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Hey gang......
Does anyone have first-hand experience with the new (to me, at least) Nils Frahm/Galaxy/NI piano instrument? The demos and walk-through are pretty impressive.

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... tent=owned

I got the same email. Sounded like a nice, big Yamaha — which it is. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

The thing that bothered me is that none of the demos I heard were unaccompanied. Perhaps I missed one or two but was that nice, warm bass the piano or the bass and kick that were playing along?

mikehalloran wrote:I got the same email. Sounded like a nice, big Yamaha — which it is. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

The thing that bothered me is that none of the demos I heard were unaccompanied. Perhaps I missed one or two but was that nice, warm bass the piano or the bass and kick that were playing along?

I thought the same thing when I listened to the demos. You might want to check out the walk-through (I usually hate walk-throughs, but this one isn't too long and is pretty well done). It explains the extra low end comes from a pretty cool sub layer they sampled along with the piano and the rhythmic accompaniment is an aleatoric/algorhythmic thing you can dial in or out.

I sure don’t need another virtual piano, but this one might be special.

It's incredible, and probably more versatile than Synchron CFX, which seems designed a bit more for slotting into large arrangements (even when using mostly its close and mid mics).

I haven't the energy or time to repeat myself from what I've written on other forums, and there have been so many new piano libraries (and updates) in the past month alone that it's important to provide that context, but I think I can safely say that Noire may surpass Garritan Abbey Road CFX and even other piano libraries that aren't of the Yamaha CFX.

They started with a gazillion mics, then after careful review stripped it down to just three and finished the sessions that way, with no post-mix available to the end user -- a stark contrast to the gazillion mics with full user control as in Synchron Pianos and other recent libraries.

The recording room is a big part of why this library sounds so great, but also the mics and how it was miked. Two Neumann M50's -- a rare variant on the excellent vintage tube-based M49 mic (I have two Peluso tribute models) -- situated on either side of the player near the front of the piano. The third mic is near the rear and is the excellent Peluso 4038. These in fact are my preferred mics for grand piano when using a three-mic setup anyway.

That's as much as I'll go into for now. I used my about-to-expire K12 voucher to bring it down to $124 and feel it was well worth it. I had even paid $99 the day before to upgrade to the new UVI Keys Suite Acoustic, but that wasn't due to the vastly improved acoustic pianos (now near top-of-list in spite of being old and shallow samples, due to outrageously good programming and balancing), but rather it was motivated by the inclusion of one-of-a-kind patches for Papageno Bells and Keyboard Glockenspiel as well as several Historic Keyboards that are rare.

The other new Yamaha library is the gigantic C7 contribution to SampleTank 4 MAX, with three mic positions, but they don't seem available to blend (except via layering of patches), and I absolutely detest the orientation of ST4 towards non-composers and how hard that makes it to find sounds via simple directory traversal (especially when you already know what it is and where it sits). Strangely, all three mic pairs sound very similar, and none are very appealing to me timbrally in comparison to the VASTLY improved Pearl Concert Grand (updated late 2018) by Impact Soundworks. Or even the now-better C7 in UVI Keys Suite Acoustic.

The Yamaha CFX isn't sample as often as the C7 and has a much different character, so I suspect Noire will prove quite popular as its only real competition as far as I know is the Garritan ABbey Road CFX and also the new VSL Synchron Piano CFX. Price-wise, the Garritan is more bang-for-buck on paper, but I feel the miking choices and the recording room for Noire make it a more emotionally satisfying library, with lots of character and life.

Oh, in case some of you didn't know, this library is branded by Native Instruments but is another offering from Galaxy Instruments.

Although I am in the midst of transferring my licenses for all three of my Prepared Piano libraries at the moment, the one piano preparation I actually like is felt, and Noire comes in two main patches: natural, and felt-prepared.

The felt preparation is quite nice for a lot of contexts and sounds very organic and maybe just a bit more like a fortepiano; whereas most piano preparations have me looking for alternatives that don't involve mutilating a $60,000+ instrument.

There is also a synthesis-based approach available, with given presets (that I haven't tried yet), that apparently mimic bowing and other playing implements. As far as I can tell, none of that involves additional samples and is purely modeled using what is probably a Reaktor Block of some sort.

As for the bass, it is thunderous but not muddy, and can be dialed down. Even from the two videos I watched (rare for me; I usually can't stand being a captive to something that I have no control over pausing, restarting, or setting to a random start point as with standard audio playback), I almost thought this might be a Bosendorfer, which Yamaha now owns, but they are clear that it is a Yamaha CFX.

Just based on what I heard and tested in the demo recordings, my main concern is that they aren't mono-compatible. When I put my monitors in mono-mode, there was a startling amount of phase cancellation.

I love the idea of the felt option. I have a console piano with a felt bar, and really like the sound and effect of it. Very tranquil and mysterious.

BTW, I did end up getting The Grandeur, which has turned out to be a fantastic piano. It is more versatile than I expected, and the way they implemented the damper pedal, the lid, and some compressor presets make it sound realistic and adaptable.

Not being a proper piano player, it's hard to get too excited about yet another piano library. There's so many great libraries already, but the more I hear about Noire the more interested I am. And I do love the Nils Frahm UnaCorda. ...of course if you wait for Komplete 13 you'll probably get Noire in that upgrade.

An interesting discussion on Noire here on SonicTalk: https://youtu.be/PmL9k-_9UA0?t=2354

Hmmm... If I had $179,000 to spend on a piano, it wouldn't be a CFX, nice as they are.

OTOH, I found a $50 voucher about to expire so, what the heck... downloading now. I'm a slut for a decent piano VI and I finally heard a few things that made me pull the trigger.

Well, I hadn't given that up for Lent.

Still wish someone would sample the Floyd Cramer Steinway A at RCA Studio B in Nashville and a decent Bösendorfer 225.

Yep, Mike, same with me -- I had a voucher about to expire, so that did it for me. It brought the price down just far enough (almost to $100) that this library's superiority over a rather large percentage of what is already out there, became an easier decision.

Although I doubt Komplete 13 will come as soon as September of this year, I'd be a bit surprised if they sacrifice direct sales on this product that early by including it, except maybe in the higher-end versions of Komplete.

Komplete 12 was just last year so I think we are safe for awhile.

Rick Cornish wrote:Hey gang......
Does anyone have first-hand experience with the new (to me, at least) Nils Frahm/Galaxy/NI piano instrument? The demos and walk-through are pretty impressive. ...

I do. I've been messing around with it a bit. I'd say it's the best piano NI has to offer to date. I recorded 2 demos, in case you want to check them out:

https://youtu.be/yOe4ntClvLI

and

https://youtu.be/LSvBuNG4Wks

Just got an email from NI about 50% all pianos on piano day.

stubbsonic wrote:Just got an email from NI about 50% all pianos on piano day.

Not Noire

Yes. Sorry, you're right. It wasn't in the email. Noire was shown at the very bottom of the sale page, but not listed with a sale price.

Thanks for the correction.