Their newest piano samples use a mixture of both close mic and distant mic mixed - to give the sound a much fuller sound.

Is there any way of doing this on the Montage/MODX...?

Not sure there is a need to imitate a recording of a piano... but to address the fundamental question (which has some validity) ... that is: creating the illusion of a “close miked” and “distant miked” acoustic piano.

The principal acoustic piano sounds in the MONTAGE and MODX are designed to mimic both a piano sound that is up ‘close and personal’, and can be changed via Motion Control (Assign Knob/Super Knob and MW) to one that is observed from greater distance. (I’m pretty sure the synth you mentioned is trying to accomplish this same thing).

Recall either the “CFX Concert” or the Bosendorfer “Imperial Grand” and observe how it is the “listener’s position” is varied by the position of the Super Knob. The proximity effect is responsible for the amount of low/mid/high frequencies we hear, by changing the high and low frequency content, and Reverberation characteristics, you change the listener’s (mic) position.

Super Knob at minimum, you are very upclose to the acoustic piano...the Super Knob is a macro controller changing multiple parameters simultaneously... as the Knob position is increased you are moved farther and farther away from the piano...to accomplish this several parameters are changed simultaneously (including particulate EQ bands, Filter, Reverberation Time, etc) changing our perception of where we (as listener’s) are positioned in relation to the instrument.

Extra Credit:
Please see this tutorial study on: Mastering MONTAGE: Assignable Knob Study

The idea is to set the distance you desire, by moving the Super Knob to the position that appeals to you... then STORE your User Bank version at that setting.

If you think layering a close miked piano with one miked from a distance... would “give the sound a much fuller sound.” Go for it... no harm in trying... lol... you have everything you need in the MONTAGE/MODX engine. I don’t believe that this necessarily makes it “fuller”, but you certainly can create the illusion of a close and distance miked piano situation. If you do, please post to Soundmondo.

Right, the Super Knob moves your distance - yet your distance is still in one spot (closer to farther away - it is still one spot), correct...?

From what I understand of the new piano sounds in the Nautilus - they are combining both a close mic and distance mic - where you have two spots combined into one (and you can change each spot separately to your liking).

The Super Knob just gives you one spot - so to speak.

So would the way to do it be to just have the CFX (or Bosendorfer, etc.) in a close position and then add another CFX (or Bosendorfer, etc.) layered over at a farther away position...?

The new piano samples (Korg's flagship is the Steinway D) on the Nautilus are quite impressive - you can give them a listen here if you wish - starting at 3:58:

The "tough" part of generating what you need and using something like CFX Concert as a model is how to take the system effects which are changed using superknob and split that between two different pianos. It's easy to take CFX Concert and copy Parts 1-3 to Parts 5-7. You don't need to copy Part 4 since that's key off and not something I'd worry about layering a "close" and "far" version of. Too little audio content to bother with for me.

However, once you've done that - and done what you need to do to reverse superknob's polarity on Parts 5-7 vs. Parts 1-3 - you're still left with how to deal with variation and reverb effects that must be shared. For this, I'd probably pick one or the other and "delete" it for Parts 1-3. Say reverb - only use variation on Parts 1-3. And use only reverb on Parts 5-7. And reverse the curve polarity so reverb goes up as variation goes down. Now you'll have a reconfigured "close" and "far" blended.

There's more details on how to really clean up loose ends - but that's the big picture. Of course one thing you could do as well is use Sample Robot to sample your Montage playing CFX Concert with superknob set one way - then the other way. Create new Performances "Close" and "Far" that would end up being single Part each. Now you'd have what you need with the effects all sampled in. Be sure to look at the original "CFX Concert" to see where the velocity layers are and have Sample Robot build the same velocity layers at the same velocity inflection points. And use a reasonable amount of keys so you end up with lots of samples. This could end up taking lots of space due to lack of compression algorithms (actually, none) employed by Sample Robot. So you'll have to decide how to trade this off. Regardless, one choice is to sample "close" and "far" into a single Part then load up each of these Parts to create a new Performance with Part 1 as "close" and Part 2 as "far". You can turn off all effects since they are already sampled in - or play with adding more to enhance. I'd probably use insertion effects so the "close" and "far" pianos could have their own set of effects and stay away too from too many shared for these two pianos.

