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Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 348
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Recently, I've run several VSTs back through the NV-5's internal speakers. Ravenscroft, Modern U, Garritan CFX. I'm admittedly a VST novice, so hopefully these opinions aren't too provocative:
In terms of feel + sound, I actually prefer Kawai's SK-EX rendering engine over all of them. It sounds fantastic, and obviously plays perfectly. I haven't done anything other than enable the wall EQ.
Next is Garritan, which feels just as dynamically predictable as the native Kawai sound, basically right out of the box. The character of the CFX isn't my favorite, unfortunately, but the playing experience is fantastic. To me it sounds very neutral, almost reserved, compared to the more lively SK-EX. The half-pedaling is a bit more aggressive than Kawai's, but I might be able to modify that via software.
Third would be Ravenscroft, which I have a love/hate relationship with. It does have a very unique, beautiful sound -- its lower octaves come alive on this soundboard -- but I just hate how foreign it feels to play. The half pedaling occasionally does unexpected things, and it has required more tweaking than I was anticipating. Maybe I'll be more bullish once I figure out how to customize more settings and EQ down the piercing high octaves. I just wish I had this sound packaged in the Garritan software.
The Modern U plays and sounds like a fine upright. I thought I wanted an upright VST, but maybe I didn't. The sounds, the resonance, it all just feels a little bit more... limited? than any of the other options, so I'm not sure I'd personally ever load this up over the Garritan if I wanted a break from the Kawai engine. Should be an interesting experiment put Pianoteq to drive this soundboard.
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Joined: Dec 2016
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Should be an interesting experiment put Pianoteq to drive this soundboard. Might be worth downloading the demo. 
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PTQ pro is an very ideal VST for all DP models with transducers and soundboard, better than sampling VSTs. And that's why Steigreaber chose it to experiment transducers mounted in their Grand piano.
But you'll need to tweak many of its parameters to get a stunning effect on your NV5.
CA98+ART RM5~~RME ADI2 DAC+tube Pre-Amp
VSL CFX&D274&Bluthner1895, Pianoteq7, Ivory2 ACD, Galaxy VintageD&StD, Bechstein DG, Embertone 1955Walker
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PTQ pro is an very ideal VST for all DP models with transducers and soundboard, better than sampling VSTs. And that's why Steigreaber chose it to experiment transducers mounted in their Grand piano.
But you'll need to tweak many of its parameters to get a stunning effect on your NV5. I downloaded the demo and played around for a little bit. The playability is stunning. Feels as responsive as the built-in sounds right out of the box. I don't love the pianos so far, but I haven't tweaked any settings and only had time this morning to sample their prelude presets. The Steigraeber and Steinway B have potential. My initial thought (having not played with or researched PT much) is that while the dynamic range is quite nice, as you move toward fortissimo, all the pianos gravitate toward a similar metallic tone quality that I don't love. That said, the playability is so nice that I'll be searching the forum for recommended tweaks and seeing what can be done.
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Joined: Feb 2020
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Play with "condition bar"...5% to 15% gives a more realistic feel to it.
Find a fortissimo velocity that suits you better, maybe lowering the maximum velocity it a bit..
(Maybe in the Pro version you could change the eq for some velocity settings???)
Liked Bechstein a lot...U4 Tall it's really nice too.
Last edited by Otavio; 08/27/20 11:12 AM.
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I downloaded the demo and played around for a little bit. The playability is stunning. Feels as responsive as the built-in sounds right out of the box.
I don't love the pianos so far, but I haven't tweaked any settings and only had time this morning to sample their prelude presets. The Steigraeber and Steinway B have potential. My initial thought (having not played with or researched PT much) is that while the dynamic range is quite nice, as you move toward fortissimo, all the pianos gravitate toward a similar metallic tone quality that I don't love. That said, the playability is so nice that I'll be searching the forum for recommended tweaks and seeing what can be done. I like Bechstein and Bluthner on PTQ. Of course, to get the best results, I tweaked almost everything I could understand, including the combination of multiple mics and fine-tuning notes by notes features. It has been used for nearly two months, and now it is satisfactory and suitable for my whole audio system including the soundboard of CA98. I'm sure it will work better on your NV5 as well, but definitely the Pro version so you can have more EQ tuning options. I chose 96K/24bit software output with 192K/24bit of my DA decoder to make high tone smoother. I think PTQ is a powerful creator of digital piano music. PTQ+soundboard can let your DP to feel like a real electro-acoustic instrument.
Last edited by robinlb; 08/27/20 12:16 PM.
CA98+ART RM5~~RME ADI2 DAC+tube Pre-Amp
VSL CFX&D274&Bluthner1895, Pianoteq7, Ivory2 ACD, Galaxy VintageD&StD, Bechstein DG, Embertone 1955Walker
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It is possible to output only for the soundboard on CA and NV serie ?!
