Spitfire Originals Felt (Gwilym Simcock Felt Piano) | Comparing The Many Faces Of Felt 

Thanks so much for watching, and for the kind words. While I'm thinking about it, why don't we put a bunch of nice little felt notes over here??? 😇

I never thought of that until I read this but it is spot on. I watch Bob Ross all the time. Hard to believe he was once a Drill Instructor.

lol. Totally.

It is my sincere pleasure. I am also glad you found the channel, and hope you continue to find inspiration as well as information that will help you in your projects. Thanks again for your kind words of encouragement.

It is my absolute pleasure. There is so much that I want to do and it is sometimes overwhelming, but the joy that comes from reading comments like yours gives me the encouragement I need. Please let me know if there are any questions I can answer or any piano libraries out there that you might be interested in. Oh we were joking about tweet storming Spitfire so I could do a review of their Hans Zimmer Piano, that would be amazing! Thanks again for watching and for the wonderful support.

I know, right? The thing is that this was the original felt upright Spitfire produced for Kontakt, and it does sound very good. I have to keep reminding myself all of the time that It Is Well, even when times are difficult as confusing as they seem to be now. Thanks so much for watching and please let me know if I can ever be of assistance in the future.

Thank you Lars. Joyfully! 🎹

It is my pleasure. This is probably my favorite out of the Spitfire felted uprights. Thanks so much for watching. Joyfully!

My pleasure, I am so glad you enjoyed watching. Thanks for your kind words. Joyfully 🎹

Perfect! So glad it was helpful. Yes, I love to get lost in the classic hymns, so powerful in their message and substance.

Stenaldo, I so appreciate your very kind words, it is such a privilege to be able to experience these amazing libraries and to share them with all of you. Thanks so much for watching. All the best.

It's all deserved Simeon so thank you instead. Wish you well! :)

My pleasure, I think Originals Felt is still my top pick in this range. Thanks again for the kind support.

My pleasure, I am so glad you enjoyed watching. All the best.

Thanks so much, I am so glad you enjoyed watching. All the best.

So glad you enjoyed watching. I agree that having side by side comparisons are really helpful and I plan on doing more. Thanks again for the support.

Avec plaisir. j'apprécie tellement les mots gentils, tous les meilleurs. It is my pleasure. i so appreciate the kind words, All the best.

Thanks so much, I am so glad you enjoyed watching. All the best.

Thank you so much. I am so glad you enjoyed watching. All the best.

My pleasure Red, I am planning another Spitfire piano video (it probably will be a live stream), where I can bring some of the other Originals Pianos into the mix, it should be fun. Thanks so much for watching.

My pleasure. Thanks so much for watching. I am always glad to hear when the videos are helping and inspiring. All the best.

So glad the video was helpful. Thanks for watching. Joyfully!🎹

It is my pleasure. I love being able to share these wonderful experiences with you. What is so amazing is that Spitfire offers these libraries for a very reasonable and accessible price. All the best.

So glad you enjoyed it, and yes I agree, it is really a touching library. Thanks so much for watching. All the best.

@@PraiseTracks thank you! Loved the “be still my soul” I’m also a Christian artist. Please keep uploading, your hands and piano playing is very blessed. God bless you!

It is my pleasure. The Originals Pianos are fun to work with and have so many wonderful sonic possibilities. Here is my livestream replay of the Firewood Piano, hold on to your seat. 🤓 Thanks so much for watching.

@@PraiseTracks - Hi , sorry did you mean to post a link to your livestream replay of the Firewood Piano? Not sure how to access that stream? Regards Mitch

Oh yes, here it is. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Pjw1mq_EyGk.html

@@PraiseTracks Fabulous! Thanks Simeon

Amen, that is the anchor that keeps us from crashing against the rocks of adversity, especially this past year. I really depend on His presence to carry me through. Thanks again for watching. All the best.

My pleasure. I do like the Originals Felt and the Firewood piano really expand on the LABS Soft piano. They have a few more dynamic layers and of course recorded in different spaces, using different pianos so that adds to their quality. Thanks so much for watching and so glad the video was helpful. All the best.

