I feel that many piano sounds of romplers sound much better with a dramatic increase in velocity because then you actually hear the dynamics better. I feel that too many piano patches have piano sounds that are too in your face. It’s like the piano sample of screaming every time you say something. Thoughts?

Many companies (not Yamaha) sample pianos with only a HARD STRIKE across the keyboard range and then attempt to soften the harmonic content with some kind of low pas filter. The problem with this can be understood if we use another ‘percussion’ instrument as an example.

First let state the fact - musical tones get richer in harmonics when you increase the energy used to create the vibration. So the harder you strike the key the richer it is in harmonics… subtle but true.

Think of a crash cymbal, struck as HARD as you can (Hard Strike) has an explosive set of harmonics, even when you trigger that sample with a soft key stroke, your ear/brain still recognize that sound as a cymbal being struck HARD, only the result is soft due to the velocity response.

You can still tell from the character of the sound that it is a HARD STRIKE played back soft. While not as dramatic a difference on the piano (also a percussion instrument) there is a similar thing happening.

So when you play some keyboards that only have a single strike piano, and that single strike is a hard strike (being manipulated by a filter) you can tell something is just not right.

Pianos that have a complete set of samples done at different velocities feel/play better (of course this is subjective) but in general, you should adjust all the sounds you enjoy playing to your particular playing style.

The principal piano in the Yamaha (typically Waveform 0001) is a stereo multi-strike (triple strike) Waveform made up of many individual samples.

Do a search here on Motifator for articles on customizing your Piano sounds.

Thanks once again for such a great informative response.