Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Ravenscroft by VI Labs… First Look and Sound

It was very simple. In the first rack, I just directed Cantabile to where UVI was located (having also specified the audio/midi settings I wanted within Cantabile). That's about all there is to it.


Isn't that just the way with computers? It's a black art, for sure.

Hmmm. I thought that I would point it to a Ravenscroft file, not UVIWorkstation.

When I run UVIWorkstation, the file that is run is:

"C:\Program Files\UVI Workstation x64\UVIWorkstationx64.exe"

Is that what I point to?

I will try a few things out and thanks for your help.

AZ Astro, you need to go to your 64 bit VST folder (often in the Steinberg folder in Program Files) and look for the UVI plug-in there.

As a point of curiosity, I am wondering why some VSTs are the actual software piano product (as in Ivory and Pianoteq) and some VSTs are the Shell that the software piano product runs inside, as in Ravenscroft (i.e. why is there not a Ravenscroft275.dll).

Ravenscroft isn't a vsti and doesn't conform to vst protocol (I've really no idea what that is!!), it exists only as a single file with the .ufs extension. So it has to run inside a 'container' - in this case UVI, which is a vsti. As you say, Ivory and Pianoteq have done the donkeywork which enables them to run as fully fledged vstis.

{GUESSING}
It is probably tied up to the "copy protection" nonsense.
This way they only have to unlock it in one place.
Conversely they only have to build and actuate one "lock".

Not sure because I haven't had to work on this stuff in a LONG time.

Hey,
Just for FUN
Who here has "golden ears" ?
Are you as picky about THIS emulated piano as Pierre-Laurent Aimard is about the Steinway D ?
{Pianomania movie}

I'm NOT, but I admit to having TIN ears and not playing advanced stuff anyway.

Let me re-word my question ...

I am wondering why the Ravenscroft275 does not have an accompanying VST like some other software piano products, namely Ivory. I am curious as to why they might not provide one since it seems much more convenient to utilize it within a DAW.

I think they've already admitted it's too much work - i.e. too expensive, hence the off-the-peg container UVI.

Well, that may be possible ... I guess.

I am going to present that question to VILabs directly and see what their response is.

Okay, I got it working. Cool! Now I can record Ravenscroft piano inside Cantabile!

Thank you voxpops.

This was part of my confusion. But I think I've got it now. A little bit anyway!

hey gang,
was wondering wherefore the origin of the name "Ravenscroft".

herewith:
http://www.ravenscroftpianos.com/Images/PR/Downloads/RavenscroftPianosPressRelease(081001)PassionForPianos.pdf

http://www.statepress.com/2011/08/21/tempe-center-for-the-arts-gets-custom-made-grand-piano/

Hey all, I wanted to jump in here again and explain a bit more about the UVI Workstation and questions about VST plug-ins, etc. Yes the Ravenscroft 275 and our True Keys Pianos are not VST instruments themselves--they are what are referred to as sample libraries and work within an engine, in this case UVI Workstation, which is the "player" and supports all plug-in formats such as VST, AU, AAX, etc. The software used to design the Ravenscroft library is called MachFive which is marketed by MOTU. MachFive is a full feature software sampler and is also available as a standalone application or any plug-in format. Another popular software sampler is Kontakt by Native Instruments, and they have their player known as Kontakt Player that hosts a huge variety of NI instruments as well as third party libraries. Alicia's Keys and the Scarbee line of libraries are popular examples of "Kontakt Powered" instruments that run all in one player, the free Kontakt Player. There's also a huge selection of UVI instruments and third party libraries that are hosted within the free UVI Workstation.

There are of course benefits to developing a proprietary sampling engine for one specific product or line of products from one company such as any specific need can be addressed from the ground up. But as I eluded to in a previous post, this is an expensive and rather risky endeavor for many instrument developers as the cost of R&D is very high, and there's always the risk of compatibility issues, crashes, etc. that can result unless the engine is really up to snuff. Also with proprietary engines, an end user has to install a new (and sometimes unknown) piece of software for each instrument, from each company, and so on. The benefits of using an existing engine that allows third party developer content such as NI Kontakt or MachFive is that you get a solid engine (player) that only needs to be installed once, and it will support a plethora of instruments available. This makes it easier for the end user as they install one player and then can add additional libraries, and it's easier in many ways for the developers as they can use a tried and true engine that many end users may already have. And yes, this also aids in copy protection as each library developer can rely on the company that makes the engine to handle that process instead of having a variety of copy protection methods which some work great and others not so much.

So to recap, you can install UVI Workstation one time to use the Ravenscroft. Then you could add our True Keys collections or any other instrument made for UVI Workstation and only have to download/extract the library without having to install any software again. This applies to Kontakt Player as well and the huge line-up of all their instruments.

I hope this helps!

-Lance @ VI Labs

Thank you Lance, for providing this information. If I may, I'd like to ask you about something else. How does the Ravenscroft compare to other software pianos you've worked on, like the ones from Acoustic Samples, the Kawai Ex Pro, and Academic Grand? I'm assuming the Ravenscroft is superior to the other two, but what makes it superior?

Would appreciate your input on this, as I'm looking for good software pianos, and the Acoustic Samples appealed to me. I'm wondering if I would be sacrificing quality for a lower price, by getting the older Acoustic Samples pianos, rather than the Ravenscroft.

This is what I am wondering about.

Why restrict your products to only the one option for playback ?


It would seem to be in VILabs best interest to allow it to run in a variety of environments.


Why not make it a VST instrument so it will run on a variety of DAWS ?

Is it cost ? Sales Strategy ?

@dmd.. hey I was just curious about your speaker setup... are u satisfied with the bass u get from your Focal CMS40 powered monitors? By chance you are running a sub with that as well?

I just purchased a pair of KRK monitors Rokit 6 gen 3 recently. Waiting for my uncle to bring it down for me though.

Not sure if i made a mistake or not going for KRK instead of a better brand but only time will tell i guess.
Alotta folks are satisfied with the KRKs...

You can private message me if you want. Thanks.

Sorry for the tangent guys.. Back to Ravenscroft... This software piano really looks promising. Excited to try it out one day.

This was my thinking as well but after some thought (and after successfully getting Ravenscroft to run inside Ivory Cantibile), here is my interpretation:

Why restrict? He mentioned cost, compatibility, and technical requirements.



By using UVI Workstation, VI Labs saves money and improves on quality control and compatibility. I am viewing UVI Workstation as the VST Instrument, and UVI Workstation can host many different instruments, including the Ravenscroft.

I have Rokit 8s and I mulled over gettings the 6s for a long time. In theory, I think the 6s are fine but I ended up getting the 8s as a bit of overengineering my setup.

I just hope that they are good.. I can't demo anything where i live.. only studio monitors i can find locally were some pioneers that were overpriced..

I saw ravenscroft used a pair of focal solo6... yikes.. thats 2500 bucks!

can they really be that much better?.. the vpc1 is cheaper!