Hey guys I was reading about the Garritan Steinway software and also listened to some sound samples.They were pretty amazing.I'm wondering if anybody has had any experience with this software or other steinway software.
This software was said to be made in conjuction with steinway and sons technician.Anybody had any experience with this?
Let me know!!!!!

I have had it since its release date and I love it. It's pretty demanding on your PC and they just released an upgrade to improve sympathetic resonance and have another update planned for the near future.

You can't get more Steinway sounding than this without sitting at a real one.

What is your hardware configurations ?

Hey Curt88 how is the piano sound? amazing?
Let me know because I plan on buying it also



Well right now I have to buy a laptop because I don't have one.My desktop has a pentium 3Mhz, 2gb RAM and a hard disk of 160gb which I just recently partioned)
I work in the IT field so guys tell me what are the hardware requirements for this program so my laptop runs smooth with out running short on memory?
Let me know because, listen to this I will be making an investment
DP+laptop+steinway software+PG music software+dp case+quicklok bench=?
God know how much this will turn out!!!
Anyhow thanks guys for the feedback.

DP as in Digital Performer? Isn't this Mac only? (Ok.. you mean Digital Piano. Sorry about this).

Anyways, the Garritan Steinway is rather demadning. The pro version, if you plan on using the 24-bit samples (which is of little use to non producers, or non studios) is around 60+ GB, which is almost half your hard drive. Your computer seems rather old as well, with a single core and 2 GB of RAM. RAM won't be much of an issue, but it could be that your CPU might be an issue.

If I may ask, why a laptop? Moving around your DP and the computer seems unlikely, so why not just get another (much better for the same $) desktop? Laptops are generally not great for music making, or music playing. The hard drives inside (until recently, but I think apple is changing to SSL drives) are 5400 rpm which is rather slow for sample use.

But of course the Garritan Steinway does sound great! (IF you wish go to the listening forum in the pianists forum, and listen to my performance of a Brahms piece. It was done with the Garritan Steinway and I think it sounds great!)

Touching on what Nikolas said, you do NEED to run the samples from a separate drive running at a minimum of 7200RPM. Anything slower will stutter. However I do run it on a notebook PC (dual-core 2GHz, 3GB RAM, and the samples on a second internal 7200RPM hard drive) so a desktop isn't essential. It's all in the muscle and notebook PC's can be scary strong!!

I prefer to work on a notebook PC because it allows me to bring it to the piano for recording and then I can take it with me to perform editing anywhere I happen to be (at the food court in the mall while the wife is shopping, for example!).

As far as how it sounds, as I stated, you can't get closer to a real Steinway without actually sitting at one and playing it. Of course, everyone's opinion of sound may vary.

I would suggest that you get the Basic version first (a $99 download for Pete's sake!) and if you like it you can upgrade. Gary provides you with a discount price path when you upgrade. Plus, you'll get the full suite of recording perspectives when you do.

Curt

I've been using the Pro version of the Garritan Steinway and enjoy it a lot. My PC is on the lower end of what one would consider acceptable for running a piano like this (AMD Athlon 64 3200+ with only 2GB of RAM) but because, like others have mentioned already, I stream the samples from a separate SATA RAID hard drive configuration, I'm able to get acceptable performance from it.

I recently purchased the Galaxy Vintage D and am really enjoying it a lot. I've started another thread so you can read about it there but I was able to get some decent sounding demos running it off of a USB thumb drive on a netbook, something I know I could never do with the Garritan. I didn't need to do this, I just thought it would be fun to try. Check it out, it may be a good option for you.

The best setup for running this would be a Apple MacBook Pro. The 13" size is more compact and has enough CPU power with it's dual core. It also comes with a "sound card" or audo interface that is very good quality and a built-in fiber optic digital audio too. Get the solid state, flash based disk. Performance is very good compared even to high-end 7200 rpm disk. The MBP just works for profesional level music production, out of the box. No need to hunt down drivers or disable background task. Ships with all the software you need, even a cheap Yamaha grand piano sample preinstalled. The only reason not to buy the MBP is that you can't afford the price. But look at the total cost to own a working music system, software, audio interface and cables and your tie to set it up and maintain it. not just the price of the notebook. Cooling is another thing to watch out far, many notebooks use a fan and you don't want a fan noise. The MBP's aluminum unibody design turns the entire computer into a heat sink and reduces or eliminates forced air cooling.

