AM/FM: Amiga Musicians' Freeware Magazine 1/AM-FM 1.adf/text/Proform.txt.pp/Proform.txt

Text File | 1991-10-03 | 6KB | 98 lines

                                  REVIEW:
                    E-MU "PROFORMANCE / 1" PIANO MODULE
                            BY TOR-EGIL BRASETH

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For  years, different companies have tried to develop a good, digital piano
sound.  Compared to E-Mu's piano module "Proformance" they never succeeded.
For  putting  it  straight; the Proformance is quite brilliant.  Never have
the  world  seen  a  piano  module that is so little of size that it can be
carried  under  your arm, and still sound like a 1 ton Steinway, well close
by, anyway.  With it's 15 sounds, the "Proformance" is probably THE bargain
for the piano player with a MIDI keyboard.

THE OUTSIDE

It's  got 1 knob for adjusting the volume, 1 knob for fine tune, 1 knob for
transposing  up  to  +-  2  octaves,  1  Knob for the MIDI-channels and for
activating  the demo tune, 1 knob for choosing sounds and a LED for showing
incoming  MIDI  data  and  power  on.  It's 1U in height (one standard rack
size)  and  only  1/2  rack size in width (a rackmount-kit can be purchased
from an E-Mu dealer).

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING - THE SOUNDS

One  of  the  things  E-Mu  have put weight on in the "Proformance" is true
stereo  sampling.  This means that the piano sound isn't just a mono sample
tuned  a little different in each channel.  The sounds on "Proformance" are
sampled  with  two  microphones  (called crossfading), each pointed at it's
part  of the piano (one low, one high).  This does a great deal to make the
sound "fatter" and more powerful, like a grand piano.

I  really  don't  consider  myself  a  piano  player  although  I play some
keyboards.   And  by not doing so, I cannot judge the piano sound as a real
piano  player can.  But I do know this:  The "Proformance" has got a really
good  touch  to  it,  at least compared to it's ancestors.  This little box
can,  up  to  a  certain  point,  compete with the big digital pianos.  And
taking the price of a digital piano in consideration, that is some effort.

A  problem  some players may come across is the polyfony of this box; it is
"only"  16  voices.   Although the thing has 32 discrete audio channels (as
mentioned  in the commercial), it falls down to half of that because of the
true  stereo sampling.  16 voices should usually be enough, but if you're a
player  of big classical pieces and a hold pedal-fanatic you can always buy
yourself   another   "Proformance".    It   is  possible  to  hook  up  two
"Proformance"  modules because of the MIDI overflow function.  It basically
works like this:  Module 1 has exceeded its amount of voices and instead of
cutting  the  first note played, it sends the other notes over to module 2.
Neat huh?

There's  4  basic  sounds  in  the  box.  The other 11 is slightly modified
versions of those 4 basic sounds.  Some of the variations have longer decay
or  more  touch sensitivity.  I was quite amazed over the resolution of the
touch-sensitivity  in  some of the sounds.  I couldn't find out exactly how
many  levels  there  are in the "Proformance", but there's quite many.  The
loops  in  the  sounds  are really good.  They're almost impossible (unless
you're REALLY critical and have a well-trained ear) to discover.

One  thing  I DIDN'T like about the "Proformance" was the lower octaves.  I
think  they  sounded  plastic and synthetic, and there was some clicks in a
couple  of the sounds in the very high octaves.  And while I'm at it; sound
4 (rock piano) sounded a bit too sythetic (at least without reverb).  And I
wouldn't recommend using the "Proformance" without a reverb unit connected.
It sounds too dry and flat without some kind of reverb.

It  is also possible to hook up some pedals to your keyboard (if you have a
keyboard  with  more  than  just  the  hold-socket in the back panel).  The
"Proformance"  can  take  soft,  sostenuto  and sustain pedal-commands.  It
responds  normally  to  pitch bend-commands and produces chorus (in most of
the sounds) when given modulation-commands.

E-Mu has also released a "+"-version of the "Proformance" which contains 32
sounds.   Including  piano  it's  got el-bass, acoustic bass, organ sounds,
el-pianos,  vibes  and  some  more.   "Proformance  +" has also got a split
function  so  you  can have a piano sound on the upper keyboard and bass on
the  lower,  and so on.  One thing about the "+"-version is utterly stupid,
and  that's  the way you access the 16 new sounds; you've got to do it with
the  program change-command.  This means you've got to use your computer or
hardware sequencer when you want to change sounds.

CONCLUSIONS

The  "Proformance"  has  showed itself worthy of it's reputation and price.
For  the  piano player who really plays and needs a MIDI-piano, this is the
solution.   If  you  already  have a piano sound that you really like, then
stick to it.  If you're looking for good piano sound but not THAT good, and
get  LOTS of other GREAT sounds too, you should settle for something like a
Roland  "U-110"  (which I myself am the lucky owner of).  The "Proformance"
is  a  bit  too expensive to be bought just for playing around.  This is an
instrument  for  people  who  really  need good piano sound and piano feel.
That's my opinion anyway...

Special thanks to TONY SOLUM for lending me his "Proformance"!

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