Avantgrand + Synthogy - help for newbie

[chris warren]

Hi,
Have recently purchased an N2, and wanted to investigate improving the sound by using a piano sample library. I've checked out all the options, and sound-wise I'm sold on the Synthogy Ivory Italian Grand.

Problem is, I've absolutely no idea what you need to take advantage of this. Could some kind person detail in simple terms what I need in terms of sensible laptop spec, cabling etc. I'm only buying this so I can play through headphones with an even better sound, and hopefully record wav/mp3 files occasionally. I can't work out whether you can buy the Italian Grand alone (not interested in the other piano sounds) and whether you need any other software to make it work other than standard Windows/Mac operating systems.

Any advice gratefully received!

[lhorwinkle]

This is not a good place to ask.
Instead, go to http://www.pianoworld.com/forum and ask in the Digital Pianos forum.

[hfmadopter]

Hi,
Have recently purchased an N2, and wanted to investigate improving the sound by using a piano sample library. I've checked out all the options, and sound-wise I'm sold on the Synthogy Ivory Italian Grand.

Problem is, I've absolutely no idea what you need to take advantage of this. Could some kind person detail in simple terms what I need in terms of sensible laptop spec, cabling etc. I'm only buying this so I can play through headphones with an even better sound, and hopefully record wav/mp3 files occasionally. I can't work out whether you can buy the Italian Grand alone (not interested in the other piano sounds) and whether you need any other software to make it work other than standard Windows/Mac operating systems.

Any advice gratefully received!

Click on this link and then specifications ( looks like minimum dual core processor @2hz), didn't look for th RAM spec, I'm sure it's listed: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Ivory2Ital/

That said I also would run through ( and do) an Audio interface like a Scarlett 2. With an audio interface you get all the attaching ports you need and interface to the computer and it replaces the computers sound card with a much faster and more powerful one.  once you have the interface in place your headphones would then plug into that box instead of your piano's port. You can find instruction online easy enough and they also come with the interface. The clarity and power and the fullness of sound is incomparable with the interface vs none incidentally, especially going out to a serious sound system.

I personally use Pianoteq software but the principle is the same, just I feel the C Bechstein option in Pianoteq ( extra $75)has a magical sound I don't want to be without. And Pianoteq is very computer friendly, it's not a system hog at all, in fact my computer has gone into rest mode while using it, i had to shut that off !! I have two versions of Pianissimo on my computers and it has lag up the ying yang by comparison and no where near as realistic sounding..

[barnardo]

Hi,
Have recently purchased an N2, and wanted to investigate improving the sound by using a piano sample library. I've checked out all the options, and sound-wise I'm sold on the Synthogy Ivory Italian Grand.

Problem is, I've absolutely no idea what you need to take advantage of this. Could some kind person detail in simple terms what I need in terms of sensible laptop spec, cabling etc. I'm only buying this so I can play through headphones with an even better sound, and hopefully record wav/mp3 files occasionally. I can't work out whether you can buy the Italian Grand alone (not interested in the other piano sounds) and whether you need any other software to make it work other than standard Windows/Mac operating systems.

Any advice gratefully received!

Synthogy software instruments are the type that use hi resolution non-looping 24 bit samples and thus require a lot of bandwidth within your computer set-up, especially if you are playing in real time, while using sustain pedal and una corda. Modern Mac and PC processors work very well to add all the digital reverb and the sympathetic resonance algorithms, but the most important consideration is enabling all those piano sound samples to flow synchronously with your playing through to the sound card from where they are stored in memory (and there will be many hundreds required simultaneously within the performance of classical piano music). A SSD drive (with a fast connection) is highly highly recommended, otherwise hard discs have to be set up in a Raid array to approach those speeds. I recommend a separate solid state drive  with a fast READ rate for storing all the ivory samples library. Why is so much polyphony required? Every note you play at each dynamic is a separate sample, overlapping in layers many times within the full resonance and easily exceeding the simple number of notes on your keyboard!
That said Synthogy Ivory II and other large sampled instruments (many gigabytes) work well on a modern laptop with separate SSD drive. Cabling must be at least of USB 3 or better standards, and internal SSD drives at 3Gbps SATA or greater work very well too.
As you asked, the single product Italian Grand (Ivory II) comes with everything you need software-wise, except for a dongle called an i-Lok which you must either already own, or buy separately.

[chris warren]

Many thanks gents that's really helpful