Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Garritan CFX vs VI Ravenscroft?

Hello everyone, first post after so many months of lurking around! Pleased to meet you all!

My question is simple. Since these two VST libraries are around the same price right now, which one would you recommend? I'm pretty sure these two are the best VSTs in the market, not counting that 600$ Vienna Imperial. If it's of any help, I'm a classical student, and do not intend to study any Jazz or Pop.

CFX, it's been a long standing favourite of mine.

By the way can I ask you where you are seeing these advertised?

The Garritan has no partial pedaling or repedaling, so it's clearly not state-of-the-art and hence completely unacceptable to me. The Ravenscroft isn't even VI Labs best piano, IMO.

Try the Ivory II American D for classical music. I'd recommend the Galaxy Vintage D if you were playing pop or jazz. I'd say they are considered the two best virtual pianos by a majority of this community.

In their own respective sites, actually, leafhound!

Macy, I already have the vintage D and Ivory Grand piano pack from a long time ago. I actually really like the German D. But I'm looking for one step ahead. Is the American Grand comparable to these two? Heard it had a brilliant sound, more suited for jazz and such. And you see, I hardly ever half pedal, but repedalling definitely is going to be missed. And since I already have 2 steinways, I was looking for something different.

Thanks in advance

- just to echo Macy - I doubt the American D will disappoint you for classical, it gets much more mention than the other Synthogy pianos and it would be rare to hear a negative comment about it. Ravenscroft is definitely different, and better for jazz I'd say than classical.

I doubt it would, dire tonic!

But as I said I'm looking for something that's not a steinway because I already have 2 of them.

- I have both Galaxy vintage D and Ivory II American D. They're both Steinway D. They're markedly different from each other.

I have the Ravenscroft also which I've found a little too harsh for classical.
The Garritan CFX looks interesting but no-one has come across a trusted or disinterested review.

Nothing else in the news really but good luck, let us know what you get and, if possible, let's hear you playing something on it.

They definitely sound different but... Oh well, thought I should give a different brand a chance. I'll certainly let you all know what I'll get. The CFX certainly seems like a good choice. It has a very nice sound indeed. Dont know if you can download it from their website though.

I don't know if you have Ivory I or Ivory II piano pack? Ivory II was a step up and the American D is much better than the Ivory II German D, IMO.

I'm looking for a great Yamaha piano too (the Ivory II Yamaha definitely isn't it), but I've been burned by Garritan's update promises before (which went unfulfilled for years even though they said on-line they finished the promised GAS update but wouldn't release it and opted to discontinue the GAS instead). So I won't buy the CFX until they actually (if ever) fix the pedaling.

I own Ivory II piano pack. The Bösendorfer and the C7 definitely aren't the best in their categories for sure, haha. But sometimes it's good to hear a different sound.

I was pretty disappointed when you said Garritan's CFX has no repedalling. I believe it's one of the most basic things a sampled piano must have. A Yamaha would certainly be amazing for me. I love that brighter sound. But thing is, Ravenscroft seems to have a bright-ish sound too, so not sure how I should proceed.

I see from your signature that you have quite a bit of sampled pianos. If you could choose only one of those for a classical album, which one would it be?

The American D and Ravenscroft are popular with the jazz community and are built just perfect for that music.



However for classical repertoire I would purchase these in this order.
Vienna Imperial
Fazioli
German D ::

I would rather try Ivory II Italian (Fazioli). It's my second favorite after American D.

I totally agree. No repedalling, no sale for me. It's much more important than partial pedaling.

BTW, did they ever add partial pedalling and repedalling to the $600 Vienna Imperial? I'm pretty sure it wasn't there initially.


The American D.

But I play pop much more, so my favorite is the Vintage D, which is the best sounding Steinway I've heard for pop or jazz, and has more useable/useful realistic timbre range for voicing than any other virtual piano I've heard.

Hmmm, I don't know why, but the Fazioli pianos just don't sound good to me. They have a too unique sound, guess I'm not used to them yet. I heard some Ravenscroft demos on VI Labs' site, particularly Chopin's 7th Nocturne. It sounded pretty good.

On the other hand, I'm hearing the American Concert D's demos now. It does sound very good. But is it really that different from Ivory's German D? For me to buy yet another Steinway, it has to be worth it.

I really like the Vintage D too, but there are some keys which, probably because of my sound system or settings, has a lot of reverb, to the point where it hurts my ear depending on how high the volume is. This is the reason I stopped using it. And since it's an old-ish piano, I'm pretty sure there's some new technology on the market.

Interesting post. I'm thinking to buy a new library too...

I tried some years ago the first version of Ivory, and I was very impressed with the sound, so I'm sure Ivory II today is better (and because your comments, perhaps American D better than the Ivory II Pack. Sometimes I also played some Galaxy II Pianos (including Vintage D) and I like it, but I'm thinking if Ivory American D perhaps will give me a better choice.

Darn it! You guys are giving me GAS!

(Or is that just the Thanksgiving feast?)

MacMacMac, theb you'll be happy to know VI Labs' pianos are on sale now. Ravenscroft is 50$ cheaper and so are the others. Guess today will be my day!

Hi Macy,

So it appears that they included the repedaling option in an update for the ($600) Vienna Imperial samples around 1/01/12 or so. I read it in the forums on their website. There is still no partial pedaling. Here is the link. Hope this helps.

http://www.vsl.co.at/community/post...leasant-surprise--re-pedaling#post215085

Kinda curious about the Steinway Authorized Garritan sound library.
Does it have /DID it have the same lack of re-pedaling ?
How good/bad is it despite that ?

Where does it "fit" in the Ravenscroft, CFX, etc arena ?

LFYM - I'm adding to this because you mentioned you were a classical pianist.

All the videos below were recorded using the Garritan CFX, and are designed to test the credibility of the instrument as a classical recording option:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1EfMdbwxtM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oEJBeurnqo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbjMO7eIXAw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVxKT_a40zQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ry-1SzBn68

Haven't tried the Ravenscroft yet, but the CFX blows everything else I've tried out of the water, including acoustic recordings I was making with my old Yamaha G3 grand. (I traded that in for an Avant Grand acting as a midi controller for the CFX library, don't miss my G3 in the slightest!)

I'm not affiliated with Garritan at all—I will happily switch to a different sample library if/when a better one comes along—just haven't found one yet