V-Piano layering limitations

[swarupmahapatra]

Hi Guys,

I am new to the forum and this is my first post.

I bought the Fantom 6 few days back and trying to explore it’s capabilities. While trying out the Piano sounds, I somehow didn’t find the preset patches appealing to my ears. So, I thought I could layer couple of Pianos to create a thicker sound. But surprisingly I found that I couldn’t put more than one V-Piano inside a scene. The first zone only allows me for the V-Piano but not the other zones. Is that normal?

I had a Kronos and Montage in the past and didn’t face any such limitations. So, wanted to share my experience here. I maybe doing something wrong?

Thanks
-Swarup

[theshine]

Pretty sure Vpiano can only be used on channel 1. You could layer PCM pianos with it but from my experience Pianos always sound bad layering together as you get a horrible hollow phasing sound. I always layer with a pad or EP sound to get a fatter sound. I think the pianos sound very good but it’s possible if you are used to Yamaha or Korg pianos your ears are “tuned” to what you are expecting to hear.

[spottingjonah]

V-Piano... you either love it or hate it. I have an RD-2000 and prefer the SN pianos over the V-Piano. This after hours of trying to get the V-Piano to sound "right" to my ears. YMMV.

[Oleq]

V-Piano... you either love it or hate it. I have an RD-2000 and prefer the SN pianos over the V-Piano. This after hours of trying to get the V-Piano to sound "right" to my ears. YMMV.

Hi. Have you played the V-Piano per se (and not a part of a Fantom)?

[swarupmahapatra]

Pretty sure Vpiano can only be used on channel 1. You could layer PCM pianos with it but from my experience Pianos always sound bad layering together as you get a horrible hollow phasing sound. I always layer with a pad or EP sound to get a fatter sound. I think the pianos sound very good but it’s possible if you are used to Yamaha or Korg pianos your ears are “tuned” to what you are expecting to hear.

Good suggestions.Thank you so much. Let me try that out. Yeah my ears are definitely tuned to the Korg and Yamaha pianos.

[swarupmahapatra]

V-Piano... you either love it or hate it. I have an RD-2000 and prefer the SN pianos over the V-Piano. This after hours of trying to get the V-Piano to sound "right" to my ears. YMMV.

Thanks. This board is not capable of multi sampling yet. Does that mean we can’t purchase and import any 3rd party piano samples?

[spottingjonah]

Hi. Have you played the V-Piano per se (and not a part of a Fantom)?

I'm no expert... I've only ever played the (limited) version of V-Piano found on the RD-2000, which I believe is the same version as the Fantom, but not the full version found on the Big "V-Piano" stage piano. The version on my RD-2000 is what I can't seem to get to my taste. I actually prefer the RD-700NX patch.

[Saxifraga]

If I understand the technical specs correctly, the Fantom uses four processors and one is dedicated to one instance of V-Piano, because it's a heavy weight physical simulation of a piano with 128 tones simultaniously possible.
The processors two and three are for Zen Core engine sounds and one is for UI, sequencer and sampler.
That's info is what I could extract from half a dozen videos.
Correct me please, if I am wrong.

[bennyseven]

As I understand from the videos, V-Piano has kind of unlimited polyphony. Maybe, because it has its own (and only one) processor, it is limited by itself for one V-Piano part.
A good point to start when it comes to individual feelings about the sound is first of all the equalizer and (in case this is a virtual instrument) all settings from the VA machine. I think it could even be tweaked 'per key', which is complex but a cool feature.
In addition, like other forum user suggested, you can add another PCM piano or epiano (with 256 voices on top!). The latter is more usual in terms of 'sound thickness'.
Cheers, Benny

[swarupmahapatra]

If I understand the technical specs correctly, the Fantom uses four processors and one is dedicated to one instance of V-Piano, because it's a heavy weight physical simulation of a piano with 128 tones simultaniously possible.
The processors two and three are for Zen Core engine sounds and one is for UI, sequencer and sampler.
That's info is what I could extract from half a dozen videos.
Correct me please, if I am wrong.

I am slowly getting to understand the structure within the Fantom. Since I came from Korg/Yamaha background, it takes some time to change the mindset. Thanks for the tips.

[swarupmahapatra]

As I understand from the videos, V-Piano has kind of unlimited polyphony. Maybe, because it has its own (and only one) processor, it is limited by itself for one V-Piano part.
A good point to start when it comes to individual feelings about the sound is first of all the equalizer and (in case this is a virtual instrument) all settings from the VA machine. I think it could even be tweaked 'per key', which is complex but a cool feature.
In addition, like other forum user suggested, you can add another PCM piano or epiano (with 256 voices on top!). The latter is more usual in terms of 'sound thickness'.
Cheers, Benny

Tweaked per key. Wow. Thanks for the heads up. I am definitely going to dig into that.