Ravenscroft 275 Slow Boot

[Michael Fogarty]

Hey there. I use Omnisphere and other CPU hungry plug-ins. Omnisphere always takes a little bit of time to open when inserting in a project but fast to boot when opening a project. Same goes with NI, Ivory, Waves, etc. But I recently purchased the Ravenscroft 275 (which by the way is a bomb if you spend enough time delving into it) and during start-up it hangs there for quite awhile. It's the only plug-in I have that does this. Anyone?

[JonD]

The Ravenscroft is a UVI instrument (played with the UVI workstation).  Make sure you have the latest version:

https://www.uvi.net/en/instruments/uvi-workstation.html#download

[TheMaartian]

It took about one minute for the standalone UVI Workstation to load the full Ravenscroft 275 library.

You might want to use one of the smaller libs (Close, Player, Room or Side) for development, and then the full lib for bouncing. They should load faster.

[Jim Roseberry]

If you have a library that loads particularly slow, put that library on a M.2 Ultra SSD.

• M.2 Ultra SSDs use 4 PCIe lanes... and sustain ~3500MB/Sec
• SATA SSD sustains ~540MB/Sec
• Conventional HD sustains ~200MB/Sec

This will allow projects using the Ravenscroft 275 to load much faster.

FWIW, I had the same issue with HALion 6's library (loaded slow).  Put the library on a M.2 Ultra SSD... and it loads fast.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Jim Roseberry

[Toddskins]

On 6/29/2019 at 3:07 AM, Michael Fogarty said:

 the Ravenscroft 275 (which by the way is a bomb if you spend enough time delving into it) and during start-up it hangs there for quite awhile. It's the only plug-in I have that does this. Anyone?

After a LOT of research and listening to sound files and watching videos, am deciding that the Ravenscroft and also their TrueKeys collection of 3 pianos, seem to me the way to go.

What do you mean by "a bomb"?  Good or bad?

I wrote the VI Labs company and asked if they are going to implement a sale again and they wrote back yesterday saying they are about to do a summer sale so I should keep checking their website.
 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Toddskins

[Michael Fogarty]

9 hours ago, Toddskins said:

After a LOT of research and listening to sound files and watching videos, am deciding that the Ravenscroft and also their TrueKeys collection of 3 pianos, seem to me the way to go.

What do you mean by "a bomb"?  Good or bad?

I wrote the VI Labs company and asked if they are going to implement a sale again and they wrote back yesterday saying they are about to do a summer sale so I should keep checking their website.
 

as mentioned above I have libraries from all the major players. I have always had high hopes for a decent digital piano. I bought the Ravenscroft IOS instead of the Ivory and though I only used it a couple of times (not for recording) I was impressed by the actual sampled sound. So, as anybody in the music field who does this for a living and therefore these are not toys but tools, I have to really watch my expenses. But after much thought (of course, always hoping that you could demo it like the waves plug-ins) I decided to buy it. I liked it just tweaking around with the mics (first of all load the 275 - not just one of the mic versions)  a bit but went digging for a manual that didn't seem to help much. THEN, I somehow managed to find the hidden pages where you can have multiple FX, wood ambiance plug-ins, etc. Up to this point, I was a/b ing Ivory second-guessing myself a little for spending the money. I then took off all the plugins (which you can do with a bypass switch hehe) and I still like the sound of the actual sample better than Ivory. It has more depth, more velocity, and not such a straight (no word hear to describe the harsh lifeless digital sound of other libraries) when you hit the key. Still digital hey, but a cut above. More wood?

I then left it overnight and was surprised the next morning  I had added so much to the sound, tweaked some of it back - especially the stereo widener - and never looked at Ivory again. I have not tried it for uptempo stuff yet. I had to do something quickly for another client the other day and just used my Yamaha CLP 545 CFX sound as time was at a premium and it cuts through the mix. 

  If you made it this far, I always have a hard time deciding about products listening to the demos because of it all kind of goes by so fast. Chopin, etc. What I want to hear is the slow movement and the sound of the instrument. I just made this for you. Have a good day.

PS -I purposely left the long pauses so you can hear the sound of the piano/pedal/soundboard, etc.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GZ3cOedep4BO1_UEHzRkPfFjgt7NySL9

Edited July 18, 2019 by Michael Fogarty
typo

[Toddskins]

3 hours ago, Michael Fogarty said:

  If you made it this far, I always have a hard time deciding about products listening to the demos because of it all kind of goes by so fast. Chopin, etc. What I want to hear is the slow movement and the sound of the instrument. I just made this for you. Have a good day.

