STUDIOLOGIC NUMA X PIANO Demo & Review PT3 - Acoustic Pianos

[@giannigiudici9783]

Please let me share few details: all 88 notes of all sounds have been accurately recorded at 10 dynamic levels with 8 studio mics. There are all Note-on and Note-off source samples, Staccato samples, Hammer off and Damper on/off dynamic noises, duplex resonance (hearable with damper off) and strings resonances (with damper on) four zoom-edit parameters and more. All acoustic details have been deeply analyzed or implemented with specific technologies . That said, we can always say if we like or not a sound as a personal judgment, avoiding objective statements about a process that has probably not being explained in all details. Besides the factory ones, other sounds have been published, more are coming and both acoustic and electric pianos will have improvements with updates. Ciao !

[@mrdavies7894]

I’ve been personally very pleased with Studiologic’s support, both directly and indirectly through software updates, &c. _Grazie mille, Gianni! Ciao!_

[@djkanyon]

No dude we ain't gon hate ya for this vid! So much fun bro! Thanks a lot

[@WoodyPianoShack]

phew, that's a relief, cheers!

[@KandMe1]

Great sound coming through there Woody. I want one. Those are great sound engines onboard. It’s a big surprise. Seems just what I was looking for.

[@trebleboost7]

Did you get stuck there in the middle Woody? Nice Joe Jackson too BTW.

[@arcanics1971]

They do sound pretty good.

[@peterberghoff]

fun and passion is more important than perfection🎉 Thx Woody

[@WoodyPianoShack]

thank goodness for that!

[@onerows]

Hi woody. Thanks for the great video. Just bought the Numa X Piano GT. Finding it tricky to power up. Manual says long press to start. Mine starts on a short half press (pushing the power button half way in only). Took me a while to find this way of starting it. Long pressing the button fully in turns it off. Appreciate any comments and from your followers. Many thanks

[@WoodyPianoShack]

don't recall being confused in any way about power on or off! not with me at the moment so can't check, but seems like you have figured it out...?

[@ServingMyJesus]

I was able to test this instrument two weeks ago at 'Gearfest' here in London. What a lovely instrument.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who needs to chase the damn pedal

[@towjam2359]

The struggle is real!

[@mikeyoung1191]

What’s your opinion on this keyboard in comparison with the Yamaha Cp73 and your preference between the two. Thx, much appreciated

[@sergiog.4093]

6:15 is a classic already. I bought that piano and don´t know how to play it, just because I watched this video.

[@tonyfromrhody]

Hey Woody, You could play a miriba with guitar necks while wearin a scotish kilt and I would watch. Your video's are always fun and entertaining. Thank mate.🥳

[@giannigiudici9783]

Sorry to specify that I did not refer to Woody's nice video when I mentioned "details probably not all well explained" but to Studiologic's docs.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

no offense taken, i'm often guilty of that too. you're correct, the details are lacking from SL but people in forums seem to have some better "inside info" which makes for interesting reading.

[@bio-metric-1016]

Fantastic video woody I’m waiting for new montage 😍

[@WoodyPianoShack]

join the queue!

[@RonWesterbeek]

The sound is willing you to sing Austryish😂 great sounds indeed. Thanks Woody 🤸‍♀️🎵👍

[@mrdavies7894]

Thanks for the great entertainment today, Woody! 😂❤

[@simonboyes2550]

Have had this for a couple of days now but am frustrated with the acoustic piano sounds. I've got a few days more left to decide whether or not to send it back. None of the preset Grands sound nearly as good as my ancient Roland FP-9. On the plus side I like the key action very much

[@katiepower1570]

Are these weighted keys? How would you recommend this for scoring?

[@aleksamrkela831]

Not bad at all. :D That keybed must make playing the Numa all that much more fun. :D

[@Zoco101]

Thanks for the interesting video Woody. I want to like/love this piano, because on paper it's a great deal with splendid features, but so far the sounds don't inspire me. In your CK comparison it really shows. I hope it's just me or some incompatibility of my headphones with your streamed video because I want this keyboard/piano to be a great success. Sadly though, my experience is replicated while listening to other channel's videos too, and I'm not the only viewer who doesn't trust the sounds. The attack seems bland, and the bass notes don't ring the way I expect them to, not on any of the piano patches. Too processed? It might work well on gigs though, because some patches and acoustic pianos are too volatile and very hard to manage on stage, and so a piano that was snubbed can turn out to be a winner. "Realism" of patches is a wild goose chase anyway (and don't get me started on discussing that horrible phrase "real piano") but of course, we're all shy of buying something that might depart too much from our preconceptions of what is a lovely piano sound. Keeping an open mind ain't easy. I hope I can find one in a showroom and give it a fair trial. So far I only had about 10 seconds to try one, briefly testing the TP110 action, and that did feel good. Still no word about how the non-graded action aspect works for you? Does it affect any of your ragtime playing?

