When I had the Artis, it had the newer 'German D' sample for its main AP which sounded great, but something kept pulling me back to playing that old triple strike which was still an option preloaded. The old Kurzweil 'triple strike' was actually a great live use sample, cut through bands brilliantly. I always found Concert Ambient unplayable, but Concert Close tweaked around a lot with EQ sounds pretty Steinway authentic particularly solo playing in headphones, but isn't great for live work at all - too thin and empty. Lady D you can hear clearly and seems to be popular with many artists.

Interestingly my ears always prick up and pay close attention whenever I notice some live artist is using a Nord on stage. For my mostly chordal ballady type accompaniment playing it works a treat. That suits certain styles of course so I guess it depends what you play. I think the Lady D has more sustain than any other samples in the library and has a very fat thick strong sound to it. Kirsty, did you ever try that sample on your Kurzweil Artis/SP4-8? He's using a PC3X connected to a PC3R that's using the Triple Strike sound. Listen to Billy Joel's12 Gardens Live album.

I first got into that sound by using the Kurzweil 'Triple Strike' sample on my old SP88 and recent SP6 keyboards. I just know when you put that particular sound up against a Yamaha, Kawai, Schimmel, or Bosendorfer sound, that sound is very prominent. Also, I have the Grand Pianos and American Steinway D packages from the Synthogy Ivory II series and the Lady D sounds the most like them, which I know is considered a VERY good Steinway D sample.Īs for what I like about it so much, it has that signature Steinway D 'thunk/pop' sound that I have trouble explaining. They seem too far off from what the Grand Lady D sounds like. I can't get into the Concert Close/Ambient samples.

Ravenscroft 275 or keyscape