Yamaha-P200 soundfont

Hi all,

I'd like to announce that I've completed a piano soundfont. I'm quite
pleased, and I am happy to share it, and to hear your experiences.

http://www.akjmusic.com/packages/yamaha_p200.sfArk

I made it out of frustration with the many moderatly high to low quality
free soundfonts which are found on Hammersound, the most praised of which
somehow always left me feeling like I needed better...I feel this one is,
but YMMV. I also love playing my P200, but alas, no microtuning, hence
another justification for doing this. Since I can send tuning tables to my
soundfont engine, FluidSynth, I'm in business.

It is a soundfont based on samples from my Yamaha-P200 digital piano,
which has I think, the most realistic sound and playability on the market,
and at least 2 other pro classical pianists I know share this opinion,
having shopped around for their digital pianos long and hard as well. Many
'net reviewers I've read also share this opinion, and I would say the main
competitor in this market, Kurzweil, has a fine digital piano, which is
microtunable to an extent, but doesn't match Yamaha's models general
warmth, IMO.

Of course, there are some really fine .gig pianos for sale, but I'm giving
this away for free, so if you use soundfonts, and don't want to shell out
one to several hundred $$$ for top-quality commercial GigaSamples, you
might want to try this and see if it fits your needs.

I didn't use any loops, so the font is rather large (~43MB, download is
~11MB, you must unpack it with sfArk), but the benefit is a nice realism
to the original keyboard, which itself is made from samples from a real
Yamaha 9' grand. It has 16 velocity layers, and I've been working off and
on on this project for months. Enjoy!

-AKJ

Thank you, Aaron! Finally, a piano soundfont that I don't need to
cover with a ton of effects. Expect a thank you on the microtonal
City of the Asleep album that's coming in the next year or two.

This is the best Xmas ever.

-Igs

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, aaron@... wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'd like to announce that I've completed a piano soundfont. I'm quite
> pleased, and I am happy to share it, and to hear your experiences.
>
> http://www.akjmusic.com/packages/yamaha_p200.sfArk
>
> I made it out of frustration with the many moderatly high to low quality
> free soundfonts which are found on Hammersound, the most praised of
which
> somehow always left me feeling like I needed better...I feel this
one is,
> but YMMV. I also love playing my P200, but alas, no microtuning, hence
> another justification for doing this. Since I can send tuning tables
to my
> soundfont engine, FluidSynth, I'm in business.
>
> It is a soundfont based on samples from my Yamaha-P200 digital piano,
> which has I think, the most realistic sound and playability on the
market,
> and at least 2 other pro classical pianists I know share this opinion,
> having shopped around for their digital pianos long and hard as
well. Many
> 'net reviewers I've read also share this opinion, and I would say
the main
> competitor in this market, Kurzweil, has a fine digital piano, which is
> microtunable to an extent, but doesn't match Yamaha's models general
> warmth, IMO.
>
> Of course, there are some really fine .gig pianos for sale, but I'm
giving
> this away for free, so if you use soundfonts, and don't want to
shell out
> one to several hundred $$$ for top-quality commercial GigaSamples, you
> might want to try this and see if it fits your needs.
>
> I didn't use any loops, so the font is rather large (~43MB, download is
> ~11MB, you must unpack it with sfArk), but the benefit is a nice realism
> to the original keyboard, which itself is made from samples from a real
> Yamaha 9' grand. It has 16 velocity layers, and I've been working
off and
> on on this project for months. Enjoy!
>
> -AKJ
>

So you've heard it already? Glad you like it! As you have more
experience with it, let me know how it holds up.

-AKJ

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Igliashon Jones" <igliashon@...> wrote:
>
> Thank you, Aaron! Finally, a piano soundfont that I don't need to
> cover with a ton of effects. Expect a thank you on the microtonal
> City of the Asleep album that's coming in the next year or two.
>
> This is the best Xmas ever.
>
> -Igs
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, aaron@ wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'd like to announce that I've completed a piano soundfont. I'm quite
> > pleased, and I am happy to share it, and to hear your experiences.
> >
> > http://www.akjmusic.com/packages/yamaha_p200.sfArk
> >
> > I made it out of frustration with the many moderatly high to low
quality
> > free soundfonts which are found on Hammersound, the most praised of
> which
> > somehow always left me feeling like I needed better...I feel this
> one is,
> > but YMMV. I also love playing my P200, but alas, no microtuning, hence
> > another justification for doing this. Since I can send tuning tables
> to my
> > soundfont engine, FluidSynth, I'm in business.
> >
> > It is a soundfont based on samples from my Yamaha-P200 digital piano,
> > which has I think, the most realistic sound and playability on the
> market,
> > and at least 2 other pro classical pianists I know share this opinion,
> > having shopped around for their digital pianos long and hard as
> well. Many
> > 'net reviewers I've read also share this opinion, and I would say
> the main
> > competitor in this market, Kurzweil, has a fine digital piano,
which is
> > microtunable to an extent, but doesn't match Yamaha's models general
> > warmth, IMO.
> >
> > Of course, there are some really fine .gig pianos for sale, but I'm
> giving
> > this away for free, so if you use soundfonts, and don't want to
> shell out
> > one to several hundred $$$ for top-quality commercial GigaSamples, you
> > might want to try this and see if it fits your needs.
> >
> > I didn't use any loops, so the font is rather large (~43MB,
download is
> > ~11MB, you must unpack it with sfArk), but the benefit is a nice
realism
> > to the original keyboard, which itself is made from samples from a
real
> > Yamaha 9' grand. It has 16 velocity layers, and I've been working
> off and
> > on on this project for months. Enjoy!
> >
> > -AKJ
> >
>

aaron@akjmusic.com wrote:
> Hi all,
> > I'd like to announce that I've completed a piano soundfont. I'm quite
> pleased, and I am happy to share it, and to hear your experiences.
> > http://www.akjmusic.com/packages/yamaha_p200.sfArk
> > I made it out of frustration with the many moderatly high to low quality
> free soundfonts which are found on Hammersound, the most praised of which
> somehow always left me feeling like I needed better...I feel this one is,
> but YMMV. I also love playing my P200, but alas, no microtuning, hence
> another justification for doing this. Since I can send tuning tables to my
> soundfont engine, FluidSynth, I'm in business.

I wonder if anything like that exists as a DXi or VST plugin for Windows? I could use a tunable sf2 plugin. At least using Scala to add MIDI pitch bends seems to work with this.

http://home.comcast.net/~teamouse/20et-sf2.mp3

Compare the Edirol VSC piano version.

http://home.comcast.net/~teamouse/20et.mp3