Default Piano Sound vs Preview sound

[Gabor]

Dear All!

I have recently bought an FA07 and it is great. For me it is a big improvement from an old Casio CTK. However... Maybe a too big step. Realized that there are many configuration options and some of them are really advanced... (for those like me who is not a studio expert )

Well... starting my journey with a simple step: Playing easy sheet music on the the default pianos, just to have the feeling of the new keyboard.

There is something strange:
Examining the first 3 pianos (Full-grand 001 / 002 / 003)
The "level" is not going up to more than 3-4 bars regardless of the gain knob setting. (rightmost gain knob is on max). However when I press the "Preview" mode the level goes up to the yellow and even to almost red during the sound demo. The demo sound is "fantastic" compared to the normal sound. Even tried to edit some tone parameters (resonance, gain mid gain1 mid gain2 ), the sound just got more noisy, but the level still does not move up when I play.

What do I need to set to get the same sound for the default Fullgrand 001 as in its preview?

My keyboard is connected to a Mackie CR4-X active studio monitor from the R(right) line out to the Unbalanced RCA (L + R) connector on the speaker.

Also found that in ED's studioset demo video, the level bar of the default "Fullgrand piano" went up to max when he played the preset studio set.

What is wrong on my end?

Thanks for your answers.
Kind Regards,
Gabor

[Gabor]

Additional information:

When the "Final answer" demo song plays, the Fullgrand's level goes up to the red fine. However when I stop the song and play the piano with the exact same settings, the level does not move up more than 2 bars.

Can it be that the sound demos and the demo songs made with another instrument and has nothing to do with the FA models?

[tchelomgf]

Check and tweak your settings in System - Keyboard Settings. If not works, make a backup and run factory reset.

In my case, with my FA-07, I have no problems with the piano levels. I've saved a user studio set using the Final Answer demo song since it improves the piano and organ sounds with better equalizations.

[Gabor]

Check and tweak your settings in System - Keyboard Settings. If not works, make a backup and run factory reset.

In my case, with my FA-07, I have no problems with the piano levels. I've saved a user studio set using the Final Answer demo song since it improves the piano and organ sounds with better equalizations.

Hello!

Thanks for your idea! I have changed the Keyboard Settings - Velocity from the default "Real" to 100, and the level bar went up to red immediately. Was also experimenting with the real-time controls and the tone settings and could almost reproduce the "preview" sound of the Fullgrand 001 piano.

What are your System - Keyboard settings? (just for curiosity). Also found that the "velocity sensitive" feature got lost if I move the velocity setting from "Real" to 100. When it is on "Real" , the keyboard is "touch sensitive" however when it is up, the keypress speed does not have impact on the voice.

Thanks
Gabor

[Joe P]

Gabor,

Changing the velocity from Real to a fixed number defeats the velocity sensitivity and fixes it at a certain value.

To access the keyboard settings press Menu>System>Keyboard. You can then select the Keyboard Velocity Curve (Light, Medium, or Heavy) which is the perceived "touch" of the instrument. You can further adjust it via Keyboard Velocity Curve Offset in the same screen. (Reference Manual page 97).

You can refine it even further in Studio Set Mode on a part basis via Shift>Part View, I forget in which menu it appears, but it gives you settings 1 thru 4 if for instance you want certain parts in the Studio Set to respond to velocity differently than others. The variations are more subtle than the system parameters.

Good luck!

Joe

[nathbeadle]

Hey Gabor,

If you're finding things quieter when you are playing I would recommend changing the Velocity Curve from Medium to Light, which means you'll get a louder sound (more velocity) when you press a key using the same strength as before. Once you change that, as Joe P mentioned, you can use the Offset variable to up things even more. This way you still have Real velocity (so responds to heavy and light presses dynamically) but it takes much less effort to get a loud sound which I think is what you want!

Let us know if that fixes things for you!

[Gabor]

Hello!

First of all, sorry for coming back to your answers such late!
Thank you for your advices! … yes, certainly the velocity curve I need to play with.
I did not know about the part view settings….

The following settings sound fine for me: (keeping the touch sensitivity)

Keyboard velocity: Real
Keyboard velocity curve: Light
Keyboard velocity curve offset: +9
Full Grand 1 part view velocity sens offset -8
Full Grand 1 string resonance 105

Strange feeling that using “Real velocity” curve, with the default settings, I need to push the keys such rapidly (with force) to achieve “rich sound”.
These settings help, however when watching pianists playing on Analog pianos, they seem to move their fingers such gentle….
Also pianists on digital keyboards (Fa 06 as well) play expressive sounds without bashing the piano.
… very strange..

Cheers,
Gabor

[Dnomaid]

Don't expect the FA-07 keys to play/feel even remotely close to a real acoustic piano. It'll never happen. Get a proper digital piano at least for that purpose. For starters, the FA-07 keys have too much pushback - especially towards the back of the black keys. This makes playing on the black keys far more difficult than a real piano. I find a fully weighted real piano way easier to play anything on compared to my FA-07, but I don't use it for pianos, so I can ignore the crappy action.