What about on-board soundcards? If you use this huge sound library on an on-board soundcard through ASIO4All, would the quality of sound and latency change?

It all depends on the quality of the on-borad audio interface. Some of them are very good some are total crap.

Cost of the computer does not seem to be an indicator either as a few sub-$300 netbooks and Apple's entry level Macbook have very good bult-in audio.

On a Windows system the purpose of the ASIO driver is not sound quality but improved reliability (reduced drop outs or crackles) and lower latency. The actual sound quality is determined by the software instrument and the hardware inside the audio interface.

Then of course this is all for nothing if the speakers are not up to the task.

I have it too. It is great software....

Its actual name is Garritan Authorized Steinway, because it is authorized and overseen by Steinway and Sons. For whatever that's worth -- it's not as if S&S are experienced samplists. But they do prepare the instruments, and they have to approve the results when satisfactory to themselves.

More models in the Steinway line were projected. A Model B was sampled in California months ago. But Garritan projects have proven weirdly slow, sporadic, and prone to abandonment. Maybe it will be released someday.

Gary has had serious family and personal issues. It's no wonder that the company is standing still at the moment. But as far as I know he plans on picking up the previous projects!

I am aware of the Garritans' family illness. Who would not sympathize? However, very little of the firm's historical flakiness and habitual long delays are attributable to this recent moment of trouble. It's been so for years.

Work continues, however, on the Steinway updates, since it's not as if the entire firm has actually been disbanded. The fifth update of the Model D has been promised, and one is justified in hoping for real improvement after all this time. It has, of course, been like pulling teeth, but it should now happen, perhaps in a month or two or three. They have a good fellow on that job now, and have had for some time.

So what do you think guys, should I wait for the 5th update to purchase? Are these updates suppose to make the sounds sound much more real to the actual steinway?

Better is a judgement call. I'd just buy which ever Steinway sample set you like at the time when you need it and then later when a better one comes out give it a listen an decide to upgrade or not.

There are at least a dozen competitors like Ivory, NI, Sampletekk and more. Some are arguably better than Garrison already.

Can someone comment on the Garritan 'copy protection' scheme? I've read this description:

http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58513

Is the 'Graphical License Card' card machine-specific? (i.e., do you need to generate a new one every time you install on to a different computer?), or do you just get one that's good for any number of installations on different machines, without having to communicate with the registration server ever again? No, I'm not interested in pirating it! I just prefer software that isn't dependent on an activation server that might go offline tomorrow.

Hem... You activate it once (for every computer). My music computer, is certainly off line and I have no issues with it. Chris why are you calling it "Garrison"? Just wondering...

You're good for FOUR machines at a time - not four installations. This confused a lot of people.

Curt

Poor proof reading I guess? I think maybe the automatic spelling checker has something to do with it. I'm such a poor typist that I'm dependent on it.

Well guys got an email response from Tony Mohagan from garrison and he clarified me that so far he doesn't have a release date for a 5th update.
These are the specs he send me for a PC:


* 2.8 Ghz CPU Pentium 4 or better for PC, 2.0 Ghz
Core 2 Duo MacIntel or better for Mac.
* 2 GB RAM Recommended
* Professional Edition 24 bit - 67GB free hard drive space (45GB 16 bit)
* Basic Version - 3.5GB free hard drive space (download size 300MB).
* Hard drive speed of at least 7200 RPM
* 64bit on Windows only. 32bit on Mac and Windows.
* DVD ROM drive required for installation
* Monitor with 1,024x768 resolution or better
* A sound card compatible with ASIO
* MIDI: Many keyboards use USB. A MIDI interface may be required if you are using a MIDI keyboard (88-key full-sized MIDI keyboard with pedals is recommended).
* High quality speakers and amplifier, or high quality headphones
* Internet connection for online registration and download of Basic version.

Does the downloadable version (300mb) use some kind of lossy compression? 3.5gb when uncompressed suggests that MP3 files are used as the source.

Can anyone clarify this?

Cheers,
James
x

Does this mean the music computer has never had to go online for the software to work? Was the key image transferred from a different (online) computer?



Is this limit enforced by the software (which implies it has to 'phone home' at some point) or does it just rely on the good faith of the user?