Anyone have reviews on this 1GB piano expansion pack?

[richkeys]

I am very interested in an expansion pack for SX900/Genos/Tyros from CMS Sound Design called "CMS Grand Piano 1" which is supposed to be a Steinway multi-sample. Has anyone bought this nearly 1GB pack? I am wondering how good the quality and detail is compared to the preset grand piano on the SX900. I would be happy to devote all my expansion memory for it if it's really good. CMS also includes a smaller 500MB version if you buy the larger 1GB version. Hard to find reviews of this online. There is an older post on this forum from a Genos user who bought it.

[gabrielschuck]

Wow... All this for a piano sample?
I bought the 415mb GP2 Essential last year and I'm not even using it anymore... it's a good piano, but I've been able to clone better pianos and less than 1gb in size....
To be a monster like that, it must even have the sound of the pedal when pressed, which I think is impossible.
I'll take a look at the demo to see if it really convinces.
Regards,
Gabriel

[gabrielschuck]

Demo of a piano that I cloned from sampletank 4 max (c7 delicate) running on tyros5... Got 700 mb.
There are also pads that I took from other synth plugins:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xkekuhbkijahtoe/pianodemo.mp3?dl=1
Regards,
Gabriel

[richkeys]

I bought the CMS Grand Piano 1 pack ($73) after making this post. They included a bright and mellow version in the pack. Here's the deal. I like CMS. I think they are a good company. Was I impressed with the piano? Not really. Did it sound different and more detailed than the SX900 preset grand? Yes it did a little bit. But not nearly enough to impress me. I do realize piano is a tough instrument to replicate and is a very subjective thing. I gave them my feedback and heard nothing back. I believe effort went into creating this pack. But in the end I believe the SX900 may not be the right hardware to pull off a knock-your-socks-off piano sound.

Gabriel, Thanks for sharing the Dropbox file. Not sure when I can try this, as I have a bunch of other expansions already taking up some memory space.

[gabrielschuck]

I bought the CMS Grand Piano 1 pack ($73) after making this post. They included a bright and mellow version in the pack. Here's the deal. I like CMS. I think they are a good company. Was I impressed with the piano? Not really. Did it sound different and more detailed than the SX900 preset grand? Yes it did a little bit. But not nearly enough to impress me. I do realize piano is a tough instrument to replicate and is a very subjective thing. I gave them my feedback and heard nothing back. I believe effort went into creating this pack. But in the end I believe the SX900 may not be the right hardware to pull off a knock-your-socks-off piano sound.

Gabriel, Thanks for sharing the Dropbox file. Not sure when I can try this, as I have a bunch of other expansions already taking up some memory space.

I wouldn't be surprised either. That's why I said in another comment that for it to be a good piano this size it should even have the sound of the pedal when pressed, which is certainly not true.
Yes, it may be better than the piano that comes with the keyboard... But one thing you will agree with me...
The pianos of our keyboards are much better than the pianos of the previous ones, for example S910.
The issue is that sampling an instrument in YEM is too limited. I did a lot of experiments and did a lot of digging to reach this conclusion.
A good piano sample even has the sound it makes when you release the key, it's not an artificial release.

Of course this is a matter of personal taste. I'm already choosing to use the space I had reserved for grand pianos in my expansion memory for simpler instruments to be sampled, such as synths, pads, accordions, etc., including loops that I'm converting to RX2 format and that can be imported directly with YEM and used in creating a style.
Will I have such an amazing result?
Maybe not, but it's a way to have more variety of voices and styles on my keyboard, different things than a piano that can't be missing in a keyboard instrument.

I believe that we have to take advantage of these limitations and be concerned with presenting the best possible performance to our audience. That counts a lot more than having that piano tone from the galaxies.
The keyboard piano may not be what we expect, but it also leaves nothing to be desired.
Regards,
Gabriel