Sound check

Please vote for the piano sound you like most. Try to ignore variations in dynamics, as these can be compensated for. Watch out mainly for how the piano sound itself is.

UPDATE: see post #16, the old poll has been closed and a new one opened, with 3 new "contestants".

number 3 i imo , was best for strength , feeling , clarity
number 4 seemed to have some background noise
1 and 2 seemed not as polished and lacked body

me plumber!

t


:^

N° 1 is my favorite. i imagine having it playing in my living room.

N° 2 sounds a bit detuned. Reminds me of one of those music caskets, poorly-lit corridors, discipline, pirates, ....
N° 3 sounds definitely 'asian'. i don't know how to explain it. i have to think of modern japanese or korean fantasy/mafia movies.
N° 4 is oversaturated.

But then again, i'm using crappy old speakers.

1 and 3 sound most realistic to me, and yes 1 sounds a bit weak for some reason. I voted can't decide between 1 and 3 but if you held a nex to my head I'd say 3.

Can't decide between 1 and 4

N° 1 is my favorite. i imagine having it playing in my living room.

N° 2 sounds a bit detuned. Reminds me of one of those music caskets, poorly-lit corridors, discipline, pirates, ....
N° 3 sounds definitely 'asian'. i don't know how to explain it. i have to think of modern japanese or korean fantasy/mafia movies.
N° 4 is oversaturated.

But then again, i'm using crappy old speakers.

Your speakers are not a problem because my impressions are the same. :) №2 sounds detuned indeed.

1 and 3 sound quite nice. I'd probably choose 3 over 1, though. On 2 and 4 I echo 4m.

As 2 is already losing quite obviously: 2 is the "Acoustic Grand Piano" patch of freepats.

Number 3 feels the most natural to me.

3 is the most natural. It sounds almost like real grand piano.
Check quite natural sound (Don't mind the noise, Its because of sound card):
http://ompldr.org/vOHIxbA%5Dhttp://ompldr.org/vOHIxbA

As 2 is already losing quite obviously: 2 is the "Acoustic Grand Piano" patch of freepats.

What? No! Okay, that makes me sad. Freepats needs to trump proprietary synths ASAP.

Run between 3 and 1. 3 sounds like the "modern" sound with certain parts boosted to reach the loudness we are accustomed too nowadays from movies and music, etc. 1 sounds the most realistic without being touched up to sound louder.

My ears like 3 better (because of the loudness I'm used to) but 1 is more realistic. As one cat above said, it sounds like the piano is in the room with you--however for the sake of good sound, volume isn't adjusted to make it sound louder.

4 has compression I think, might just be me. But if it's compression, it makes it the worst.

4 sounds like it needs tuning, old saloon boogie style upright piano imitation.

To be honest, none of the samples sound particularly good nor realistic, but that was not the question. To me, number 3 is the one with the most "spacious" sound, has most "presence" of the sound. Don't know how to put it right.

May I ask what you need that for? If you need anything played on the piano and to release it under gpl v2, I could help you out, my stage piano has a very good sound implementation as far as I am concerned and I might be able to record something for you if you specify what you need.

....

Your speakers are not a problem because my impressions are the same. №2 sounds detuned indeed.

Maybe Your speakers are crappy, too.

They can't be crappy *in the same way*. :P

I am going to restart the poll with new files.

These were the votes:

Sample 1 2 9.09%
Sample 2 0 0%
Sample 3 10 45.45%
Sample 4 1 4.55%
Cannot decide between 1 and 2 0 0%
Cannot decide between 1 and 3* 4 18.18%
Cannot decide between 1 and 4 2 9.09%
Cannot decide between 2 and 3 0 0%
Cannot decide between 2 and 4 2 9.09%
Cannot decide between 3 and 4 1 4.55%

This makes Sample 3 the clear winner.

In the new poll, I let sample 3 compare against new samples 5, 6, 7. Please reply with your opinions then, too!

The now no longer in the poll samples are on http://rm.endoftheinternet.org/~xonotic/test/

The samples which have lost are:

1. "mda piano.dll"
2. freepats
4. "4front piano.dll"

I must say I am partial to sample #5.

Sample #5 is ok for general sample quality but imho far too sharp, sounds like someone hammered the melody into the piano using a sledge hammer. From this aspect I'd prefer sample #6 over sample #5 and even over sample #7, even though its audio quality seems generally lower to me compared to both of the other ones.

However, the most authentic sample is, for me, sample #5 - but I find it horrible to listen at. Maybe that's a matter of midi velocity information? Good piano software instruments use a couple of different samples for different midi velocities and blend them together, since a piano sounds totally different if you hit the key softly or if you hit it sharply - simply playing one sample at different volumes just doesn't do the trick. If you play the piece at full midi velocity, then something like sample #5 would be expectable even from a good software instrument.

Edit: listening to it again I noticed that even the lower volume parts sound extremely sharp. So my vote remains, despite the more muffled sound and the need for tuning the piano I prefer sample #6 over samples #5 and #7.

Another edit: oh, and sample #3 is of similar quality, actually it sounds a bit more authentic. But the melody is transported better with sample 6 imho, since the piece itself requires a more soft piano sample.

Just noticing, sample #7 does have a problem... different notes have a quite different timbre... obviously, it only used a sample every few keys, and keys in between are derived from one or the other, but not from both.

im just going to say that the simple fact that your making tunes div , makes them all a winner in my books

<3

also whats the master plan?

what you up to young man?

t

:^

divVerent, did you make this piece?

If so, I'd love to hear it in some bonus stage or something

Or maybe when player finishes single player campaign...

With the bot orchestra playing it of course

I voted 3. Number 5 is an option if you're going for the medieval sound :p

@unfa: yes, I did make it. But I can't imagine it in a FPS, other than maybe at a credits screen