Thank you! This is very helpful. I will be definietely coming back to this.

These are beautiful.

I love having Poly AT on my Hydra. There's also a handful of sounds (string swells!) in Ableton that use MPE. Necessary? Maybe not, but fun and inspiring for sure.

thanks for this presentation, finally got why this limitation can be annoying in some cases. 🥵

Thanks so much for sharing! I will definitely try some of these out.

"Polyphonic aftertouch is nothing new". It may not be new, but prior to the Hydrasynth, it was RARE, and it's such a cool feature.

This is a keyboard-performance oriented midi-controller. I use an Ableton Push. I don't think it's necessary to duplicate DAW/Production functions on something that's unlikely to be the only piece of hardware in a studio. My guitar doesn't have drum pads either. I've always thought they were a little out of place on keyboards.

Cheers Ian for the comparison, I would be happy with any of them if I was looking for one. I am not sure it is because I know they are Midi files, but the performance sounds a bit lifeless, if you know what I mean :) just my opinion though, I am no expert :)

Grandmother or subsequent 37? Built quality, sound quality, future value, which one would you recommend to get today? Cheers, all the best

Great collection, thank you for gathering!

Hi Ian. Eddie here. Gotta say this was the best " non music lesson " music lesson I've had so far ! The black notes style of playing is simply brilliant ! Thanks for sharing these ambient gems with us Ian. You're a star ! 👋👌

I like the industrial design of the Opsix SE though. It also allows for some ergonomics. The empty areas on the left and right for example. The gentle slope of the case would let me put my track pad on the left and mouse on the right. I find that most of my production woes are more about ergonomics these days. I use stock Ableton shit for everything because, well it sounds good. Korg dropped the price to $1299 so bit easier to digest. How much is a NI controller? $850USD there abouts? Not a million miles away for a 80 voice FM synth which is I think DX7 compatible but it has a whole range of other features. Most of music production is about composition anyway. Bottleneck isn't going to be Ableton or some synth. If you can write a good track all else pretty much is forgiven. So back to ergonomics again I guess. The OPsix seems like a cool synth but I've always kind of liked FM synths so it's easy for me to kind of understand the appeal.

I’m at K11 Ultimate that I bought 7 years ago, and I’m facing a $400 upgrade price. It feels like a lot, but when I break it down to $57/year I think it will be worth it. What will really cost me is that my 1T SSD sample-library drive won’t be large enough anymore!

Thank you for this video as I didn't even know that this could be done. I've tried it and it worked. However my DAW VST Live isn't saving the mixer volume settings. Is this because it's the demo version? Will the volumes of my mixer save if I buy the jBridge? Thank you for any help.

Hi Ian. Great video ! Very helpful. Can you please tell me where I can find the synth sound you are using please ? I can't find it in Vital library ? ? ? Thanks again - Eddie in the good old U.K.

The first time I heard Fantasie Impromptu was in a movie about jazz.. I think it was called New Orleans.. with Satchmo acting as himself.. This piece was played by a character who was showing Satchmo and others some classical music.. oh i still remember it sounded so glorious.. I think the tempo variations were more in that.. as in the fast parts were faster and slow parts slower..

I like The Grandeur, Alicia Keys to me has a couple of weird sounding notes that once noticed, now stand out a mile to me, but maybe that’s them resonating with my home setup rather than bad recordings as most others seem to really like her piano

With them playing the music you chose, I only really liked the last one, Epic Grand part of Blueprint series. Most sounded to me more suited to accompanying an old silent comedy film than playing a piece of classical music (hope that makes some sort of sense) but I am no expert by any means.

Vienna Symphonic Library has an amazing free piano.

My goto for noodling around is Galaxy Instruments Noire. None of the pianos in this video sounded very good, but that might have been the MIDI file, which seemed to be very much lacking in the expressive nuance that would highlight the differences.

Skills with arranging pads strings or whatever for melodies is not my forte.. unfortunately. Im trying though! Lush ambient soundscapes have always fascinated me. I found an amazing free plug in today, been meaning to download it for a while and always forget.. anyway 'Supermassive by Valhalla Sure to improve ambient soundscapes😮quite incredible considering its FREE

I wish it came in cherry still. I’m not keen on this finish.

