Radical Piano/ Keys. Hmm

[MrFigg]

I bought both these REs the day they came out. I already had Reason Pianos Refill but figured the RE would be better. Thing is to be honest I’ve never really been that happy with it. I always think it sounds thin. Sure with a bit of EQ or an Animus in there it’s fine. But well...you maybe know what I’m trying to say. I do really like Reason Pianos Refill. Lusher. Be interesting to see if that gets released as an RE like bass and drums.
Keys is pretty cool and I use it quite a lot but I think that’s a bit “thin” too.
Am I missing something? Anybody got any hints on how i can change my view of these instruments would be welcomed.
As an aside, I felt a bit so there when Props included Rad Piano as a stock device in Reason. Yeah, I’ve had it for ages and no, I don’t grudge any new users but well...
So...any thoughts?

[Loque]

If i would look for a great real-world piano, i would not take Radical Piano. Take it as it is and use the sounds if they fit to your production. Sometimes nasty, dirty, different pianos are more perfect than real world 1st class stuff. And here and there the audio-input for an extra resonating touch is great.

Same for Keys. But tbh, didnt used it much...

The piano refill has some great sounding pianos in it and it is a bit cumbersome to use. This would be a nice addittion to radical piano, but than it wouldnt be a "radical" paino

[QVprod]

Your view won't change. Radical piano really just isn't a great sounding piano. However it's really good at not sounding great should you need that for a song. The Reason Pianos refill has a more realistic tone. Some people love it though. In the lower range is where it sound the most realistic but as you go to the higher key range it sounds worse than a toy Casio.

[exxx]

I have the same idea.

I have it, but I do not write well.

Especially, the sound of the piano sounds too thin.

The piano I use the most is the piano of nnxt.

I need a better sounding piano.

[Magnus]

Radical Piano is great for sitting in a busy mix and also great for sound design. Reason Pianos has a warmer, fuller tone. Also, I imagine RPi will be available in RE format very soon if the recent RDK and REB conversions are anything to go by.

[Loque]

I have the same idea.

I have it, but I do not write well.

Especially, the sound of the piano sounds too thin.

The piano I use the most is the piano of nnxt.

I need a better sounding piano.

I use this one which got a few nice additions in the last update:
https://www.arturia.com/products/analog ... v/overview

I have also this one as a freebee and its good too:
https://www.xlnaudio.com/products/addictive_keys

Some say, this one is great (and expensive). Did not tried, since i do not need that high quality piano stuff:
https://www.pianoteq.com/


Here is a good list i found:
https://cymatics.fm/blog/25-best-piano-vst-plugins/

[Kalm]

I don't particularly use it for "natural" sounding anything but it gets there through EQ and Saturation like most things in Reason. They shine when you want to create textures and other variations like Dreamy Keys and Distorted Phasey stuff. They're unmatched to me for that. I have a Radical Keys folder just for patches of stuff and combi's I've made.

[Ottostrom]

It's definitely hard to make radical piano sound really good without a bunch of extra processing, and I can never get it to imitate the fullness of a giant grand.
That being said it's still my absolute favorite piano to play! The physical modeling makes it so responsive and expressive, which I've yet to find in any of the sample based pianos I've tried.

I attached my favorite patch that I've made for radical piano (no additional effects used) which tries to imitate a nice upright piano
If anyone else has their own go-to patch then please share it so we can all enjoy this wonderful instrument a bit more!

[MrFigg]

Thanks

[hurricane]

I used to really hate Radical Piano when I tried using it as a solo piano. But then one day I decided to layer it with a PX7 electric piano, and now I like what it adds, as you can hear in this short demo where you can hear both PX7 and RP playing in the beginning, then I take out and bring in RP several times. Sounds great to me.

[eusti]

I used to really hate Radical Piano when I tried using it as a solo piano. But then one day I decided to layer it with a PX7 electric piano, and now I like what it adds, as you can hear in this short demo where you can hear both PX7 and RP playing in the beginning, then I take out and bring in RP several times. Sounds great to me.

