Stephen Murphy is the Studio Editor of Pro Audio Review.
I sorely miss my beautiful 30-year-old Yamaha C3 conservatory grand piano, lost when I sold my commercial studio facility a few years ago. In my current personal production studio (ProTools-based), sits a diminutive Baldwin Acrosonic spinet piano. While the Acrosonic holds a great deal of sentimental value (I have had it since I was nine), it holds almost no recording value — unless the recording in question requires a small, poorly voiced and slightly out-of-tune piano sound.
Enter the 128-voice Generalmusic Realpiano Pro2. This keyboard/controller (like its 64-voice sibling, the Pro1) sports several modeling and sound design features that render it the most convincing and "playable" MIDI piano I have encountered. I had the opportunity to use the Pro2 on a variety of recording sessions, all with excellent results.
Features
The Pro2 is an 88-key hammer-action keyboard with a comfortable, weighted feel. It boasts 128-voice polyphony, onboard reverb and DSP effects units, a basic two-track sequencer and an eight-band (with eight physical sliders) equalizer. Connections include 1/4-inch stereo ins and outs, pedal inputs, MIDI in/out/thru and a 12 VDC power input jack. A headphone jack, a low-powered speaker output and a serial computer jack for interfacing directly to a PC or Mac, are also included. A 2 x 16 backlit display, a data slider and page up/down buttons are used to edit system settings and adjust audio parameters.
As with most recent synths, Pro2 sounds can be split to different parts of the keyboard, or two different sounds can be layered across the whole keyboard. Use of these modes constitutes what Generalmusic calls "performances." There are 64 programmable performance memory slots available to store custom splits and layers.
When not in performance mode, the Pro2 features 16 basic sounds (Piano1, Piano2, El. Grand, El. Piano1, El. Piano2, Dx Piano, Clav, Vibes, Harpsi, Organ, Pipe, Strings, Choir, Pad1, Pad2 and Bass). Each sound has three variations, providing a total choice of 48 single (i.e. not split or layered) sounds.
In use
While the Pro2 provides a respectable variety of useful "meat and potatoes" keyboard sounds, the real attraction is its acoustic piano sounds. As I mentioned in the introduction, Generalmusic developed several unique physical modeling technologies for its Realpiano series of keyboards. These three patented and patent-applied-for technologies provide a realistic and dynamic emulation of the natural interaction of piano keys, dampers and overtones.
The first thing I eager to check out after hooking up the Pro2 was its "natural string resonance" modeling, which intelligently alters the sound of notes depending on what other keys are being held down. In other words, strings that are not damped will resonate sympathetically when new keys are struck.
A second performance feature of the Pro2 is its continuous damper pedal. Whereas most other keyboards use a simple on/off pedal for the damper, the Pro2’s pedal provides a continuous range, simulating the sound of dampers moving closer or away from the strings. Effects such as "half-dampening" or quashing the resonating strings by slowly bringing the damper to the strings were easily and realistically accomplished.
The third modeling feature in the Pro2 is its "Advanced Release Technology." Again, standard keyboards take the easy way out when it comes to the all-important release of a note by looping the sound and fading it out at a globally set rate. In contrast, the Pro2 analyzes the velocity of the key struck and the length of the respective "string" and calculates the natural damping time and harmonics as they occur in a real acoustic piano.
The effect of these three advanced features on my performances was increased and sustained enjoyment, with a definitive feeling of interaction and responsiveness. Without gushing too much, my first several hours playing the Pro2 sparked creativity and gave me hope that life without my C3 grand may be okay after all.
I liked the ability to change the global velocity response of the weighted keyboard. A button marked "Touch" adjusts the response between soft, normal and hard settings. A fourth "User" setting provides continuous adjustment across the full absolute range, allowing me to find the perfect response for each style of playing. The eight-band graphic equalizer, while unusual on a professional keyboard, came in handy for making quick tonal changes to certain patches. EQ settings can be stored along with individual performance presets.
One minor complaint I had is the lack of a pitch or modulation wheel (or joystick), which, while not appropriate for the piano sounds, would certainly be useful on the pads, strings and organ sounds. Also, the Pro2 does not use the standard and easily replaceable IEC A/C power cord. Instead, a 12VDC "line lump" power supply is used, which could be problematic if lost or tripped over.
Summary
Although no keyboard can be everything to everyone, as an 88-key controller with stunningly realistic piano sounds and enough of the necessary basics, the Pro2 comes pretty close. This, plus a few well-chosen multi-timberal rack synths will satisfy my compositional and recording needs for many years to come.
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