@@PraiseTracks Makes sense to me so I think I will go ahead and get the Felt & Firewood pianos. Thanks for the info!

Yes, I did not get into mention how to save user presets, but that is a critical feature to have. You know how it is, I get so caught up in things sometimes, I forget 🤓 Thanks so much for watching and the kind support. All the best.

I am always amazed at the personalities of each library and am always surprised where they take me. Thanks so much for watching, and have a blessed holiday season.

Well, the last thing is to make you nervous ;^) One of the things I found doing this particular video is how much I enjoy the Originals Felt the most out of the felt pianos, with the funny thing being I think it was their first felt piano that they created on the Kontakt platform. Thanks so much for watching and I hope you continue to enjoy the content. Your kind support is greatly appreciated. Joyfully! 🎹

Martin, thanks so much for watching and the kind support. All the best.

Well as far as my background and style it is sort of a collage of many styles ranging from playing in church, then being exposed to Jazz (Spyro Gyra, Big Band, Fusion, etc.) in high school, along with Rush in the early 80's. I also gained a lot of experience when creating my PraiseTracks library of MIDI files which required me to learn more about Gospel (Hezekiah Walker, Georgia Mass Choir, Kirk Franklin and many others), learning tri-tones and other techniques and progressions. And not to leave a huge component out, film music; hearing John Williams scores when they were originally first released on screen was a game changer for me. So I am a veritable Heinz 57 of music styles all wrapped up inside of my head. Thanks so much for watching and so glad you have been enjoying the channel. I will honestly try and see if I can figure out a way to distill something that might be meaningful to help unwrap the many styles that come out during these presentations. All the best and I look forward to much more in the future.

Thanks so much. Not being classically trained, I am amazed to hear all of the fragments come together when playing certain sounds, it is genuinely involuntary. I really appreciate the kind words as watching your channel, I sit there having to pick my chin from the floor many times, well done. All the best.

Oh, The Firewood piano I have to mention is really something special. The Originals Felt and Firewood are possibly my favorites of the Spitfire uprights.

@@PraiseTracks Thank you too! Unlike you, I don't improvise and rely completely on sheet music to learn. It's amazing how you can quickly pick up and play what you hear! I gotta try them out soon, once I can install them correctly

Thanks so much, it was a wonderful experience presenting this library to all of you.

I would personally go for this one. While the Cinematic Felt is lovely, I think this library will give you more flexibility in the long run. It also sort of sets a standard in the upright felt piano category so you can't go wrong with that. I so enjoy being able to present these libraries to you. it is even more fulfilling when you receive such kind and generous support, it helps you know that you are making a difference and helping other musicians, and for that I am so very grateful. All the best and please let me know if I can ever be of further assistance.

@@PraiseTracks Thanks so much for your prompt and concise reply. You’ve helped me make an informed decision. Originals Felt it is! I’d love to buy you a coffee one day and just sit and chat about music and gear and plugins and music. All the very best and stay safe!

It is my pleasure, I know you will enjoy the Originals Felt. There are just so many different piano libraries out there and each one has a particular character to it. Thanks for the kind support. Looking forward to that coffee ☕️ 🤓

Maplefoxx, I think it was released way back as a Kontakt library and then ported over to the Spitfire Player as the Original we have now. It is possibly the best felt piano in this category and has been used on so many things due to its sound and character. Thanks so much for watching.

I will have to listen to what I did 🤓. I sometimes do not even remember what I play as these melodies are coming to me as I am experiencing the instrument.

Thanks so much. I truly go into these videos not knowing what might come through when I am playing through the instruments. They just inspire me.

Alan, that does sound strange but it might be the noise floor of the recordings themselves. The odd thing is when you mention changing chords and it stops. As far as your setup, how are you using the piano (DAW, any additional effects on the instrument or master bus)? I will try to check it here and listen to see if I have the same experience.

