The following exclusive "Keyboard Report" was written by Keyboard magazine associate editor Ernie Rideout and is published in the July, 1998, issue (Vol. 24, Mo. 7) now available. It is reprinted with the permission of Keyboard.

Keyboard Online plans to upload audio examples of the MiniGrand online as of June 8th or so using a MIDI file of Andy LaVerne playing some of the music from the Don Grolnick master class. Check out Keyboard Online at www.keyboard.com for technique, technology, and making music.

To hear and see the Minigrand now, just look and listen here.

The Amplifier and Oberheim wish to thank Ernie Rideout, editor in chief Marvin Sanders, reprint coordinator Stella Valdez, and the staff of Keyboard for their consideration.

Piano modules sure are handy little things. Fairly inexpensive half-rack affairs, they're a great way to add variety to your piano and keyboard arsenal without soaking up too much space in your rig or studio. We get a lot of calls from folks who want to know one thing about such devices. Which one has the best piano sound?

The answer: For my money, this one does. The MiniGrand is a winner--but it is a little different from your average piano module.

Vive la difference!
The first thing that strikes your ear when you play the MiniGrand is how great the acoustic piano sounds are. Clear, clean, not too bright, not too dull. The sound responds in a natural way to differences in velocity, and sustained passages reveal nicely looped samples that combine beautifully. Stereo imaging gives you the impression of having your ears centered right at Middle C.

When you crank the volume (you'll have to do it on your amp--the output of the MiniGrand is pretty low), you begin to hear that there are other elements involved in the piano sound. Press the damper pedal, and you hear the dampers coming off the strings; release it, and you hear the dampers come back down. When I was just noodling around, I felt that the damper sound was obtrusive, and I wish that its volume could adjusted. But in the context of a performance, it was not bothersome, even in the soft passages. Additional physically modeled piano-isms: Release the keys and you can hear the hammer mechanism come back to rest. Sympathetic resonance? The MiniGrand does it well, with held keys producing appropriate harmonics whether they're sounding 12ths, 10ths, or octaves. And speaking of pedals, the MiniGrand has an input that can be set to emulate either a sostenuto or soft pedal, as well as a dedicated damper pedal input-the effect of the sostenuto and soft pedaling was quite convincing. For the most part these are all subtle effects, although the damper noise seemed excessive to me when I was playing softly. When I put a track to tape, however, I found the damper effect to be quite convincing and not distracting, even during quiet passages. The hammer mechanism and sympathetic string resonance were similarly pleasant and unobtrusive.

Such physically modeled effects are not found in many other instruments. In fact, the Generalmusic Pro Piano Expander is the only non-furniture based instrument to pioneer a similar sound technology. So of course, I compare the sound of the two instruments--and found the MiniGrand piano to be preferable, in that it has a clarity that the Expander lacks somewhat, even after tweaking the Expander's extensive EQ control. Associate editor Greg Rule concurred. The Expander, on the other hand, has a fabulous half-pedal feature that lets you get an appropriate damper sound at different velocities.

The MiniGrand elicited a lot of positive comments from players who tried it out. A player's player who is often seen on tour with Seven Mary Three, Robbie Gennett, said bluntly that it sounded great. Senior editor Jim Aikin laid down some mighty fine "F minor Prelude" from The Well-Tempered Clavier by J.S. Bach, noting as he did so that while it didn't convince him he was playing a real acoustic piano, the sound was quite good. John Krogh assistant editor of our sister publication Music and Computers, reacted quite favorably as he played tunes ranging from Bill Evans to New Orleans funk.

The best compliment came from editor Marvin Sanders when I passed along some audio files to upload to our website: I had sent some MIDI files of Andy LaVerne playing the music form the Don Grolnick Master Class (May '98) through the MiniGrand and recorded its output. Marvin heard them and thought that I had sent him studio files of Andy actually playing his Yamaha grand piano.

That's all? Only piano?
In fact, it has a total of six patches: Three are versions of the same piano sample, one is a Rhodes with heavy tine sound, and two are FM-style EP. But that's it; no Wurlys, organs, or tack pianos, much less basses, horns or any form of general MIDI sound set. The EPs in general adequate; not bad, but kind of bland and a little weak in the low end--in short, good enough for you to be able to play an EP sound on the gig.

You can edit the EQ, effect choice, and effect depth for the existing sounds and save your settings to six memory spots. The EQ gives you enough room to adjust the brightness to either cut more or hurt less, but it doesn't give a really substantial bass boost to the EPs. The effects are all reasonable useful, with MIDI and front panel control over effect depth. When cranked up, the chorus and flanger effects are fairly thick, but definitely not over the top. The reverbs are well suited to enhance the piano sound.

Conclusions
The MiniGrand has quite a killer piano sound that's a pleasure to play and lays sweetly to tape, and at a retail price of $499, it's not unreasonable to consider picking it up for that alone. The unit also has the now requisite 64-voice polyphony. Naturally, I wish it had more exciting EP sounds, and more of them at that.

In the true complaint department, I have only a couple of beefs. The in-socket power supply is one of the largest behemoths I've ever plugged in, and the plug forks are reversed so that you have to plug I in upside-down. It's simply going to eat up two or more plug spaces on your power strips, folks. Also, the MiniGrand emits a loud pop when you turn it on or off, so protect your speakers first.

For physically modeled alternative, look at the Generalmusic Pro Expander ($665), which has sympathetic resonance as well as pedal and damper effects, I also has great EP and clav sounds as well as organs, strings, and synth sounds. Sample-only piano modules include the Korg SG-Rack ($899, 64 sounds), which has a great 64-sound collection in general, and pretty darn good piano and EP sounds in particular. Kurzweil's MicroPiano ($550, Keyboard Report, Feb. '94) is still a the top of many players' lists with 32 keyboard sounds, as are the Yamaha P50-m ($499.95, Keyboard Report, April, '97)with 28, and the Alesis NanoPiano ($399, Keyboard Report, Feb. '98) with 256 programs-a lot of variety there.

But you'd be hard pressed to find a piano sound better than this, sampled or modeled. The MiniGrand won't jump through hoops for you but it does what it does well. Definitely check it out.

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