TVBO The Very Big One!

SampleTekk TVBO An acoustic piano is a very dynamic and expressive instrument! You could use the same instrument, in the same venue for different artists, and get very different results. Even in the same genre you would get different sounds from different performers. Jerry Lee can use a grand piano, and Mitsuko Uchida can then use the same instrument for a Mozart piece. (After some tuning) Why? Because an acoustic piano is a VERY dynamic and expressive instrument! Theres simply so much going on between the soft pianissimo and thundering forte, especially on a Grand Piano. When you record a piano that shall be used for a sampled instrument, you want to capture as much as possible of the tonal range, so you have to record the same note several times, each time hitting the note with a different strength. In the beginning of sampling you would have just one, since the memories of those early samplers couldnt handle more. This would mean that you have the same timbre no matter how hard you hit the key, and thats not really piano-like With the arrival of software samplers and the price drop on memory, you could indulge in more velocity layers, and you started to see pianos that had 4, 6, 8 and even 12 velocity layers, drastically improving the dynamic response of a sampled piano. When SampleTekk released the White Grand and Black Grand, the 16 velocity layers were considered to be among the most dynamic sampled pianos around, (and they still are). So, where to go next? Why not 31 velocity layers..

Are you nuts??? That was the obvious question. If you have a dynamic range on a piano of about 30-40 dB, that would mean that you would have to record each note with an increase of just about 1 dB for each velocity, for both sustain pedal up, down plus release samples. Seriously, are you nuts??? Just nuts enough! During the recording sessions for TVBO, this was thrown forward as a possible slogan for SampleTekk. Considering the hours that went into this project it probably wasnt such a bad idea! It would be very difficult indeed to record with this level of precision, especially if you are striking the keys yourself. (It would also be terribly tedious!) So we created a software tool SLH that allowed us to record with exactly this level of precision. And, even with SLH you wouldnt believe the hours! But when the job was done and the result could be heard Yes, it was worth it! This piano is a joy to play! It reacts just like the real thing. Play soft, play hard, play in between, play crescendos, play diminuendos, its all there! The response and feel was just amazing! SampleTekk are so very, very proud to give you: TVBO We are certain that once you have TVBO in your hands (under your fingers?) you will know that you have discovered something very special!

The Swedish Chef

Yes, I am from Sweden! So, I hope youll understand that the text in this manual sometimes not are grammatically correct, and that there might be a few spelling mistakes, but who cares huudli-buudlii-coconut.

Recording the TVBO

The Instrument The Grand Piano used for the TVBO is a Yamaha C7. One of the most popular studio grands. Well known for its detailed, rich, full sound. The C7 is one of the best selling Grand Pianos in the world and it has been used on countless productions in all imaginable genres. The recordings took place at OAL studios in Stockholm, Sweden and we used two types of microphones, Neumann SM2, a stereo microphone and a pair of Neumann U89.

Neumann SM2

The SM2 model is a stereo microphone thats essentially a pair of KM56. It was introduced in 1956 and was at the time, (and for quite many years), the only stereo microphones available. Its been used in a plethora of recording situation, and has been dubbed the piano saviour by many. The SM2 was set up above the strings, close the hammers, to capture a detailed, bright sound that would work well in a mix where you need detailed

Neumann U89 Neumann U89 The U89 was considered to be a follower to the famous U87. The demand for the older model was so great, that Neumann decided to keep both models. The U89 is universal studio microphones that very often are used on pianos. For the TVBO we used a pair of U89 in an x/y position to capture a bit more ambience without loosing the touch with the instrument.

The Kontakt GUI Heres what you see when you load up the TVBO In Kontakt:

Lets go through the controls from left to right!

Mixer

TVBO where recorded using two different microphone pairs. Both having their own characteristic. (For details, please see Recording the TVBO) You can use them separately, or mix the together using the volume faders. You can also turn each channel on/off using the button at the top.

Eq With this section you can set the EQ. From top you have Hi Frequency, then Hi Mid, Lo Mid and Low Frequency With the In button you turn the EQ on/off With the KHz control you set the area where the EQ should work, and with the dB control you can increase or decrease the frequency. The Q control (available for the Hi and Lo Mid) controls the bandwidth. Fully anticlockwise, the EQ is set to work on a narrow part of the frequency spectrum, and by turning this up, you increase the area on witch the EQ works. With the dB control you can increase or decrease the selected frequency area with approximately -5dB 5 dB And the frequency areas in witch the EQ works are the following: HF 1.5 kHz 16 kHz HMF 600 Hz 7 kHz LMF 200 Hz 2.5 kHz LF 30 Hz 450 Hz

Reverb

This is a convoluting reverb unit. This means that it works with so called impulses that have been recorded from real rooms, halls and reverb units like digital reverb, plate reverb and spring reverb. Without becoming too technical, this produces a very natural reverb sound. In the current version you can choose between the following reverbs (use the arrows on the side of the display to choose a reverb): Large Room Small Room Concert Hall Large Hall Small Hall Large Plate Small Plate Digital 1 Digital 2 Digital 3 Spring Then you have some different controls:

Dry Volume of the dry, original signal Wet Volume of the reverb signal Delay Gives you a short delay between the dry signal and the wet signal. Great if you want to emulate large rooms, but can also be used as an effect Size Controls the length of the reverb High A High Pass filter Low A Low Pass filter

Go further If you look at the blue plate, you will find a small button just below the little red LED light. If you click on that, further controls will be revealed:

SR Vol

Sympathetic Resonance The life & soul of the piano There are two ways of undamping a piano string, one that described above, when you press the sustain pedal and undamp all strings, and another where you play and hold a tone. When playing a note on a piano, it will effect all other strings that are undamped by resonating them. Depending on what note(s) that are held and what note(s) that are played, you will get certain overtones going. This is called Sympathetic Resonance and really, really blows life into a piano.

