Recently I've been playing lots of piano, practicing and just getting my chops to fizz.... I got NI Akoutik and it sounds really great. It sound damn good in a mix, and feels really good to play. Now the problem with piano is that it's a little too... hmm, 80's?
I guess it makes a difference how you mix and shape the sound.. but alot of sounds like pianos and guitars sound a little "well produced fusion" sound to it, that frankly, ruins a lot of other connotations that you'd want the music to cary. It's that 80's "LA studio" sound or whatever it's called that carries through most of the stock synth presets of the days, and even 'till now. You hear super crisp acoustic drums and you'd think the song was recorded in the 80's or is a "synth" rendition.
Contrary to the piano, guitars seem to have carried through quite well throughout the years, which older sounds gaining more premium as "vintage" sounds.. quite the opposite of pianos / keyboards I think, where most anything that's old is deemed cheesy because of the 90's digi-rompler rush.
And so all this seems to point us back to the pre 90's era, and hence we end up with the vintage electromagnetic keyboards and analogue synths. So in a socio/political point of view, this is the correct place to be I think.
It seems to me that because of the negative connotation of the digi-rompler sounds which were extravagant and a little over the top, the keyboard palette has become politically limited.. leaving only a few "newer" sounds remaining, like the wavestation. And even with the wavestation, taken in the wrong way starts to sound new-wave-ish.
So the question is, what is the keyboardist's "now" sound? (not in a live setting, but in general studio production) What options do we have that isn't VA, or electromagnetic? I guess the main problem wtih the digi-romplers was that their whole premise was based on the keyboardist not playing a keyboard instrument.. and so the keyboard becamse more of a production tool that "does it all". Anyway, not really clear as to what my solution to this situation is, but I guess it's food for thought.
Sounds and their socio / political colors
It's not so much the piano or another instrument, but what you do with it that can define an eventual link to some years.
I think that the piano can be absolutely versatile...to make an example of what I think one of the greatest uses as a really timeless sound, check Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" (probably the greatest ambient recording in history) where Robert Wyatt plays it.
I think that the piano can be absolutely versatile...to make an example of what I think one of the greatest uses as a really timeless sound, check Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" (probably the greatest ambient recording in history) where Robert Wyatt plays it.