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Joined: Nov 2018
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It is possible to output only for the soundboard on CA and NV serie ?! No, this is not possible. Your signal goes in via analog line-in, gets converted by the piano to a digital signal, is processed (to merge local sound and apply desired settings), then routed as analog to the various speakers/transducers. There's no selective control over this.
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I keep trying to like the Pianoteq sound, but I just can't. It's unfortunate, because it plays very well, and their software has a nice adaptive feature that lets you easily customize the velocity curve and half-pedaling functionality to your input device (a feature everyone should steal, frankly).
I still prefer the SK-EX rendering engine. The more I play with Garritan, the more I like it, though. I've needed to adjust the EQ to strengthen the lows and modulate the highs a bit. But it's good enough that I'll probably upgrade from Lite to the full edition at some point. Maybe after I install the pedaling tweak that's floating around the forum.
No matter what I adjust, I cannot get the Ravenscroft to work well through the onboard speakers. Which is a shame, because I love listening to it through recordings. VI tells me that they'll be updating the Ravenscoft to include all the features of Modern U, and I mighty try it again at that time. Maybe they'll even introduce an NV-5 preset.
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Joined: May 2020
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![[Linked Image]](https://forum.pianoworld.com//gallery/42/full/13438.jpg) I have returned my Kawai NV5 to the dealer after having it for more several weeks. The NV5 came directly from the warehouse where they received the piano. The keys didn't get regulated. I found the keys were-extremely heavy. I actually injured my thumb and wrist playing on this piano. I previously played on CA93 and the keys are about 52g but the NV5 weighs more than 132g on C4. The repetition on the keys are not good either. I hit on a lot of the keys with no sounds. IF I don't raise my finder far enough, a second hit on the note will not produce a sound. May be I am not used to the upright action. Since then I have returned the NV5 to a Kawai k500 Aures. It was a great decision. I love my piano now. Will upload the photos soon.
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Joined: Apr 2018
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I previously played on CA93 and the keys are about 52g but the NV5 weighs more than 132g on C4. This really does not sound normal. Have you checked with your dealer yet?
Piano: 1982 NY Steinway Model B, Yamaha AvantGrand N3X
VST(preference in order): VSL Synchron Pianos, Vienna Imperial, Garritan CFX, VI Labs Modern U, Ivory II American Concert D, Pianoteq
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Joined: Jun 2016
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Regardless, of any issues with the NV5. the Aures is a huge upgrade. Of course the price was likely double. Since you can obviously afford the K500 Aures, you probably would never have been satisfied with the NV5, once you had played the Aures.
Congratulations! You have a great piano now!
Kawai NV10
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Thank you. I suspected the same, may be the dealer should have kept the NV5, let it acclimate to the environment, regulate the keys before delivering to me. You are correct, the k500 Aures was more than double the msrp of a NV5. But the key action is excellent. The keys are longer and it plays like a grand. The upper treble has duplex scaling and sounds amazing. Also the Neotex white and black keys are really nice to play on the fingers. I have the Aures now for 3 weeks and I am amazed the levels of differences between the two. Thank you for the replies :-)))
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Joined: Jun 2020
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Congrats on the K500 Aures!
~Lucubrate
Bösendorfer 280VC
Steingraeber 130
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.“ ~Epictetus
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Since the string resonance on Aures line its on actual strings.
What happen if they are slightly out of tune with each other?!
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Joined: May 2020
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VI tells me that they'll be updating the Ravenscoft to include all the features of Modern U This intrigues me quite a bit! Hopefully they will also produce another grand with similar features. I have not purchased the Ravenscroft and I'm still debating whether its unique sound is for me.
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Joined: Aug 2016
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Congrats on the Aures! Quite the impressive and worthy upgrade 
Bosendorfer D214VC ENPro
Past: Yamaha P-85, P-105, CP50, Kawai MP11, Kawai NV10
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You should start a new thread: Kawai Aures Hands On.
Kawai NV10
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VI tells me that they'll be updating the Ravenscoft to include all the features of Modern U This intrigues me quite a bit! Hopefully they will also produce another grand with similar features. I have not purchased the Ravenscroft and I'm still debating whether its unique sound is for me. I'll definitely give it a second shot when they release the update. I find Modern U to be much more playable through the NV5 sound setup, but the lower range just sounds so anemic no matter what I do. It sounds empty compared to the others, and I just cannot. Meanwhile, the Ravenscroft has a beautiful low end, but overly harsh upper octaves and aggressive resonances that can sound quite muddy if they're not tamed. (Note this is my impression through the NV5 speakers/soundboard, the experience is a bit different through headphones). I just tried the Noire, and I actually like it very much (hopefully my last VST for a while). It has a much more potent low end compared to the Garrison that reminds me of the Ravenscroft (in fact, the optional sub mic needs to be used with extreme caution or you'll quickly reach the soundboard's limits). The default sound is somewhat melancholic, but it can be easily brightened with settings, and the UI is much, much easier to adjust than any of the other VST's I've used. It also loads almost instantaneously. So far so good.
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