Looks like Nautilus is the "MODX" of Kronos. I recognize it's slightly different - but probably some/most of these features will make their way into Kronos. Particularly the uprights and other unique piano/other sounds featured on Nautilus. They may even artificially delay updating Kronos if they either have a Kronos refresh coming - or just want to give Nautilus some breathing room to have differentiated content.

Right, the Super Knob moves your distance - yet your distance is still in one spot (closer to farther away - it is still one spot), correct...?

From what I understand of the new piano sounds in the Nautilus - they are combining both a close mic and distance mic - where you have two spots combined into one (and you can change each spot separately to your liking).

The Super Knob just gives you one spot - so to speak.

The Nautilus is merely just 'simulating' a close vs distance piano sounds, similar to how the Yamaha Montage/MODX do. So when Korg talk about close mic vs distance mic, they haven't actually mic'd both close & distant pianos, but rather they are simulating close vs distanced mic'd piano via effects. Korg use EQ, volume, possibly stereoization and reverb to simulate close vs distant pianos, whereby they increase reverb and lower the high gain EQ shelf around 6.3k or lower (& possibly the overall volume) to create the simulation of a distanced mic'd piano.
The Montage/MODX pianos are close mic'd sampled, but achieve the same result of distanced mic'd pianos by increasing the reverb and lowering the volume & high shelf EQ at the same time, as well as the stereoization, which can be controlled via the SuperKnob. The real question is, do you prefer the sound of a Yamaha CFX 9' grand (or Bosendorfer) or a Steinway piano (or whatever piano Korg is trying to simulate)? Note you can also purchase the 'American Grand' library for the Montage/MODX if you prefer the Steinway, or you can even use SampleRobot Montage Edition like I did and capture a perfect Yamaha C7 Grand or whatever VST piano you prefer.

Whatever your preference is in the model of the Piano, you can emulate close or distanced mic'd pianos, different stereoizations, etc. within the Montag/MODX and control via the SuperKnob or Scenes or AsignKnobs, or whatever way you wish to change these parameters. You won't see the fancy piano lid image open or closed, but if what you really care about is the sound, the Montage/MODX are fully capable of providing equally if not better sound than the Nautilus pianos. If anything Yamaha did too good a job in sampling the perfect CFX grand piano, such that the raw samples might not sound awesome live without EQ'ing, as they sound more like an 'Actual' CFX Grand piano, as opposed to a perfectly studio recorded CFX Grand that sounds awesome for playing live. There are numerous Performances options with variations of different EQ'd pianos on the Montage/MODX, where the Stage, Pop or Convert version might be best for live. Or you can take any of the various piano Performances and adjust/tweak the EQ & reverb to make them sound perfect for whatever scenario you wish to simulate!

You can do like I do and save Preset pianos as a new Performance, then tweak the EQ, volume and Reverb that the SuperKnob controls to fit what you are looking for, including the sympathetic resonance.

To be Honest, though the Montage/MODX will do anything you want them to (with the right preset or library & some tweaking), I am quite surprised that Yamaha have not yet come out with a new OS Update in response to Korg's latest Nautilus synth like they did when Roland came out with their latest Fantom Workstation a little over a year ago. I thought Yamaha would have provided some new enhancements/features to the Montage/MODX by now, thus basically providing existing owners with a new improved Synth, and therefore plenty of incentive for new potential buyers to purchase a MODX or Montage instead of the new Korg Nautilus. But to be fair to Yamaha, they did come out with a relatively major OS update in early June 2020 providing new functionality, such as FM-X Morphing, so maybe they are saving the next big one, since the Nautilus price/value is not competitive with the MODX and for a small percentage more cost, you can have the full Kronos with ALL the features/functionality, including Aftertouch, Karma, Sliders, etc.