[@mrdavies7894]

FWIW, I’ve been _extremely_ happy with the GT piano action. I agree with you about the sounds; they can be great, but they’re better for gigging than any kind of serious studio work IMHO. That’s why I have my Numa X GT paired with a Dexibell VIVO SX8. The best keyboard action with the best piano sounds.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

interesting comment and thoughts, thanks! i record all the instruments with exact same audio interface hardware and processing (very little of the latter) so what you hear is what you will get if you tried them, of course nothing beats playing it yourself though. It had not even occurred to me that the action is non-graded, so a non--issue, we will have to blame any ragtime blunders on my technique not the action ;)

[@creativport_mike_sohlmann]

How do you change from room1 to cathedral? Thks for help

[@WoodyPianoShack]

haha, i figured it out a couple of times but keep forgetting, it's not totally intuitive, you have to do long presses, and spin the right knob etc. check manual!

[@xe2sdc]

Looks like you love Doctor Mix, too ;-)

[@PutItAway101]

NEEEEXT!

[@GizzyDillespee]

I think Woody has to transpose up and high-pass his "NEXT". You gotta have a little chiff to the attack, but then thin out the sustain.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

lol! must try that technique!

[@WoodyPianoShack]

had the pleasure of meeting him at a Roland event a few years ago, a lovely bloke and very humble!

[@MrWhiteStudio]

Dear Woody, dear fellow GT owners, did you test the presets p040 - sunra, p062 - bigband clust1 and p063 - bigband clust2 ? What do you make of it? Some parts have transpose active, some don't, but all are spread over the keyboard. I do not see any scenario, how to use it. Do you? What is the intention of Studiologic behind that?

[@giannigiudici9783]

Woody might reply accordingly, but let me explain that a ''Cluster' is a goup of notes and sounds with transposed intervals of fourth or quint or sixth between them, that should/can be played one note at the time and not with chords and it might sound well over any kind of chord. As an example, just play a simple Blues scale with a Cluster patch, one note at the time.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

I have not tried that patch, nor do I have access at the moment but I think @giannigiudici9783 is spot on. Another guess is that is a deliberate attempt to emulate the harmonies of a big-band orchestra horn section.

[@creativport_mike_sohlmann]

What kind of Soundsystem ( boxes) do you use , you have any proposal?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

i'm purely a headphones guy these day, and love any keyboard that has built-in speakers! yeah, what a noob! somebody else can surely jump in and give some better advice!

[@pianomikeoct]

Woody, I am now playing out with a singer guitar player at the bars , we are both 68 years old so I feel lucky we can still playout and people enjoy it, I play the studio logic piano with the cheaper hammer action , I love the piano's because I can add strings and synths at the same time , the problem I would like to fix is that my piano sounds are a little on the ringy side , especially when I play with feeling and I add some splashes, do you know a way to get the ringing out , the high notes especially , I am playing through my Roland Kc220 for a monitor and through the mixer a pair of EV Zxai which the vocals are also going through? PS I play the Japanese Grand , which I think goes the best wit the music we play.

[@mrdavies7894]

Woody goes through the basics of sound editing in the last few minutes of the video, but some specific ideas to cut “ring” from the higher notes are: - first, try just turning off your reverb, if enabled, or trying a different reverb, perhaps at a lower setting - in the piano editor (long press on the corresponding Select/Zoom button as Woody demonstrates), try bringing ALL the parameters to 0 and then, starting with Tone, bringing them back up until you’ve got the balance you’re looking for - use the Master EQ on the Numa and/or the EQ on your amp to control the highs The last thing I’ll note here, though possibly your first consideration, is that what you’re hearing may just be an artefact of the room and not something you can properly fix. Of course, one nice thing about the Numa is that you can save your own presets, so you might have one JpnGrand set that you rehearse with and save a different JpnGrand (or perhaps a different piano that works better for the space) for your gig. HTH and cheers to a life of music!

[@pianomikeoct]

@@mrdavies7894 Thanks Mr. Davies, It could be the reverb because the singer wanted a more spacious piano effect so he asked me to turn up the reverb which I usually keep really low to get the most out of the pure piano sound and then I can press the foot pedal to get a more sustained sound. Woody is getting a nicer sound because he is running the piano directly into the recorder I imagine, that's why he is wearing the head phones, if he was playing and recording through an amp or speakers I think you would hear the ringy sound I am talking about, especially when you play expressively, I'll keep at it to see what I can do to improve the richness of the piano sound but if anyone has suggestions I would give them a try.

[@mrdavies7894]

A trick I like to use (which Doctor Mix also endorses 😊) is turning up the string resonance (on instruments like this, or Dexibell, or Kurzweil that support it) _instead_ of reverb. It can make for a very pleasant, melodic effect instead of the tone wash that too much reverb guarantees.

[@pianomikeoct]

@@mrdavies7894 Thanks , I'll give it a try.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

nice to hear from an owner, and a gigging player! glad you're enjoying the piano, and thanks to all the other viewers who left helpful suggestions, I have nothing further to add!