Ian, are you quite certain you've got the audio right, here? These pianos are sounding astonishingly similar to one another, and I note that the Woodland piano here doesn't sound much like the demo recording of it on the pianobook page.

Ian that braid of cables over your left shoulder gives me so much anxiety!!!

Of those you played in the video the Hammersmith Free is my favourite. Coincidentally I already have this piano. However, I was at a very posh piano shop just the other day (amazing that they let me in!). I was able to noodle around in my inept way a grand and baby grand pianos costing upwards of $500,000! Sadly, this experience has spoilt it for me. Now, nothing else is close to good enough!!! Even more sadly, I couldn't even afford the paint stool I was sitting on when noodling about.

I am very poor at playing the piano, but to my ears the Audio Ollie and Hammersmith Free pianos sounded the most realistic followed closely by the Sonic Atoms Novel Piano. However, if I just want a simple piano to try to write a piece of music, my go-to tends to be the Heavyocity Foundations Piano because although it doesn't sound as real, I like the slightly treated warm sound it produces.

Thanks Ian!

🎹🎹🎹

The only feature add vs the Mk2 is the poly aftertouch. Most of us can do without that. However the value add from Keylab 61 mk2 is pretty big, which is my upgrade to the mk3

If you buy plugins for money it also involves giving your information and these companies spam you just as bad. They also sell your information.

Got the platinum WaveState this week for $900 off which is ok free shipping and free case. That's decent as someone listened at $900 off. Prices are back to the original currently.

Awesome video. Thanks! Just what I needed. The last "mix" definitely had a Tears in Rain vibe to it

Congratulations for the explanations. I just bought the Mk I have a problem every now and then increase the volume or the expression yourself can you help me I use MOTU DP GRAZIE Daniele

I enjoy your video editing!!!!

Fry of the Valkyries is a perfect song for America. I thought it was so funny I shared it with my wife. She thought it was funny too

no matter what i do i can never use the black notes they always sound out of key to me

This is the simplest and best video about paraphonic synthesis that I've watched. I finally understood why a lot of people dislike it. I'm a noob in synths and that really helped me understanding the basis concepts. Thank you and happy new year!!

Delightful! I loved “Fry of the Valkyries” as well. I am flabbergasted at how real the vocal sounds. As I commented elsewhere that I was planning to do, I just bought a one year “rent-to-own” subscription to Ace Studio for US $199. I plan to have some fun with some spoof songs, as you have done, and also use it for reference vocals for my own songwriting efforts. If it seems like I got some good use from it in 2025, I will pay for a second year, thus obtaining a permanent license. However, listening to this wonderful example using Synthesizer V, I hardly think that Ace could do a better job, though it is much more expensive.

Moog and apparently even knock off Moogs and polyphony--in this paraphony go together like peanut butter and motor oil. And you can't spell "paraphony" without "phony"

Bach would be spinning in his gravy!

Have you tried a plugin called "Unify" you will be amazed what you can do with it.

I thought the frying tonight was from the Carry On film 😂😂. I think it’s a little like photo realistic graphics, there’s always something not quite right. Happy new year mate 🤘🤘.

Beautiful song which also makes me hungry...a little drink to wash it all down would be nice. lol BRAVO MY FRIEND, BRAVO!

Tortilla typical spanish? 🟡 Hey, I'm from Spain! 💃

Does ambient music generally (like almost always) avoid 3rds and 7ths to preserve ambiguity or are there certain modes that are less clearly major or minor that also lend themselves to ambient music. I never really made the connection of ambient and ambiguous in such a defining way though I get how it makes sense.

Thx! Great ambient tutorial.

now that's delightful.

I bought MK1 versions Modwave and Opsix for sound design and I think I don't need more than 3 octaves and more polyphony. Still missing Wavestate and I am going to buy it in summer. But in terms of playable instrument I probably would buy Genos 2 or whatever Roland Phantom newest things will be when time comes to choose and buy. Now my play instrument is Roland GO:KEYS 5 and it does this very good!

Update from Christmas Day, my last piece of hardware super gas was farted out. Cue Wayne’s World moment ‘’ oh yes it shall be mine, oh yes “. I’m now the proud owner of a PWM Malevolent 🙏.

Bravo, big up my friend!