|
Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments. Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!
|
|
70 members (accordeur, bluebilly, BillS728, aphexdisklavier, bobrunyan, anotherscott, AaronSF, apianostudent, 18 invisible),
2,108
guests, and
366
robots. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,607
2000 Post Club Member
|
OP
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,607 |
I came across this video on youtube the other day. I was quite surprised how far piano sampling technology has come along even in the last couple of years.
[video:youtube]0E_TSkkWxBs[/video]
I was wondering, what would you say is considered to be the cream of the crop in terms of current sampled piano software packages?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 19,099 |
Ivory II and Galaxy Vintage D are very highly rated. However there are some new packages which look/sound interesting, such as VI Labs' 'True Keys' and Production Voices' 'Production Grand'.
I'm sure others will contribute their preferred packages.
Kind regards, James x
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 86
Full Member
|
Full Member
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 86 |
Hi, on this forum the most recommended piano VSTs seem to be Galaxy Vintage D and then probably Ivory II (most notably their latest output, the American D).
However, since you bring up this demo video from Lance Herring: He is part of the team at VI Labs who recently released a new piano software suite, "True Keys: Pianos". As you can see he recommends to check out True Keys in the comments of the video, and that comment was actually what made me check out True Keys in the first place. Personally, I like True Keys better than the aforementioned established packages, as in my opinion it is a substantial step forward in terms of sampling quality and microphone perspectives. While there is still room for improvement in some areas, it has quickly become my go-to piano library.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 561
500 Post Club Member
|
500 Post Club Member
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 561 |
...I like True Keys better than the aforementioned established packages, as in my opinion it is a substantial step forward in terms of sampling quality and microphone perspectives. While there is still room for improvement in some areas, it has quickly become my go-to piano library. What would you like to see improved?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 3,552
3000 Post Club Member
|
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 3,552 |
Vintage D is the most often recommended because it's one of the best and because it's one of the cheapest and because it is one of the few that doesn't require the additional purchase of an ilok or some similar copy-protection device.
Ivory is probably the biggest name around. Also PianoTeq is a big player in terms of number of people who own it. Actually I suspect it is probably the most popular. Very polarizing, though.
None of these facts really answer the question of which is the BEST. There are several other libraries that are very high quality and to me they are kind of in an equivalence class. Usually libraries that are good but less well-known are more expensive, other times they are just less well vetted by the community.
At the end of the day there really isn't a unique best software piano any more than there is a best acoustic piano. Each represents a different instrument and/or has different features/strengths. Most people who use software pianos go back and forth between several. That non exclusivity is one of the beauties of software pianos.
If you are looking for other names to think about or try, take a look at some of imperfect samples' offerings.
Last edited by gvfarns; 03/08/13 07:42 PM.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 14,439
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
|
Yikes! 10000 Post Club Member
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 14,439 |
I think everyone can agree: The best piano library is the one you like best. Simple. (I know of no other meaningful answer.)
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,607
2000 Post Club Member
|
OP
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,607 |
Thanks for your answers guys. Just to clarify, I didn't ask for what was the single best option. I just wanted to know what the big names are at the moment. I haven't looked into this stuff for a few years now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:34 PM
|
Piano
by Gino2 - 04/17/24 02:23 PM
|
|
Forums43
Topics223,408
Posts3,349,457
Members111,637
|
Most Online15,252 Mar 21st, 2010
|
|
|
|
|
|