We can have a lot of software parameters in a VSTi, but the physical features of the sampled instrument are unchanged. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to model this art of piano tuner programmatically. A tiny dissonance between them defines the instrument individuality as well as the tiny dissonance between octave-related and other harmonics-related strings.Ģ: Piano tuners typically apply special materials & needles, and sometimes iron the hammer tips to make them softer / harder, remove string traces (furrows) resulted from numerous strikes, and they should do this consistently in all the frame. I think that for many sampled instruments, including the top ones, (1) tuning style and (2) stiffness of the felt tips of the hammers and dampers are under-treated - that is, their importance is not fully understood.ġ: String co-sounding in double and triple strings, belonging to middle-register notes, drastically affects the sound. So for everyday playing with no other tasks I'm sure the Ravenscroft will do fine on most modern-ish PCs 64 but for recording these days I use two cameras running into a pair of HDMI cards which, when I last tested, necessitated running RC with a 256 sample buffer.Ī possible reason? (someone can correct me on this) - I think the RC is a compressed format so when a sample tail is accessed on the disc the CPU has the additional burden of real-time decompression. The Garritan manages this at a 16 sample buffer without any sign of overload whereas I'd need to up this to 64 for the RC and even then it's touch and go, in particular when the sustain is released which can cause a nasty audible glitch as it tries to release all notes 'simultaneously'. I've just checked this again for both the RC 275 and Garritan CFX using an Audient id14 with its recently improved drivers. My favourite if unsubtle efficiency test is to hold sustain while glissing up and down the keyboard.
Guess it's more demanding than I realised.Īppraised on its own merits I'd agree, the Ravenscroft 275 will perform perfectly well on even quite modest (post 2010?) PCs but depending on polyphony, other performance traffic and other PC duties it can be bettered. I've never had a problem with it at all on my creaking five-year old system (Core i7, but from the Haswell generation).