Hello Everybody.  Can any one help me with making my piano sounds sound good.  I know it’s prob in the EQ or the effects, but I dont know what to do especially with the frequencies in the EQ.  Basically most of my pianos sound like they have a head cold, lol.  Can anyone please help me with settings that they may have used and had success with?  I have the MOXF and the pianos on this should sound stellar but they dont.  They sound great thru headphones, but when I play live with my band they dont.  I run 3 keyboards(MOXF, Korg x50, and roland juno G) into a lil mixer in stereo, and then out to the main mixer board in stereo.  Please help me with this dilemma!!!

Thank you

Mark

Have you had a chance to go through This Article?

It is a great starting place to explore the amazing amount of control and adjustment you have in making piano sounds that work for you.

Thanks.  I went thru the article and will try.  I was also wanting to know with regards to EQ, for low mid and high, what frequencies should I be tweaking?

On all three of my Yamaha keyboards, I uniformly boost the low end a bit (below about 400 hz or so, I suppress the mids a bit around 1000 hz or so, and I boost the highs a bit.  The unappealing boomy/boxy sound is in the general 1000 hz range.

This setup gives me a solid, punchy, crisp piano sound that cuts through.

Of course the first thing I do is eliminate, or at least heavily cut back on, the reverb.

I should mention this is a live performance setup, so first rate sound reinforcement is critical.

Since tone is highly personal, others may give entirely different advice.

Ultimately, you must be responsible for achieving the tone you want.  The article gives you direction on utilizing the many tools available.

Thank you.  This is what Im looking for.  Ill try your EQ parameters and hear how it sounds.  Every keyboard I have ever owned never needed so much tweaking to get it to sound good live.  But I love my MOXF because it is fun to play, I just want my live audience to love it too.

I am using the most current operating system as I also have the 1 gig flash board.  I am using norma keyboard velocity.  I play soft to medium.  I dont bang on the keys too much.

Cmayhle, can you tell me at what frequency you boost the highs at?

Magicman - 29 January 2016 07:55 PM

I am using the most current operating system as I also have the 1 gig flash board.  I am using norma keyboard velocity.  I play soft to medium.  I dont bang on the keys too much.

Setting the Velocity Curve to “soft” can often help with the “head cold” problem - it will be easier to hit the “hard strike” samples, which are typically brighter.

Thank you 5pindin, Purcell, and Cmayhle for all your help.  I just want to sound good when I play live whether it’s in a bar or in church.  :)

Magicman - 29 January 2016 08:00 PM

Cmayhle, can you tell me at what frequency you boost the highs at?

As a starting point, I would start to boost at about 2000 hz, which I have found is above the “boomy, boxy” piano frequencies in my Yamaha pianos.  Experiment, but I think you will like the effect of slightly suppressing the mids.

I think the key phrase in your initial post is “sounds great through headphones”.  So the sound is there, it’s just a matter being able to reproduce it through amplification.  Personally, I was also disappointed in the piano sounds out of the box.  The biggest improvement I immediately got was changing the velocity curve to “soft”.  After that it’s just a matter of finding quality monitors and playing with EQ and placement, etc.  Everybody loves the piano sound I get from the MOXF, and so do I.

I have been considering the K-2000 piano sounds now that I got the 500 Meg flash card.  Does anyone have experience with either the Epic Grand or the signature piano samples on the Moxf8?

Thanks everyone.  Im having better piano sounds now that Ive tweaked some EQ and set velocity curve to soft.  Should I add any onboard effects to pianos to make them sparkle even more like the parametric EQ(or whatever EQ it is called)?  Also, Allbrit I have the Epic Piano sounds and they are brilliant; awesome job on their sampling.  I totally recommend this.

Another thing to share:  I found this brings the pianos to life:  Go into effects and INS B is VCM EQ 501.  Change from flat to Dance Bd & Sn and the pianos sound TONS better.  I wish there were more EQ presets on here so I wouldnt have to use outboard gear.

Thanks for the info Magicman.  Did the epic pianos need any tweaking?  If not, why are having to tweak the onboard pianos?  Just curious as I am considering the K-2000 piano so I don’t have to do a lot of tweaking and hope that they are better than the
“tweaked” Moxf pianos.

The only tweaking I did was what I mentioned in an earlier comment:  Go into effects and INS B is VCM EQ 501.  Change from flat to Dance Bd & Sn.