Katawa Shoujo Forums

My first post might have been missed, so I'm re-posting in the more relevant section:

I love the piano tracks in KS. But, being of sampled nature, they lack life. I am a proud owner of Pianoteq 3, physically modelled piano VST, and I must say that it's brilliant for what it does! Anything I play is just so lifelike.

So my proposal would be to ask the devs if they are willing to share the MIDI files with piano tracks, and I would render them with Pianoteq 3, and send the tracks back to them. I figure the quality would bump quite a notch, and all the people who like the piano tracks would like them even more.

Too bad I haven't found this project earlier, I could have helped with orchestrals, too, I have a nice set of VSTs for that as well. I'm also a piano player, I have quite good knowledge of sound synthesis so I could help with any freaky SFX you might need. I have the tools, and the will to help.


On an unrelated note, I might be one of translators and proofreaders for an official Croatian translation (I have two more people interested in the project of doing so!)

they are willing to share the MIDI files

don't want to be too rude, so I'll just say lol

Edit: just expressing my own opinion man, i'm not a dev.

OK I expressed myself a bit clumsily. What I wanted to underline is the possibility of producing a higher quality piano tracks using the very nice software I have, and MIDI files are, as I understood, the basis of all the songs in the OST. So how would I go about without them? If they accept the offer, I'll gladly help, but I can't do it without the source material! (I mean, I can hear it all and transcribe, but don't really have THAT much time on my hands, with college and all).

So don't laugh for something that is, objectively, a very nice proposal.

EvilDragon wrote:OK I expressed myself a bit clumsily. What I wanted to underline is the possibility of producing a higher quality piano tracks using the very nice software I have, and MIDI files are, as I understood, the basis of all the songs in the OST. So how would I go about without them? If they accept the offer, I'll gladly help, but I can't do it without the source material! (I mean, I can hear it all and transcribe, but don't really have THAT much time on my hands, with college and all).

So don't laugh for something that is, objectively, a very nice proposal.

I also don't find anything wrong with your proposal, as most H-game music is midi anyways. . .

SayaVelcor wrote:I also don't find anything wrong with your proposal, as most H-game music is midi anyways. . .

Yeah, probably they're all MIDI renders with better-quality samples. Except stuff like FSN, that VN has some really good music production.

Well, as my pianist side chimes in, samples aren't enough for reproducing the feel of piano. That is why I offered a much better solution, Pianoteq. And I hope the devs will like the idea after they hear the difference, but for making that difference, I would need at least one MIDI file from the OST (preferably only with piano), so they could compare the old sampled version with the new modelled approach.

sorry, i'm just sulking that i couldn't help with the music so I've gone to the translators' path...

I see nothing bad in translating. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna get there too, probably, along with two of my friends, and add a Croatian translation of KS. That would be first VN in Croatian!

yeah, it's not. only i didn't intend to do it originally, i wanted to do music.
but it's not that bad either, and i can always come up with something in another genre, also I think this will be the first hungarian VN too.

I have heard of Pianoteq, and indeed, it is an excellent VST. I intend to get it one day.

As much as your offer is appreciated, it would be troublesome to do.

I can't see how so, in the days of broadband Internet, really :/ Care to explain why, maybe? This is really a chance to make all those tracks shine with the right they deserve, as I can provide great-quality sounds and articulations...

I just think that sound quality should match the art quality, and that is, IMO, not quite in balance from what I see in the demo. Don't mean to be bashful, the compositions themselves are really nice and befitting... they could just sound better.

Please discuss and consider well this with the rest of the dev team, IMHO this is a very nice chance to improve the quality of what you strive to do... at least you would make one person more happy

I don't see why they'd do this but then not go one step further and just record somebody on an actual damn piano.

Because it's hard to record the real piano in the proper way (quality microphones, various mic positions...), and this studio approach (modelled piano controlled via external MIDI keyboard) offers the same quality of recording, with even more flexibility.

Well looking at this thread i dont see why the devs would even think about rejecting this, it's not like the MIDI is a large file and most of the work would be done by evil dragon, and in the end if they dont like it they can just reject it.

There are stuffs I can read here, but no piece of music I can listen to.

Show us why our piano tracks are inferior and yours sound better by uploading samples of your work. You can't evaluate on the basis of written argument alone.

OK, here's the recording of the part of Hungarian Rhapsody I did with Pianoteq 3:

F. Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody

You can easily hear how the piano breathes, and every nuance of dynamics is conveyed through. Sustain pedal resonances are very real and alive. This is something you don't get with using just samples. Here's a little bit of something I did on my own, original piano track, done in 15 minutes, so it's not really perfect dynamically:

EvilDragon - Soothing Dream

Also, from the other topic, here's a short atmospheric slice... this could work well for Hanako or something like that This is another quick example (made in 45 minutes or so) of the sound quality I can achieve.

EvilDragon - Ea

DISCLAIMER: Ea has nothing to do with FSN It's just a random title I got when smashing on the keyboard when it asked me to save the project.