IMHO Yamaha would be smart in its next Update to provide it's Montage/MODX customers with their state of the art sampled C7 Grand piano library, as it is the most recorded piano in history for pop/rock, so I'm not sure why they are not giving that one to existing or new potential owners yet, or maybe they are saving it for a later date, but tick tock...

In the end it comes down to your preference. If you want a Synth with a piano whereby you can do exactly this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82pfADW1j5k
...you can achive this Exact same sounding piano, whether close or far via the Montage/MODX synths!

Yes, I think they new piano samples (mixing both close and far mic, etc.) on the Nautilus sound fantastic.

I thought about the American Grand for Montage/MODX - but there are "literally" no reviews of it - and I know it doesn't contain the same sound profiles, resonance, etc. that come on the Ivory II, etc.

Would a better sounding alternative be to use SampleRobot for Montage on an actual Nautilus...? 🙂

Or maybe a SampleRobot of the Ivory II...

Was also thinking of using SampleRobot on the Garritan CFX.

Here's some previous discussion about the American Grand on the current and last gen synths.

https://www.yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/american-grand-piano-library
https://yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/synthogy-american-grand

https://www.yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/alan-parsons-grand-vs-synthogy-american-grand
https://yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/anyone-purcahse-synthogy-american-grand-or-k-sounds-epic-grand-from-yamaha-musicsoft
https://www.yamahasynth.com/ask-a-question/synthogy-american-grand-for-motif-xf-moxf

Would a better sounding alternative be to use SampleRobot for Montage on an actual Nautilus...?

... if you've got one or access to one for long enough. My suggestion deals with what Montage users would all have immediately.

One thing I was "surprised" about during the Nautilus demo was how they were mixing "close" vs "far". Using independent controls (and the touchscreen at that) to bring up/down one or the other to blend. I'm fairly certain they could have taken one of the user assignable knobs (1-8) and used a single knob to decrease the "close" volume while increasing the "far" volume with a 50%/50% cross-over point in the middle. This would be what one would generally setup on Montage/MODX's superknob - and it seems like a better route to go if having different blends is what you want. Rather than fiddling with the touchscreen. I really just think this is either a bad demo moment or bad programming - but not necessarily a limitation of the synth to have better programming.

Yes, I think they new piano samples (mixing both close and far mic, etc.) on the Nautilus sound fantastic.
I thought about the American Grand for Montage/MODX - but there are "literally" no reviews of it - and I know it doesn't contain the same sound profiles, resonance, etc. that come on the Ivory II, etc.
Would a better sounding alternative be to use SampleRobot for Montage on an actual Nautilus...? 🙂
Or maybe a SampleRobot of the Ivory II...
Was also thinking of using SampleRobot on the Garritan CFX.

First off, I am just an enthusiast like you who has done a ton of research on the Montage/MODX with regard to pianos specifically! It is THE #1 most important thing to me. And I have the Bechstein and C7 VST pianos from Ivory & Native Instruments, the C7 being my all time favorite!
I bought the "Epic Grand" hoping it would give me an awesome C7 library for the Montage, but I was disappointed, as it did not provide a C7 piano on the Montage that I could be content with. The Ivory C7 blows it out of the WATER!!!!
https://soundcloud.com/synthogy/pursuit-i2
https://soundcloud.com/synthogy/odyssey

So I used "SampleRobot Montage Edition", and sampled/programed the following library for my own use:
https://soundcloud.com/dclowe/sets/montage-c7-piano-library

I have since re-programmed the piano to be more like a FULL Grand using 2 PARTs, and it has the full depth of the CFX & American Grand pianos.

