A Comparison of Digital and Sampled Harpsichords (Kram, Richard)

Genre Categories Performance practice; Writings; For electronic sounds; [3 more...]Scores featuring electronic sounds; For 1 player; English language
Related Works Keyboard Sonata in D major, K.96, by Domenico Scarlatti

Contents

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Performances [show]

Sheet Music

Scores

Editor Richard Kram
Publisher. Info. Richard Kram
Copyright
Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike 3.0
Misc. Notes Test #1. Fully notated version of the Scarlatti control used in the comparison
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Editor Richard Kram
Publisher. Info. Richard Kram
Copyright
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
Misc. Notes Test #2. Slower comparison to better compare tone and voices. AABB form where I embellished the repeated sections (perhaps more than would be done, but I wanted to create more linear motion in the repeats for a better comparison). The sound files will use different sampled instrument settings for the repeated sections when available to see the variety in the sample set. All files will be played at the same consistent MIDI velocity and volume to better simulate the constant volume of the harpsichord (otherwise MIDI harpsichords will typically change volume to MIDI changes). All .WAV files normalized to -5 dB before final processing to .mp3.
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General Information

Work Title A Comparison of Digital & Sampled Harpsichords
Alternative. Title
Composer Kram, Richard
Internal Reference NumberInternal Ref. No. None [force assignment]
Composer Time PeriodComp. Period Modern
Piece Style Baroque
Instrumentation Electronic music samples (harpsichord)
Related Works Keyboard Sonata in D major, K.96, by Domenico Scarlatti

Navigation etc.

The goal of this page is to present a comparison of a variety of digital and sampled harpsichords. All normalized to -6dB (I did not want to overly amplify as the levels between different sample sets vary widely so I chose a dynamic value that should not make the examples seem too loud in relation to normal recordings). Reverb varies as I can not totally control that to make it exactly the same. No other processing is used (compression, EQ, noise filtering, etc). VST settings for plug-ins were kept at their defaults instead of trying to tweak each for an optimal sound as there would be to much variance there. (See Discuss the Piece for more information)

Current Versions posted are:

  • 1. Finale
  • 2. Sibelius (8+4, 8+8, 8+8+4, Lute)
  • 3. Notion (8' Long, 8' Lute, 8' Nazzard, 8' Short) Currently on iPad version only
  • 4. East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra Gold (16 bit) Stage, Close, & Stage/Close Mix
  • 5. Steinberg Halion (Ambient, Baroque, 8'+4' [assumed Ambient])
  • 6. Garritan Personal Orchestra (Plug-in Version, not from Finale or Sibelius)
  • 7. Native Instruments (NI) Kontakt5 Harpsichord (uses "dry", reduced VSL samples)
  • 8. Precision Sound Blanchet Harpsichord (Blanchet1, Blanchet2, Alternat and Uniti)
  • 9. SoniVox DVI Harpsichord (Harpsichord, Lo Dulci, Compressed & Lite)
  • 10. Miroslav Orchestra (Harpsichord 1 & Harpsichord 2)
  • 11. ERA Medieval Legends Virginal (product also has an organetto and spinet)
  • 12. Soni Musicae Le Blanchet 1720 (Jeu1, Jeu2, Luth) Free Kontakt Instrument available here.
  • 13. Vienna Symphonic Library (Extended Keyboards) Cembalo
  • 14. Kurzweil PC3X Harpsichord & Brite Harpsichord Patches (Synthesizer)
  • 15. Yamaha Motif Rack XS Module "Hipsichord" (Synthesizer)
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