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Topic starter
Hello,
I own the Montage 8, but i'm not completely at ease with its action... great for my left hand, but not that good for my right hand, too heavy for me for expressive and balanced piano sounds phrasing, and i find the height of the keys is too much for piano sound playing, compared to a more classic action. I tried a Kawai MP7-SE for example, and i found it great.
I may be picky, but i can't manage to be as expressive as i would want to, and it's a pity, regarding the great audio quality of the Montage.
So my questions are (if we focus for ex on the CFX sounds):
Would the Montage's CFX sounds played via a "piano action" controller (for ex CP4 or MP7-SE) be similar to the CP 88's CFX Sounds, as they share the same AWM2 technology and a "piano" keybed ?
I find the CP 88 pianos are very well balanced and we hear a "unified" piano sound, it sounds as a whole. I find the Montage 8 piano sounds are less unified, more like a suite of hi-quality samples for each key...
So, is the sound technology of the Montage so different to the one in the CP 88, that even with a real piano action, the character of their piano sounds remain different ?
Or will a "unified" piano action unify the sound result ?
I could decide to play a Montage 6 via a CP4 action :
I understand the SCM technology of CP4 is different than the AWM2 used in Montage and CP 88 :
As i focus on home studio and recording, and not on Live Gigs, are the CP4 CFX sounds "possibly better" for recording than the AWM2, or on the contrary less suited or less relevant for recording, or else totally different so very subject to everyone's taste ?
I hope to have made myself understandable, and i thank you in advance for your answers 😉
Alex
Posted : 07/01/2022 6:14 pm
Interesting topic, but there is no definitive answer that would apply across the board.
Since no mention of adjusting the Velocity Sensitivity is made, we’ll assume your questions are “without having to make the appropriate adjustments to the keyboard’s sensitivity”… it is all very subjective… and because it is all personal taste means your reaction to and evaluations of the various actions is neither true or false, nor right or wrong, they are simply your opinions.
Basically, until you exhaust the Velocity Sensitivity and response curves made available, it’s difficult to even have a discussion. Piano weighted action, as found on products that are principally digital pianos, are designed to play acoustic piano sounds and therefore, tend to lean toward mimicking that type of action. And are preferred by folks whose only keyboard experience has been acoustic piano. Understand that acoustic piano is just one of many, many instrument sounds a synthesizer is asked to reproduce. And if you grew up playing organ, the piano weighted-action thing is a real drag (they wonder why anyone would prefer it).
It is totally subjective and personal taste as to whether a weighted action is even desirable for playing strings or flute or guitar emulations… it certain makes playing a B3 emulation a chore! There is no right or wrong. Your opinion is no more right or wrong than the next player’s opinion.
The best we can offer is, whether any of what you are asking about can be stated definitively… I don’t believe so. They are all “Do these shoes fit my feet?” questions… in that only *you* can determine if they pinch your toes.
Taking a poll will not help either. What ‘most people’ like might be far away from what you like.
When you know you are picky about such things (and we all are to some degree), I would look into learning what is available to be adjusted when it comes to Effort-input and Result-output concerning Velocity response. In the innards of these products are a varying amount of customizing and scaling tone generator response to keyboard input.
Who’s to say that connecting via MIDI will solve things for your situation? Again, only you!
The few microseconds of latency might throw everything off for you. The logistics of gaming access to controller also needs to be considered.
Posted : 07/01/2022 7:05 pm
Topic starter
Thank you for your answer as always 🙂
I should have mentionned that yes, i've exhausted i think every options of velocity sensitivity adjustments, i went to manuals and software : Soft touch in Utility, Normal curve on Utility and Soft Touch on the Elements, Offsets etc...
Maybe margins could be gained with adjusting every elements, but at the end it's tedious and i think don't solve the problem, which is maybe psychological, or includes the confidence and looseness to play on your instrument 😉
But once the doubt is installed, so difficult to make it go away, moreover when you are fully fluent on a piano action, such as CP88 or MP7-SE.
And yes i understand pianos are only a part of synths sound to be made available, and global action of the Montage 8 is high quality, as are the 6 and 7 actions !
And the milliseconds of latency is another true subject, i often ask me the question, while playing VSTs or via a controller...i never manage to know if it's a real thing or a psychological one...
On the CP4 subject and SCM technology, was it developed with Stage and Live purposes in mind, or globally, including studio recording ?
What is your opinion on SCM vs AWM for recording and mixes results ?
Posted : 07/01/2022 8:58 pm
