NoKey:

Yes, the concepts of layers, sample size have nothing to do with it. Sample have to use layers to achieve different velocity (volume), but PT generates the appropriate value for each note. What's really interesting is the ability to change the level of Sympathetic Resonance to mimic a real piano. This is the first thing I noticed when listening to the songs generated from samples - there is little if any sympathetic resonance, and the sound just falls off without the resonance of all the strings (with the dampers off).

The midi files I used for the classical pieces were from:

http://www.classicalarchives.com/

One must register to access files. There are two types of memberships:

No fee with limited access to five midi downloads per 24 hours and can't download wave/mp3 files.

A $25 per year fee with unlimited access to all files; not limited in any way.

I've also found other midi files at: http://www.vanbasco.com/midisearch.html

For classical piano, I just type in the composer's name suchas chopin or beethoven. It also works for all composers (rodgers, hammerstein, etc).

Virtually all the files have only one value for Pedal Control (controller number 64 = 127) and some have half-pedal values of 64. So from this I wouldn't think the keyboards were all that great, but it's hard to tell. My own Roland can generate all Pedal Control values from zero to 127.

While it would be nice to have multiple values for the dampers, I'm not convinced it's really necessary.

Have a listen to the Purgatory Creek recordings - they've have dozens of various digital pianos recorded, plus all the sample libraries that are available - it's quite an education to see how bad some are and how good some others are. And using the pianotest.mid file, you can test your own keyboard.

Last edited by Glenn Kolot; 12/16/08 12:32 AM.