Hi,
I just bought the Garritan Steinway Basic piano library and tried it out in stand alone mode. I have to say that I am absolutely blown away by the sound, I can't get over how beautiful this piano is. Not every note is sampled though on this instrument (The basic version has been limited to every other note being sampled and all samples are 16 bit I believe..not that this bothers me when I play it). I am wondering now am I really missing out by not buying the pro version or is the difference that obvious when playing (I think the pro version has all notes sampled and all samples are 24 bit). Has anybody tried them both out? I read a review that suggested the difference is not that obvious
Thanks in advance,
N

The difference is not obvious, depending on what you play.

The Pro edition (I have both actually, since I was beta testing the basic edition and got the Pro from Gary himself), has some advanced features that I'm not sure are there on the Basic edition:
a. It has sustain notes sampls for every note, non sustained notes, staccato notes (I think).
b. It also has soft pedal (una corda I assume) recorded samples.
c. It has sympathetique resonance (I think that Basic also has that),

But the main feature that makes this sample library SO beautiful is how it was created/recorded and this is in all the versions of the piano, Basic or Pro.

I love that piano, btw, I did get it for free from Garritan, but I'm not affiliated with him in any way!

Thanks for the information Nikolas. Yes I have heard from numerous sources now that the difference is not that obvious between the basic an pro version. I have read that there was supposed to be a "Standard" version but I could not find it anywhere. I love the soft tone of this piano and also the sympathetic resonance sounds very nice. I had bought Alicia's Keys a couple of months ago and have been using it for practicing alot. Alicia's Keys does not hold up to this piano though in my opinion, not even close (I know everybody's tastes are different though - just my 2 cents).

I just bought the Alicia Keys and think it is fantastic, now you got me hunger for this. The price for the pro version is pretty steep though.

I recently purchased Alicia's Keys, and am pleased with it, as it suits my style, but I am not completely blown away by it. :-(
I will admit, I found a (legal or illegal, not sure, but suspect the latter) demo of Alicia's keys, that was limited, but still good enough to convince me to purchase.
I just wish there was a way to demo even a limited version of Garritan Steinway, on my own system. I would probably purchase as a result. I own GPO, and am pleased with it.
I don't remember where I found the AK demo, but as I say, it convinced me to buy.
Pianoteq has got it right, issuing a crippled version for evaluation. Hope Garritan follows that business model soon. I am sure it would increase sales.

It would also be nice if Garritan had an upgrade path from standard to pro.

No upgrade path?
I haven't checked the site, but that is not good news.

Just checked the Garritan website, and it says the Pro version is sold out!
What's that about??

Exerpt from emusician.com dated 2009 re- Authorised Steinway:

"Garritan promises there will be an upgrade path between editions at a slight premium to the original purchase price"

http://emusician.com/sftinstruments/garritanauthorized-steinway-basic/

I think that gary will offer an upgrade path.

There used to be a standard version but was dropped out (I think for commercial reasons).

The Pro version is 4 or 5 double layer DVDs and a total of 68 GBs (I think again. One can check on the website to get factual... facts.. heh).

The problem with offering demo for sample libraries is that they are simply too big. Pianoteq is 23 Mbs or something, but the Basic Garritan Steinway is already around 1 GB. For a demo this is simply too much I think. Too bad that he's not using try sound (http://www.try-sound.com/)... :-/

Anyhow, to be perfectly honest, I think that even the Pro version doesn't not have Round robin samples (more than one sample at the same velocity layer), so when you hit really hard (for example) the same note, the same file is being triggered, which is unforgiving to the trained ears. for sheer playability I love pianoteq, but for the sound it's the Garritan Steinway for me. I also had Ivory (the original version back in 2007 or something), but never used it much...

There is a new version (1.05) due out shortly. That is probably why the current version is sold out.

The GAS Basic version (only $99) and Ivory II are my favorite virtual pianos by far. I also have Alicia's Keys and EWQL Pianos full version. AK is 3rd on my favorite's list (but not close to GAS or Ivory II) and EWQL is way, way down at the bottom on my list.

I've been interested in GPO for quite some time, however, I've been using soundpacks with Garageband which has served me reasonably well - with the exception of Piano.

I was wondering about getting GPO and using the Piano in it, however, GAS Basic looks like it's going to be a great option for Piano work. My question though is, how "playable" is GAS?

Although I'm currently looking at replacing my Korg SV1 with either an NP88 or the NS2 when it's available, I'm interested in trying out some Virtual options and adding them to my pallet or pianos.

So does anybody just use GAS to simply "play" with? If you do, I'd be interested in just how good it is from a players perspective - regardless of the actual sample technicalities.

I must say the pricing on the Basic version looks pretty reasonable, which is certainly a reason to give it serious consideration.

