VI LABS Truekeys Bundle (any good?)

pianow

i never cared much about vi labs pianos cause their best work yet are another thin sounding grand p(ravenscroft 275) and an upright (which i find quite interesting but it's not for me)

and lots of people told me that to avoid the true keys series which i listened without giving it any thoughts

however i listened to some of their demoes and their american steinway was the absolute best "sounding" steinway d that i've ever heard on the virtual piano market, warm and full of body, color, a lot of punch and intimacy yet so airy and alive, i mean they didn't sacrifice anything really> for example vsl steinway has lots of shimmer and metalicism to it but you literally can't get a decent rounded tone out of it, it just doesn't have anything to offer in that regard, but the true keys has all the fullness, all the brightness, and all the colors at the same time, they recorded these things with such care, then i looked at the specs and those are pretty wonderful too

sympathetic and sustain resonances, una corda, silent strikes, lots more (all sampled OMFG) pedaling seemed pretty standard (for a piano, not a generic shitty vst - so yea high standard) and micing techniques are good as well (i especially loved the player mic position, it really transported me in front of a real new york d)

so whats the catch? whats lacking on these instruments? they seem pretty interesting to me and i'm kinda thinking "should i consider them as my next black friday purchase or not?

i'm already saving for the vsl imperial BF offer but this (vi labs) got my attention

David Lai

honestly, I was quite taken by the New York D myself. But I read somewhere along time ago that this sustains on these pianos are a bit shorter, and since this is amongst their earliest work, technical limitations prevent them from being the best they can be. Since you are working towards Black Friday, I’d suggest save your money, and continue to save. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for VI Labs. they are a very fabulous company, and I think they will do great things. If they could do something on another level like the Modern U, they certainly have lots of potential. Don’t lose hope!

pianow

David Lai

brooow, you sounded like a doctor who don't wanna say that the patient died but he did 🙂

please say things about truekeys a little bit more clearly, what's lacking? the short sustain is an issue with 80% of the sampled pianos i tried including some vsl ones that i don't wanna talk about 🙂

i know it sounds silly to talk about black friday in the middle of the summer but i should save very little of my income for BF every month, i can't risk letting my family know about this

if they fand out that i'm buying another VI i'm gonna find myself in a park at 03:00AM two continent away from my own country so yea 🙂))))

i really hope vsl sample an american steinway d more then anything

but vi labs is really interesting as well

David B

VI Labs is supposed to drop a new virtual piano soon. Personally I wouldn't spend the money on the Turekeys bundle. I owned them and sold them. Then I bought the Fazioli by itself, and like most virtual pianos I own, I never find myself playing it.

I can't give you any specific reasons other than to say they didn't work for me. The Modern U is a slam dunk if you like upright pianos. Hopefully whatever they release next will be a grand in the same vein.

God Bless,
David

David Lai

pianow David B said it well. I personally didn’t like upright pianos, but Modern U convinced me that even an upright piano can be done with such character detail. And, to tell you the truth, I think there is always room for one upright, just one.

Confession, I did record a couple of demo pieces on Modern U, because I saw its potential for being a nice performance level upright piano. Take what you will.

My main gripe with the true keys New York D is that it sounds as if the piano wasn’t very well prepared. There are tuning issues with all three pianos, and the overall lack of detail compared with Modern U is concerning. That’s why I’d suggest that you continue to hold it off from buying anything till Black Friday. 🙂

pipAT

The American grand has some noticeable louder keys, not too bright nor dark. the Italian grand has power, the tone is too bright and thin though. The German semi-grand is the only one that has the preferred tone I like, dark and warm but not too distant and muddy. They all have short decay and less sympathetic resonance than Ravenscroft 275 and Modern U, like 2-dimensional and lack depth. Some pointed out on another keyboard forum: the Truekeys may not hold on well in exposed solo pieces, but usable for mixing with other instruments. And that is a 2012 product. I would be glad to hear the news of "new babies" earlier.

vagfilm

David Lai That’s why I’d suggest that you continue to hold it off from buying anything till Black Friday.

It sounds almost like "I wanna tell you what I know, but I cannot"… 😀

jdg78

David B VI Labs is supposed to drop a new virtual piano soon

I really hope this is true. I've been waiting patiently for their next piano, but so far haven't seen any concrete indication as to what it might be, or when it might be released (are we talking months? years?).

As other have said, Modern U is perhaps the most perfect virtual piano on the market from a technical standpoint - the main drawback is the piano itself. Similar situation w/ their Ravenscroft, although I think the Modern U plays even better than the Ravenscroft.

lee

David B I emailed VI Labs asking for info on the new piano and they replied that there are no plans for it!

Here is their reply:

Thank you for reaching us,

We have not planned to release a new soundbank in the near future, but if you have any suggestions regarding piano models or instrument types please let us know ;-)

Best regards,

VI Labs, LLC Support team

David B

Maybe I misunderstood Lance from VILabs. He said, "Some great things coming here at VI Labs soon, will be reaching out to you." That was around 4 months ago in the public comments section on YouTube.

I was looking forward to a new VILabs release. Thankfully, I'm also very happy with the Ivory 3 I'm currently using.

God Bless,
David