Ravel - Toccata. - Yamaha P255 | Reaper | Audacity

This is part 2 of my audio quality survey.
Methods
Song was played on Yamaha P255, with sound directly from the speakers rather than headphones. Piano volume was set to somewhere around the lower 1/4 or 1/3. Audio was recorded as midi, by selecting Sn9 as the recording setting on the P255. MIDI was sent off and beautified in Reaper using the Concert preset, then exported as 320k MP3. Then, I tweaked the volume in the beginning and ending using Fade Adjustment (e.g. fade in for beginning, fade out for ending) to make the preset less dynamically restricted.
Results
See video.
Conclusion
Well, it boils down to the audio here or in the other video. Hope you enjoyed listening as much as I did playing this song. Why are repeated notes so cool and why are surreal chord progressions so captivating?
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Performed by Chris Luan

[@CSMPiano]

I think digital recording sounds better in general, while acoustic sounds better in specific condition (like the piece which requires a lot of dynamic differentiation between each note in one hand), I think it's really depend of the song and the arrangement nature. In most anime piano arrangement, I think this setup would be suffice for it's "fuller" quality and bigger reverb :) your grand piano is also fine as well though!

[@ChrisLuan]

I miss you buddy

[@cross4852]

As usual, very nice playing, and sorry in advance because i won't be of any help when it comes to actually recording. However, i'd like to say that i preferred the yamaha dc3 over the p255. Main difference was, to me maybe the "quality" of the instrument ? Just listen from 1:15 to 1:20 on both recordings. In my opinion, the p255's bass overall feels a bit flat, compared to the grand piano. My everyday practice takes place on a yamaha p155, and i know both the 155 and 255 sound absolutely fantastic, so i wouldn't dare trash talking any of those beautiful instruments for naught. More conflicting opinions again, sorry about that. That being said, welcome back.

[@mattmtong]

Nice recordings! It is a bit hard to compare this one to the other NT5 recording, since there's so much more reverb on this version. I do think the lower end is more pronounced with Reaper's Concert sample, but the acoustic piano has some of those crystal like highs that I think is characteristic of this toccata. Looking forward to seeing more stuff!

[@ChrisLuan]

This is very useful information since I have a hard time evaluating my own music. I find it interesting that the Concert sample has clearer bass specifically. I had thought that it was less muddy due to being overall clearer. And ya I agree - the light, fairy-like dances in the higher registers shine a lot on the Yamaha grand, which itself has always been bright. I do hope I can come to a decision about choosing one or the other for recording, or maybe a third option like somehow mixing grand piano and digital piano? Hope I can deliver the stuff I have planned in the appropriate audio mode. I expected it to be a landslide vote for digital, but it turned out that acoustic isn't so bad after all.

[@mattmtong]

@@ChrisLuan Yeah, acoustic instruments are able to deliver some of that soul that can be hard for a digital sample to emulate! I think it's usually the harmonic resonance between strings that is hard to copy in a sample

[@ChrisLuan]

@@mattmtong Yeah, the soul of an idea. When you want to make a sound a certain way in your imagination, you have a certain expectation of making that translate into a real sound through your touch. Unfortunately, the Yamaha P255 is probably not mechanically advanced enough to sense different types and different levels of nuance in key presses. I'm not familiar with how audio samples/presets work, but if they can't fully emulate the resonance, I wouldn't be surprised.

[@yeongdae8039]

Please come back! I missed you

[@ChrisLuan]

I'm back for now...see my announcement

[@VinLudens]

Wow really amazing recordings, that was awesome! Now I am by no means an expert (more like a noob) with regards to recording but I found the grand piano version to be a little better. Like both sound pretty amazing but the digital recording had some kind of muddiness on sections that were louder and had more going on, if that makes any sense. On the grand the notes stuck out a lot more and made a much clearer performance. This is my first impression after listening to both ... But then again, just a noob's perspective, hope it's somewhat useful x)

[@ChrisLuan]

In the digital recording, was the murkiness overall, or in specific frequency ranges? For example, was it the bass, mids, or highs that were unclear?

[@VinLudens]

@@ChrisLuan So I listened to both again, and it might also have been the contrast between both recordings ... maybe if you managed to find a middle ground between both would be nice. Like the grand piano recording is very clear but somehow missing volume (like it's feels a little plain/flat especially in the bass) and the digital is maybe a little bit too reverby (and therefore a little murky overall). Not sure if what I say makes any sense