Regards


Rob

I only use GAS to play live as a solo piano, which is also what I do with my other virtual pianos. If want to fool around with accompanying instruments just for a change of pace I have all of the arranger features of my CVP-409GP to play with. But when I sit down to play solo piano (which is most of the time) I either use GAS or Ivory II. The two of them are much more "playable" than Alicia's Keys or EWQL Pianos, IMO.

I've only had Ivory II for a month or so, so I may still find some magic combination of settings that will cause me to like it better than GAS. But for now, the current version of Ivory II still has a few bugs (which can be avoided) but I still have to "think about its characteristics while playing" to optimize its sound qualities. I have to think about how to pedal it, and how to get the right transitions in timbre vs dynamics. In other words, I have to think about what Ivory II is going to do, rather than just playing the music. When I get it right, I'd give the edge to Ivory II for sound quality. But with GAS Basic I never have to think about anything but the music because it simply works and doesn't intrude, which is when you can then relax and feel the music, and not really think about anything at all. So the GAS playability experience is better for now (although that could change as I get more experience with Ivory II), and it still sounds very, very good to my ears.

Alicia's Keys has too many sampling issues to ever forget about it and just play music, IMO. There are too many inconsistencies between the timbre and volume of adjacent groups of keys so its constantly a battle to think my way around the keyboard while playing. EWQL Pianos, IMO, is a distant, distant 4th from a playability standpoint even with the latest (and much improved version of its Play engine). The sample sets are inexplicably deficient in terms of timbre and volume consistency, IMO, (regardless of what you think about its "unique" sound), and it doesn't support half-pedaling, which is a huge issue to me.

Siriosys: I don't have a video of my playing, but here's a couple of recordings with the piano (listening to GAS, straight into the computer, no editing and then done and exported (with a tiny bit of post production, ok).

www.nikolas-sideris.com/AGS/brahms.mp3

And a harsher (and more dissonant)work of mine for piano and trumpet (piano improvised): www.nikolas-sideris.com/stuff/unique.mp3

This IS the PRO version, but as far as playability is concerned, I'm quite satisfied, except for the problem with repeated notes (that it uses the same file, so the same sound comes out and this is a "flaw").

Nikolas,

Thanks so much for sharing some of your playing! Wow. I'm really impressed and loved both pieces of music and especially loved the texture of your improvised work.

One thing I did notice was that GAS is a lot more softer or mellow than I had imagined. I'm not sure if that's anything to do with my speakers or the recording process, but it's a very gentle sound.

For my usage, it'll be solo Piano more than anything else and from that perspective, I'm getting the impression from the helpful postings here that it's quite a "playable" instrument.

Many thanks!

Pianoteq is a 20-some MB download for its FULL product. Each perspective library in Garritan Pro is over 7GB. How many days would you be willing to wait while your demo bundle downloaded to your PC? OK, maybe maybe really fast broadband could take care of it overnight for you.

Stripping it down so it would be a more realistic download would mean removing properites of it that make it what it is in the first place, leaving a bland and unplayable instrument. Who would buy that?

Curt

The "Basic" version at it's full download size is only 300Mb (over 3Gb once uncompressed) and t's probably still going to give a prospective purchaser a good idea of what it's capable of. I've certainly never been a fan of the "mp3 demos" because they're not usually a true reflection of what you're going to get "out of the box".

.......bring on Fibre-optic Broadband!

The Basic version is just one perspective (and one that I never use! I really like the Player and Classic perspectives) but you made me think of an idea... Garritan should make demos of each perspective and let customers download the one(s) they wish to try out. Put a timeout on it so it only works for a week or something...

I now agree with ROB! C'mon Garritan!

Curt

Well, the (iffy) demo version of AK, that I tried, was obviously a stripped down version of, correct me if I am wrong, a 4 Gig, or so program, but it at least allowed a feel of the real thing, and convinced me to buy the library.
It CAN be done.

Edited to add, 6.9gig, after checking.

Here is a great demo http://www.acoustica.com/pianissimo/index.htm

I cannot believe the quality of this product for the price.

My comment will purely be on 16bit versus 24bit recording.

Considering the software developers will likely have used a serious mic/preamp/D-A convertor setup, the difference between 16bit and 24bit will be noticeable. I only record in 24 bit these days as it offers a truer reality to the sound that you would hear from a 16bit sample.

Whether the differences between the two jump out of the speakers at you (they will probably not) is somewhat consequential. A 24 bit file (done properly) will provide more information from the original source material than a 16bit file and, in my opinion, is well worthy of priority.

That said. There is nothing inherently wrong with 16bit files. It's more to do with the process that got them there in the first place IMO..

Regards. Rimmer

True, but it also depends on your soundcard, etc. Otherwise the 24-bit files will be dithered down to 16-bit and come out of the speakers (or I'm being silly. I'm not too sure about this).

If the card has both 24bit capable D/A's & A/D's and is playing back a 24bit file then there sould be no dithering

Regards. Rimmer

Yes, that's what I meant... Sorry if I wasn't too clear.