Physical Piano

Tutorial | Jun 02, 2019

In this update video, I talk about how I have been busy with my daily job and preparing presets for the release of Bitwig Studio 3.0. I explain that my goal is to have a collection of good sounding presets ready for new users who want to explore what's possible with the grid. I showcase a piano emulation I created using filters and physical modeling synthesis, along with mechanical sounds from a friend's piano. I also introduce a new reverb called Kitsch-Verb and discuss using random modulation to create an organic feel. I share a work-in-progress version of the piano preset on my GitHub repository and provide a link in the description. I also mention that my friend, Skyance, has released a sample pack on a new website called Intimate Noise and I encourage viewers to check it out. Lastly, I ask for feedback on the piano preset and mention that I will be discussing other patches in upcoming videos.

You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon

Summary #

Hey everyone, I just wanted to give you an update on what's been going on with my YouTube videos. I’ve been really busy with my day job this past week, walking all day and then preparing presets for the upcoming release of Bitwig Studio 3.0 in the evenings. The goal is to have a solid collection of high-quality presets ready for when the new version is out. That way, when new users dive into Bitwig, they’ll have some great-sounding presets to experiment with, especially within the Grid.

As you can see, I’ve been working on a piano emulation inside the Grid using filters and physical modeling synthesis. I’ve also added two samplers with mechanical noises to simulate the sounds of a real piano’s mechanics. My friend Skyence was kind enough to provide me with these samples from his piano, and it really adds to the authenticity of the sound. You can hear the trigger noise when you press a key and the release noise when you lift it. These mechanical sounds use a round-robin system, so they vary every time you play a note, adding more realism.

I’ve also prepared a new reverb preset called Kitsch-Verb, which is perfect for ambient sounds with its long, evolving delays. I’ve used random modulation to alter the delay times on the All-Pass filters, which gives it a much more organic, non-static feel. This reverb will be included in the preset library as well.

I want to give you all a work-in-progress version of this piano preset, which you can download from my GitHub repository. The preset is called Physical Piano, and I’ve put a link in the description where you can find it. I’d love to hear your feedback on this as I’m still working on refining it, possibly adding more macro controls to make it easier to tweak. My idea is to also add some unique, artificial elements to the piano, like particles or sequences, so it’s not just a typical piano sound. I know many of you already have large piano libraries, but my preset is small, around 30 megabytes, and more suited for ambient or electronic music.

I also want to give a shout-out to Skyence, who not only provided the piano noises but also released a new sample pack on a website called Intimate Noise, which just launched. The pack is called Formation, and I’ve made a demo track using only the samples from his pack, which you can listen to. There’s a link in the description to both the sample pack and my demo track—feel free to check it out and let me know what you think!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the piano preset. What do you like about it? What would you change? I’m really curious about your feedback so I can make it even better.

In terms of what’s coming up, I’ve got more patches in the works, like a hang drum preset and a guitar preset. I’m also working on a leveler plugin, but I’ll talk more about those in future videos. So stay tuned for more updates!

Thanks for watching, and don’t forget to give me feedback, download the presets, and check out the Intimate Noise website. See you in the next video—thanks and bye

Transcription #

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

[00:00:00] Hey, I want to give you guys an update on what's happening with my YouTube videos.
[00:00:06] And I was basically busy in my daily job the last week.
[00:00:10] So I was walking all day and at the evening I was preparing presets for the release of
[00:00:18] Bitwig Studio 3.0.
[00:00:21] And the reason for that is I want to have a big pile of good sounding presets ready
[00:00:26] for the release version.
[00:00:27] So when new people jump into Bitwig Studio and just bought it and they want to explore
[00:00:34] what's possible with the grid and what's not, I want to have some good sounding presets
[00:00:39] ready for them.
[00:00:41] And as you can see here, I try to create or recreate a piano assimilation or emulation
[00:00:48] inside the grid with a lot of filters and physical modeling synthesis.
[00:00:56] And I have also some two samplers here with some noises inside.
[00:01:01] And these noises are basically the mechanic sounds of the piano itself.
[00:01:05] And a friend of mine called Skyence delivered me some samples from his piano.
[00:01:11] And yeah, let's see how it sounds.
[00:01:25] You can turn up the mechanic sounds more.
[00:01:32] You can see or hear that you have basically a trigger noise when you push the key and
[00:01:38] you have a release sound or noise when you release the key.
[00:01:51] I have multiple noises, so it's not not every time you press the key, it's the same noise.
[00:01:56] So it's basically round robin.
[00:02:00] So there's alteration.
[00:02:03] And yeah, I've also prepared a new reverb called Kitsch-Verb.
[00:02:12] And you can already hear this.
[00:02:14] It's pretty nice for ambient.
[00:02:33] Very long delay.
[00:02:35] And I used some random modulator here to change the delay times on each of these All-Pass filters
[00:02:43] basically to get a much more organic feel.
[00:02:49] So it doesn't sound too static.
[00:02:52] And yeah, this one is also available then in this big library of presets.
[00:03:03] And I want to give you a work in progress version of this piano here.
[00:03:09] And I put this preset inside my GitHub repository.
[00:03:15] And I think it's called physical piano.
[00:03:19] Yeah.
[00:03:20] So look for that.
[00:03:22] I put a link in the description where you can find my GitHub and you can download it.
[00:03:30] And I also wanted to give you an update about Skyence, which is the guy that delivered me
[00:03:37] this noises for the piano.
[00:03:41] He also made a sample pack on a new basically website that just started yesterday, which
[00:03:50] is called Intimate Noise.
[00:03:52] And there's this pack formation where he did some samples and created some samples.
[00:03:58] And I also did a small demo track here, which you can listen to, where I used only the samples
[00:04:05] from this pack to create this demo track.
[00:04:08] So there's also a link in the description to this pack here where you can buy it and
[00:04:16] download it or just listen to my demo track and give me some feedback.
[00:04:22] I also want to give you give me some feedback about this piano preset here, because this
[00:04:28] is a work in progress.
[00:04:29] I want to change some things, add some more macro or remote controls so you can easily
[00:04:37] tweak the piano and play around with my plan is maybe to add some artificial stuff.
[00:04:45] So it's more so that it's more unique sounding, right?
[00:04:51] I mean, there are a lot of pianos you can already download and maybe you have already
[00:04:56] five or six pianos with the size of six or 10 gigabytes on your hard drive.
[00:05:04] So why did you need my preset?
[00:05:09] I mean, it's small, it's maybe 30 megabytes.
[00:05:14] But it's not so good sounding like real piano.
[00:05:19] And maybe I add some artificial stuff here so you can, it's more usable for ambient or
[00:05:24] electronic stuff where I add some particles or you know, some sequences or something like
[00:05:31] that.
[00:05:32] So, so it's not just an piano.
[00:05:35] So that's my plan for it.
[00:05:37] Yeah, give me some feedback on that one.
[00:05:40] How it how do you like it?
[00:05:42] What do you want to change?
[00:05:44] And I think that's it for this video.
[00:05:47] I think there's a video coming tomorrow where I discuss some other patches because it created
[00:05:53] also some hang drum preset and a new guitar preset and I'm working on a kind of leveler
[00:06:02] plugin.
[00:06:03] But I want to talk about this later in my upcoming videos.
[00:06:09] Yeah, thanks for watching.
[00:06:11] Tell me what you what you like, what you don't like.
[00:06:14] Give me feedback, download the presets, give the new library or intimate noise website
[00:06:21] to visit and yeah, I see you in the next video.
[00:06:24] Thanks for watching and bye.