More info! Alan, since I have some limitation in detecting some very high frequencies, I brought in iZotope's INSIGHT audio metering which has a spectrograph and other tools to look into the audio spectrum, what I found was very interesting. So, it seems that on the LOWEST velocity layers that the noise floor was not as evident as I did not see a lot of activity in the higher frequency ranges on the meters. However, the middle velocity ranges showed a significantly higher amount of high frequencies that could be associated with an increased noise floor. That would explain why you could play certain chords and hear the extra noise and then play other chords and it would not be there, you are basically going between the velocity layers where the noise is more prevalent on the higher velocity layers than the softest ones. In the context of a recording, this should be fine, it is when we zero in on it and then we can't unhear it ;^) I hope that helps, and thanks again for the kind support. Joyfully! 🎹

So glad you are enjoying the channel. So these "felt" pianos are what I call character pianos, they are trying to reproduce a certain artistic feel and environment or emotion. Many of these pianos also do not have many velocity dynamic layers, I think the Originals Felt has three. Another thing you mention were the hammer noises, in the felt libraries these are not fully adjustable but are a part of the overall sound. If you are just starting out, one of the things I would recommend is checking out PianoBook which have many FREE piano libraries available submitted by users from all over the world. There is even a FREE player there as well. www.pianobook.co.uk/ A full version of Kontakt is another thing I would recommend as many libraries require the FULL player. Developers have to pay a large fee and royalties to Native Instruments to host their libraries so having the FULL player opens the door to many third party libraries. NOIRE is one of the libraries that use the free Kontakt player. Decent Sampler is another great FREE resource. They have just updated the player and have an interesting article about it and 103 free libraries available: www.decentsamples.com/blog/ Pianoteq is a world unto itself, giving you a virtual piano workshop that allows you to have the ability to shape the characteristics of the piano models, even to the room and microphone, it is a very powerful platform but also very polarizing. Some users absolutely think it is the best piano library out there while others despise the sound. Each one of us have preferences to what sounds best to us. The main thing is defining what you want out of a library. The feel, the size of the room, the responsiveness, etc.. All of these parameters will help you find the library you need and that responds to you. The journey is exciting, while frustrating at times, it is ultimately very rewarding. I hope that helps and I look forward to following you on your journey of discovery. All the best.

@@PraiseTracks amazing! Thank you for the detailed response! You guidance will be extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing the links. On a separate note, do you have any perspective on SL Mixface for you SL Grand? I would be using my keyboard majorly for playing instrument at home not stage (and no production). What I am really looking for is to have a midi controller that allows me switch between VST patches (that I selected and loaded to my DAW) while playing, without the need for having laptop in front of me. So, I have two question for you; 1- what DAW would be your recommendation for the purpose of playing that best integrates with SL88 or MiaxFace (I am currently using MainStage and wondering if I can do any better?) 2- If you have experience with SL mixface, can I change patches using mixface and see the patch title and information on SL MixFace screens (or on SL88 Grand LCD)?

At the moment I do not have Mixface but am looking to get one soon so that I can get that workflow experience. If you are on the Mac OS platform then there are a couple of options beyond MainStage; Logic and Ableton Live. I am on a Windows setup and use Cakewalk by Bandlab and am learning Cubase and Ableton Live as well. What I hear about Mixface is that it is a powerful control surface with many things you can do with integrating it into your workflow. So you can be sure that I will let all of you know when I learn more about this. All the best.

Yes, there is a lot of piano action noise that is not easy to control.

open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX0DxcHtn4Hwo I would like the piano to sound similar to any of the songs on the list, especially the first song. Which of the 2 pianos do you recommend?

I think that the Originals Felt would do a good job for this type of music. It has a special delicate quality to it that would work very well, also the price is right ;^) You also could download the FREE LABS Soft Piano to see how that might work as well as they both have a similar gentleness to them. Thanks so much for watching and for the support.

@@PraiseTracks Thank you =)

My pleasure.

I like the Simcock to some degree as it has a tighter sound. The Cinematic Soft Piano has a much larger soundstage, of course, due to it being sampled at Air. The bottom end is always an issue but it might be manageable with some eq. Also, the Simcock does not suffer from Christian Fingernail Syndrome. 😀

Simeon Amburgey I hadn't noticed the fingernails. Is there a fader for that? 😉

🤣😂🤣😂 Hopefully someone can develop a nail file VST effect plugin.