Getting back to the Steinway piano in the "American Grand" library. It is equally as awesome as the Steinway that you hear on the Nautilus demo, but I have taken it to a new level. As much as I disliked the way the Epic Grand sample waveforms were, the sympathetic resonance sample was quite awesome, and so I have added that sample technology to my Ivory "Yamaha C7", American Grand "Steinway", and modified Montage "CFX Grands"! I have compared in "real time" my Steinway and CFX grands to professionally recorded classical Grands, and they both hold up sounding virtually exactly the same on my Montage Performances. I have mixed the Epic Grand sympathetic resonance with the Montage resonance effect, to give my pianos a resonance that is as close to the real thing as possible...equally as close as any Emulation based piano!

With the help of @Jason, I was able to tweak the "Key Off" sample to sustain and sound out at just the right amount of volume for the "CFX KeyOff St" waveform, such that when holding the the sustain pedal for a longer period of time, it doesn't Jump out with too much volume. I used the PART Mod/Control Control Assign to a PART using 'Dogleg' Curve Type, Uni -26 0 0 parameters, to achieve this against a CFX piano PART. I am planning to redo this and replace the AWM2 piano CFX PART with an FM-X PART in order to conserve on Polyphony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2GYYV8JSqM

I have basically Emulated on the Montage8, the CFX, Steinway and Bosendorfer Grand pianos that you hear in the link above, between the sample waveforms, the resonance, and key off samples.

When I play my tweaked Steinway pianos from the "American Grand" library, CFX pianos from the Montage Preset library waveforms, and Bosendofer pianos, they sound Exactly the same as you hear in all of these pianos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyqxFSUfD7A (Steinway)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r25Bg7y3HnA (Steinway)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82pfADW1j5k (Yamaha CFX)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2GYYV8JSqM (Steinway, CFX & Bosendorfer)

So you are telling me that the American Grand for Montage/MODX - is just as good as the new Korg Nautilus Steinway American D samples...

Very nice...

I assume that the SampleRobot for Montage samples can also be used in the MODX, correct...?

SampleRobot works with MODX too due to MODX's compatibility with Montage file formats. The part that's different is that MODX doesn't get a no-cost version. I'm not aware that the offer has yet (or ever will) extend to MODX. Therefore, a purchase would need to be made. I don't even see how one would purchase the Montage edition as it isn't listed on Skylife's website as a product. You'd have to contact Skylife to see if there's a way. I haven't seen anything public yet.

FWIW...

Close and Distant mic'ing of Guitar Amps is an ages old trick of the trade to make a mono/single speaker cone sound fuller with more "dimension". The recorded tracks off each mic were then mixed to form a single/mono or panned/stereo track.

This creates what is affectionately known as the "Amp In A Room" sound. It is also partly responsible for the increase in popularity of IR (Impulse Response) Libraries, whereby Guitarists can emulate the sound of their guitar playing through any (unobtania/vintage) cab in any venue (Abby Roads, The Albert Hall etc).

Reading the original post, it sounds like Korg have opted for a Piano In A Room effect. No doubt they are aware of the rising popularity of IRs.

You can emulate this with either.

a) Impulse Responses (Google).

or

b) Inboard or Outboard FX. The ingredients are fairly simple:-
a) Modulation* - Low Depth, Low Rate Chorus or Flanger, with a wet/dry mix control. Keep Flanger feedback off or minimal.
b) Delay with very short delay times and good control of the "Echo EQ"
c) Good Reverb... Room, Hall etc, with comprehensive controls.

*May not be necessary if modulation options are available on the Delay or Reverb.

Generally, there is no better or worse, just different.

Korg has its own published Piano In a Room Tone... which by all accounts sounds good.

You can take your good Yamaha Piano Tone, and turn it into a Piano In The Room Tone. It may not sound identical to Korg, but it will sound good. Plus once you've mastered tbe Modulate-Delay-Reverb process, you can create your own "In a Room ambience and atmosphere".