Very cool, hurricane!

D.

[hurricane]

Thanks. Here's the patch if anyone wants it. The one in my demo uses Arts Acoustic Reverb, Waves Center, PSP's NobleQ, and OSL's Chorus, but I replaced them with Reason devices and it sounds ok.

Hurrican EP Layer 001.cmb.zip

(126.4 KiB) Downloaded 84 times

[hurricane]

Here's another example of Radical Piano in action. I noticed I used 3 stacked RPs in this demo track. It's the piano you hear in the background.

Excuse the mastering - this is still in demo phase and I ran it through cassette and some outboard processors testing things out.

[MrFigg]

Thanks Hurricane. Like the sounds.

[MrFigg]

Just put Rad Piano with full sustain through Animus. EQd with Kuassa AT-1. Then into audiomatic on the wash setting. Very nice .

[two shoes]

i agree about radical piano - meh. radical keys on the other hand is a different story - you can get some very very nice rhodes and wurli sounds out of it if you spend a little time tweaking. if "lusher" is what your after that's pretty much the whole point of soundiron's emotional piano - that's actually what it should have been called "Lush Piano"...

that said, there isn't a piano sound in the shop that can compete with the top tier piano plugins, but that stuff is mostly for solo piano sounds imo - too rich for most other applications.

[ScuzzyEye]

I wish Radical Piano could output the resonance only, without sounding the actual played notes. In real piano terms, simply lifting the damper off the selected string(s). Sending vocals to a Radical Piano adds so much fullness that sits so well with the piano. I'd like to mix that sound with a different piano instrument for solo work.

[BRIGGS]

Ya'll got preset fatigue. Do some work. Dial it in. Use some good fx.

[QVprod]

Ya'll got preset fatigue. Do some work. Dial it in. Use some good fx.

Nah nothing to do with presets. The sound of Radical Piano is what it is. It's just not a great sounding acoustic piano. Great for nor sounding real though. FX don't change that. Radical keys is pretty decent however, but there are better options imo.

[Djstarski]

Have you watched this video ?

if you have some time on your hands try and read some of the comments .

[Reasonable man]

For authentic piano .. Reason Pianos
For everything else ...Radical piano is just one option . Imo its a great option.

Its a bit like strings ..i guess if your scoring/recording a fake hollywood emotional scene or a john williams imiatation orchestral arrangement .. you want the closest/realist sounding strings out there as to fit that sound.

If your doing strings in an ambient/pop/rock/trap etc stringwerk is a great option. Nobody's gonna care if they sound uber authentic as that's not important to the genre as long as it works with the arrangement . Imo for trance and such like , the nn-xt string combinators are more than good enough.

Some people go by feel/ velocity etc and thats a different story . but piano sounds will always feel better played on an authentic keyboard rather than a plastic midi controller antway which is what most people have. radical piano is very tweakable and needs processing . I bought the turn2on resonator jobby ..(which is on sale) like the way it works with radical.

[MrFigg]

I bought the turn2on resonator jobby ..(which is on sale) like the way it works with radical.

Whatcha think of Resonator? I haven’t tried it but I’m thinking it might be a better idea to pay a bit more and buy Resonans instead.

[QVprod]

Have you watched this video ?

if you have some time on your hands try and read some of the comments .

I think when you compare to something like Addictive keys there's a clear difference. Even in this video Radical sounds a lot more like a CP 80 than it does a real piano. which is cool in it's own right. https://www.xlnaudio.com/products/addic ... tric_grand

[MarkTarlton]

I have always liked the sound of yamaha pianos, and their samples are pretty good too. I have been wanting to pick up one of these.

[MrFigg]

I’ve got a Kawai and like it.
I guess Rad Piano is what it is. I’ll try and see it as such.
Animus fixes everything .