Simeon Amburgey .nki file? 😉

@@PraiseTracks Hi Simeon. I noticed an update in their app a few months ago. I downloaded it and restarted my daw etc. and not sure if it is me but I did not noticed the awfull clicking noises that time. I did not played with it a lot but did ran through all notes one by one. I think it might be fixed but when I talk to another user he seems to still gear those clicks. Can you confirm? Did you get an update and installed it? Did it fixed anything? Thanks

Will check it out. I have Ozone 9 Advanced, and I will also try bouncing some notes to split stereo and flipping the phase on one of them. Stay tuned 📺

WOW! So LABS Soft piano is definitely OUT of phase. I played a midi part in and rendered to SPLIT MONO. When I inverted one of the track, BAM no sound (phase cancellation). When I did the same thing with the Originals Felt Piano NO PHASE. The sound summed to MONO properly and there were no adverse audio effects when inverting one of the split mono tracks. That is pretty bad that LABS Soft Piano is so out of phase. I am wondering if anyone has reported this to Spitfire?

@@PraiseTracks Actually i have noticed that a lot of sample libraries have that issue (even the higher end ones). Native instruments libraries, other spitfire libraries and so on. It is completely baffling to me, dont they check the phase :D? Considering how much some of these libraries cost, i think it is unacceptable. And the wierd thing is i havent seen anybody talking about it, mb no one is checking the phase these days :D. Well glad to hear that originals felt is ok, might pick it up. Thx for the reply! Cheers

Could you explain with simplier words what are those phase problems please and what are the consequences ? (i'm a noob ^^).

@@paopereira1535, so here is a great article that helps break this down. I will also post a video here in the comments when I can put it together and demonstrate what is happening with LABS Soft Piano. I hope this helps? www.uaudio.com/blog/understanding-audio-phase

Yep, This is common with the Kontakt engine and some of the more animated, layered instruments. I am not sure if you mentioned it, but do you have NOIRE by any chance? NOIRE can also be demanding at times when using the Particles Engine. Sometimes actually increasing the voice count in Kontakt actually helps in some instances. I would also check the audio interface buffer size. Sometimes raising it to 256 can help lessen the CPU demand. Since I am on Windows it is a little difficult to troubleshoot on a Mac OS machine but the basic optimizations can be effective on both platforms. On the Spitfire players I would lower the voice count to something acceptable to you. I get into a lot of trouble playing lots of notes while holding the sustain pedal, it can bring things down fairly quickly. Also experiment with some of the under the hood settings in the Spitfire Player as they give you several optimization options.

@@PraiseTracks I don’t have the NOIR yet, it’s only wish list for when it goes on sale (or maybe I will get Komplete 13). I recently purchased Pianoteq and I’m supper happy with it. I will try your recommendation and will see how it goes. Thanks!

It really is. I bought it today after watching all the comparison here. The felt piano sound sooo good that even if you sleep on the keys, still something beautiful will come out of it. It's really inspiring piano to just sit and make a tune. I spent half my day just randomly playing it without realising the time.

So glad you enjoyed watching. It is amazing that this was essentially Spitfire's first felt piano, originally released for Kontakt. All the best.

I really enjoy the felt piano as well. It is nice to have them side by side so you can hear the differences in tone and character. It also has a lot to do strangely enough with who was sitting behind the keyboard as just in the way the notes are played contribute to the overall experience. Thanks so much for watching, all the best!

@@PraiseTracks Thanks you for making such an in-depth review video and helping me and many others in the decision process, while entertaining us with your amazing piano playing

It is a virtual instrument plugin that can be used in any DAW or host that supports VST, VST3 or if you are on MacOS Audio units.

My pleasure. I am so glad you have been enjoying watching them. All the best.

I updated the video title to add more context. Thanks again.

Thanks for letting me know. I will see if it has been moved or removed. If removed, I would love to see them reinstate it as the information was somewhat helpful when looking at their piano offerings. Thanks so much for watching.

I just updated the link. Joyfully! 🎹

@@PraiseTracks Merci!

Felt for more softer cinematic and quiet moments, it is a very intimate and tender piano. Firewood for ballads and when you need just a little bit more to help cut through to help make a broader statement as it is full of character.