[@Uri1000x1]

He finally changed a sound parameter. Maybe they can be saved as favorites or get rid of it with the factory reset menu selection.

[@barrystevens3550]

good show . . . little reverb on voice?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

thank you! nothing added in post, you're hearing the sound of my untreated boxy room!

[@trebleboost7]

Is there a good Bruce Hornsby tone in there?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

For sure you can dial in bright pop grand

[@JonBushell]

Brilliant

[@germanshepherdlover2613]

It is the same sounds as the Numa X piano GT?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

exactly the same, yes.

[@Soryt]

Nice demo , Dust problem 😎👀 ( display)

[@WoodyPianoShack]

guilty! i didn't even notice until editing the vid, it seems to only appear on cam!

[@sedumjp]

i just bought one based solely off this video. NO PRESSURE

[@victorespina]

Is that dust on the keyboard's screenn?? :D

[@WoodyPianoShack]

invisible to my naked eye, but horribly obvious on the aoom lens!

[@victorespina]

@@WoodyPianoShack jajajaj those things happens! But I can tell that you are all about the little details! I love your content BTW and loved your video about why you do what yo do. Kudos to you for that.

[@brickmissing8295]

Great review. Thanks Woody. Nice that they give you just 4 simple parameters to tweak. The Yamaha P515 ‘piano room’ has too many parameters IMHO - many of which don’t do much.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

that always seems to be the case, fine-tuning zillions of parameters doesn't really matter at the end of the day, it's what you play and how you play it!

[@seamonstersounds]

Please lower your vox by about six dB relative to the piano volume, so we don’t have to keep turning the volume up and down to actually hear the instrument.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

that's strange to read that, because I very carefully normalize and mix the relative levels of voice and instrument, to the same LUFS on every single upload. Nobody has complained before, anybody else in agreement? Thanks!

[@Mtaalas]

@@WoodyPianoShacksound tech here, your levels are just fine I think. Your voice comes up maybe just a TAD when you move over to the piano (2-3dB) and well... I *could* (if I'd stretch it) lower the voice-over 1-2 dB compared to the piano when you talk over it, but that's very minuscule. They are on almost exactly the same LUFS, but we have to remember, that LUFS is not perfect even if it's really REALLY good. Issues come around when people listen on systems that do not have full range capability or are in mono, like cellphone speakers or TV integrated speakers. In those situations the relative levels can seem to jump because voice is lower bandwidth and can be on the most resonant and loudest part of the systems reproduction range, thus seeming way louder than it actually is... and in mono, the piano is in stereo and putting it in mono causes phasing issues and cancellations and can lower the apparent level of the piano even more.. So I don't think this is issue on your end that much (few dB at most) @seamonstersounds I hope your system has full range capability :)

[@WoodyPianoShack]

@@Mtaalas thanks very much for your feedback. i agree, likely the listening device and signal path. i actually mix my voice a few dBs LUFS lower than the instrument, as I agree it can be an annoying distraction if overly loud.

[@GizzyDillespee]

Looking 4word to the bone us sounds video. I thought the SL Grand keys were a little bouncy, to me. It reminded me a little of the mid-range Privias (I've never tried the expensive one). This Numa X has a newer version of the SL Grand key action, so I'd have to try this one out.

[@WoodyPianoShack]

"bone us sounds video" had to ponder that one for a while! got you now!

[@markE946]

How does this compare to a Roland Stage piano?

[@WoodyPianoShack]

very well i would say, or to any stage piano! you'll have to compare specs and features yourself...

[@samuelnerick]

Piano sounds are very nice... but i think that Studiologic should put better Orchestra and synths presets...

[@louiscornale5667]

Great job but how about wooly bully watch it now 😮

[@Substance242]

Cool. :-)

[@symbiat0]

Someone buy Woody a Befaco Synth Brush 😂

[@jonathanc.r2474]

the piano sound sounds very plastic (Midi) (It has no acoustic details)

[@WoodyPianoShack]

interesting pov, but appreciate all opinions!

[@mr_don_key]

quite a bad piano sound.. typical rompler alike. (not deeply enough sampled, like a piano sample library)

[@WoodyPianoShack]

not much in hardware can compete with PC sample library, tbf.

[@mr_don_key]

@@WoodyPianoShack unfortunately not. Although you would think the clever people at those manufacturers would find a good way, to get near perfect realistic sounding pianos by using smart compression techniques to keep the memory requirements low on those workstations/keyboard/pianos,. (Roland, Yamaha, Korg, StudioLogic, Kurzweil etc) Still unfortunately not much has improved over the last decade.

[@franksaraceno1171]

If Monty python reviewed piano…

[@mrdavies7894]

😂👍

[@WoodyPianoShack]

haha, i'll def take that as a compliment.

[@franksaraceno1171]

@@WoodyPianoShack love you woody admire your passion