To try it out, turn on the SR by pressing the button, set the SR Vol to about half way up, play and hold a C chord, let it ring out and then, while still holding the keys to the C chord, play the C in the octave below. As you can hear, youll get a resonance going. This is the Sympathetic Resonance. You can, if you like, turn this knob to eleven (In a true Nigel Tufnel manner). This will produce an over the top resonance that still can be cool for effects! Some limitations If you consider the amount of combinations of possible pressed and held keys together with possible played notes, that sum would be, well big! The SR in the TVBO is an emulation that works on many, but not all combinations. To get actually all would make a, well BIG program and would really be impossible to make.

U89 Ph

Phase cancellation, good or bad? Well, it depends. As you might know, Tom Waits once said: Music, fun thing you can do with air. Sound is airwaves, with peaks and valleys. If you would listen to the same sound source from different angels, the peak of a sound wave would reach the closest listening point first, and when it reaches the point a bit further away, the wave would have travelled a bit further.

When you mix these listening points, as you do with TVBO two microphone sources, you will get cancellations of different frequencies. In ALL situations where you have several microphones you will get this. In fact, even if you use just one microphone you will get this, since the sound will reflect from walls and ceilings. In short, it changes the timbre. You can use this as a feature when sculpting the sound. Changing the phase of one microphone pair, (in this case the U89), you will change the timbre a bit.

Velocity Settings

Here you can set the way that the piano response to velocity, or, how hard you hit your MIDI keyboard.

Vel Resp With this control you can set the velocity curve of the TVBO. Fully left, you will get a response where you will trigger lower velocities on a larger range, fully right you will set it to trigger higher velocities on a larger range. In the middle, you will get a linear response and will probably be your starting point. If you are in a softer mode, turn it down a bit, and for more aggressive playing, turn it up. Try it out and youll see what I mean!

The Velocity Curve You will probably have the option to change the velocity response, or curve, on your MIDI keyboard. I would recommend having this set to a linear response if you want to control things with the TVBO. Also if you prefer to control this with your keyboard, I suggest you set the Piano in a linear mode

Min Vel & Max Vel Here you can set the velocity range of the piano. With Min Vel fully left and Max Vel fully right, you will get the full velocity response from the instrument, and this would be your go-to setting. If you turn up the Min Vel, you will not reach the lower velocities, and if you turn down the Max Vel, you will not reach to higher velocities. Try it; youll see what I mean!

Min Vel & Max Vel ganged You cant set the Min Vel higher than the Max Vel, because this would only be, well, strange!

Res Vol & Shimmer The resonance, (in this instrument anyway), is the sound produced when you hit a key with the sustain pedal pressed. What happens when you press the sustain pedal on a piano is that you lift all the dampers from the strings so that all strings on all notes are undamped. When you then hit a key, all strings in the piano will resonate. Here you set the volume of the resonance that the piano produces when hitting a note, or notes, with all strings undamped. Set the amount to taste, or turn it up for some really cool effects!

As described above, you can set the volume of the resonance produced with undamped strings. Ok, on some pianos, the dampers are a bit worn out and simply dont damp the strings as they should, so when you are playing with the sustain pedal up, you still get some resonance from the strings. This gives the instrument a shimmering tone that, in some cases might be considered a fault, but in other (this), case are considered a feature.

With this control you blend in the resonances to notes played with the pedal up. All the way to the right you will actually playing pedal down notes all the time, but experiment with this to find a setting that works with your current musical mode! Res Vol & Shimmer ganged You cant have a Shimmer thats louder then the Res Vol. If you could, pressing the pedal would actually produce a lower resonance, and thats a bit to weird even for me. So, when raising the shimmer and reaching the Res Vol settings, the Res Vol knob will follow

Detune U89, HB Vol & Ped Vol

Detune U89 With this control, you can change the tuning of the U89 perspective. If you blend the detuned SM2 perspective with the U89 perspective, you can get really cool effects! Try it out!

Hammerback Noise This sets the volume of the clunk that the mechanics of a piano key makes when released. Here you set the volume of the clunkiness.

Pedal Volume When pressing and releasing a sustain pedal, you will get a certain sound. So with this control you can choose how much of that you want present. Also, the pedal noise is a bit random, so its there are several versions recorded, and you will not get the same noise triggered two times in a row.

Technical stuff 31 velocity levels More than 7399 samples TimeVel Release Technology Sympathetic Resonance Real Pedalling Controllable volume for key/pedal noise Two different mixable microphone perspectives Controllable volume for Sympathetic Resonance and Resonance 24 bit 44.1 stereo samples

Minimum requirements: Kontakt 4, (full version, it will open in the free player, but in a time limited/session mode)

As always, have fun with the instrument. Please remember to eat, sleep and register to vote. Love & Peace!