PS -I purposely left the long pauses so you can hear the sound of the piano/pedal/soundboard, etc.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1GZ3cOedep4BO1_UEHzRkPfFjgt7NySL9

That was nice of you to do for me, Michael.   Would you mind doing a recording again of some faster Rock riffs in the low and middle registers, like Billy Joel's "My Life" with the alternating bass notes in the left hand, or his Prelude to the Angry Young Man so I can hear if the notes will get bright the way I prefer?

That's part of the reason I'm considering their Truekeys collection because the Steinway "American Grand" sounds more like what I am after, BUT it lacks something, I think.  

I much prefer bright sound, but it cannot be too BRIGHT.  It must have depth, too.  It has to have a character that I personally know what it is, but cannot find it any longer.

The best sound, via internet demos, that capture that sound I am looking for is the inexpensive Waves Rhapsody, but they did not record it with release samples and it's so very annoying to hear the sound cut off instantly when the note is released.  Huge mistake on their part.  And that other one, by Wavesfactory called Mercury does have release velocities, but did not do enough with the mic placements and it somehow seems duller than the one done by Waves, even though they both recorded the same piano.  I think Mercury sounds a bit distant in its natural state, like reverb is on in the raw recording.

These companies with their great engineers, keep choosing pianos they think are "it", but I keep shaking my head.  "They go through all that effort, and yet chose the wrong piano" is how I think all the time.  I've never liked Yamahas.

 

Edited July 18, 2019 by Toddskins

[Toddskins]

If you would, you could use this MIDI file of "Benny the Bouncer" by Keith Emerson, that would capture all the nuances that I would be able to analyze.

 

Benny the Bouncer Piano.mid

[Michael Fogarty]

1 hour ago, Toddskins said:

If you would, you could use this MIDI file of "Benny the Bouncer" by Keith Emerson, that would capture all the nuances that I would be able to analyze.

 

Benny the Bouncer Piano.mid

ok - I guess you are looking for a bright setting. We are at opposite ends of the spectrum except for the depth part which is the main thing I am looking for. I thought the Waves Rhapsody was terrible. Should I just use the flat untweaked sound so you can hear it as is? Have you tried Ivory?

Edited July 18, 2019 by Michael Fogarty

[Toddskins]

2 hours ago, Michael Fogarty said:

ok - I guess you are looking for a bright setting. We are at opposite ends of the spectrum except for the depth part which is the main thing I am looking for. I thought the Waves Rhapsody was terrible. Should I just use the flat untweaked sound so you can hear it as is? Have you tried Ivory?

Well if you could record that MIDI file with Ravenscroft 275, perhaps tweak it to what you think is its bright side, that would be great of you.  And even if you don't tweak it, hearing the Ravenscroft played in a ROCK fashion would help me to understand its capability.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Toddskins

[Michael Fogarty]

28 minutes ago, Toddskins said:

Well if you could record that MIDI file with Ravenscroft 275, perhaps tweak it to what you think is its bright side, that would be great of you.  And even if you don't tweak it, hearing the Ravenscroft played in a ROCK fashion would help me to understand its capability.

yes, will do this evening ( in2 hours) after clients leave. Cheerio mate. I'll run it through a couple of others as well. Did you play the piano on the midi file?

[Toddskins]

No, I do not own any high-end piano samples as of yet.  I've been listening and comparing numerous companies' samples on their sites and via Youtube, and the Sweetwater piano VST shootout.  I do own Addictive Keys, Cakewalk's True Piano, and an old Young Chang made for my Kurzweil.

I want to start recording my own compositions and hope that whatever sample I end up with, will have enough of that "sound" to inspire me with a smile inside.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Toddskins

[Michael Fogarty]

hi again. My question was is that you playing on the midi file you sent me?

[Michael Fogarty]

so I will send you four files of 4 top piano makers in an hour or so. I'm in Tokyo so 7:30 pm here.

[Toddskins]

21 minutes ago, Michael Fogarty said:

hi again. My question was is that you playing on the midi file you sent me?

Oh.  No.  That's  from a MIDI file I found on the Internet of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's song, and deleted all the other instrument tracks and separated the piano track into Left and Right hands to isolate the piano.

Tokyo, eh?  Whatchya doin' in the Far East? 

Edited July 18, 2019 by Toddskins

[Michael Fogarty]

it's not going to work. Not only is the piano quantized, but the velocity is set to 90 on both tracks. Just play something and send it to me.

Never heard back - see post below.

Edited July 18, 2019 by Michael Fogarty

[Michael Fogarty]

let me preface these links with its not a very good test. Some of these libraries are very tweak able but I am only giving you one piano from each library and the dry version at that. Much more can be done. So, it may or may not help your decision.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17zlLDmfs7NYC3FEQGFdpmzZpL38Aqs

Edited July 18, 2019 by Michael Fogarty