Digital Piano Software

Digital Piano Software

With the rapid expansion of technology and the convenience it offers, more an more artists are moving to digital, virtual piano software. This has several advantages over being an acoustic artist, but first I want to discuss what a "virtual piano" really is.

A virtual piano is literally what it's name states it is. It is a piano that is not a real piano, but in every way functions as one in a digital world. It can be played like a piano, sounds like a piano, but does not take up the space of a piano. The sounds of a virtual piano are stored on a computer. The sounds can be activated by using a MIDI controller, an electric piano keyboard. This is a very crude but effective way of describing a virtual piano.

The way the sounds are acquired (or sampled) is by actually recording each key of a real piano at multiple velocity levels. This allows for a very real sound, and a wide dynamic range. The realism of the sounds vary greatly between different sampled pianos. Some are recorded better than others, and some have more velocity layers than others making them more dynamic. The most ideal virtual piano has many velocity layers that are recorded with a very high quality sound system in a studio.

Examples of some excellent software is  Ivory II (any of the series, Grand Pianos, Italian Grand, American Grand) and Galaxy Steinway D. These programs combined have hundreds of gigabytes of high quality sounds.

Most electric keyboards can be used as MIDI controllers to harness and effectively play these virtual pianos. The quality of the keyboard will dictate the level of control and realism of feel you have over the virtual piano. Two exceptional MIDI controllers would be Kawai's VPC 1 and the Casio PX 350.

The advantages are obvious. Less space required. Less money required, and less time required than a real caustic piano. It's amazingly easy to record a virtual piano because you don't need any microphones! There can be a tornado going on around you and you can still produce a perfect and flawless recording!

But what are the disadvantages? There are a few, but they are usually overridden by the positive side of the coin. A virtual piano will never feel like an acoustic piano in two ways. When you play an acoustic piano, the action has a very distinctive, smooth feel to it. Unfortunately, a digital keyboard will never have that kind of feel to it. Several keyboards have gotten very close, but none quite match the feel of a real piano. And secondly, even though the sound you hear will be very much like a real piano, you will never feel the sound waves roll over and through you as you play. You'll never fell the shimmering power of the bass, or the gentle brilliance of the high treble. Will you hear it? Yes, but you will never quite feel it.

So while digital instruments are excellent for producing recordings and practicing on, no digital and virtual piano combination to date has ever accurately reproduced the full experience of playing on a real acoustic piano. Does that make it any less enjoyable? In my experience, it's a separate experience all by itself that can be enjoyed individually and totally separate from that of playing a real piano.