always there. You can hear it when you play softly and it disappears only if you set the hi at -12dB in the EQ;
- I can hear too the symphatetic harmonic if I play D3 and I keep it down.

I never noticed any hiss on my $30 superlux headphones or my jbl lsr 305 speakers with the garritan cfx. (the jbl's have a slight hiss of themselves, which is annoying, I wouldn't recommend them for piano.)

That said I think it sounds kind of artificial, and have the feeling the samples are processed somehow, I don't know, but hardly use it because of this.

Concerning Noire mentioned here:

Are there audio demos of classical and/or modern piano music, played on this instrument, which allow one to evaluate its applicability as a pure piano? What I found is either combination with other instruments/effects (which hide the strength of the piano itself), or audio demos that sound too processed to be applicable for piano music.

Garritan CFX and other popular plugins (like Ravenscroft 275 or VSL pianos) have plenty of easily available pure piano demos, which demonstrate the specific features of the piano end its playability.

Noire does not: this is suspicious concerning its applicability. Am I missing something?

I'm just not that big of fan of the CFX. I have to equalize the bass (too thin) and I don't do that with any other virtual piano, and I think there is generally too much resonance (set to minimum so can't be lowered) whereas I'm usually increasing the resonance on other pianos, and there is some strange honkiness in the middle octave that I find disturbing. So although I like it on some pieces I like to play, generally I don't.

No audible hiss for me even on quietly played big Chords and maximum cranked volume: +24dB in voicemeeter! Better NOT hit them keys now or cans will explode.

highest #C:


D3:


As you can see, 2.2kHz is definitely in there with all the other harmonics but it isn't particularly emphasized.
Maybe your equipment has a peak at that frequency and highlights it further.

I think here is a good demo. NOIRE vs Ravenscroft vs Keyscape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2G0xMRdjDM

I recorded Garritan CFX Lite from C3 to C5 with EQ (HI at -12) off and then on.
Velocity is set to 48, but I can hear it from 1 to 60.