TOP 5 VIRTUAL PIANOS🎹

pianow · 2024-08-12T05:59:43+00:00

I thought it'd be fun to see some people's (pro's) recommendations and impressions I'm no expert myself but i play anyway 😜 Here's the most convincing virtual pianos I've ever played : 01 - synthogy Ivory II American D Yea it's an old vi, but so beautifully implemented, the pedals, resonators and everything are excellent and it has Una Corda samples as well, but the thing that made me fall in love with it is its sound, it's just wonderful and most of you know that i have a thing for NY steinways, i hope the synthogy would update this piano (reaample for the new ivory 3 engine) which i think they actually want. And when i think about this beautiful piano with continuous velocity, multiple mics, better engine and more features, i know that even the next version would still be my number one 🙂 The tone : warm, rounded, lyrical and emotional 5 stars on this one even though it's old⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 02 - VSL Synchron Bosendorfer 280VC It has a very clear and precise sound to it but the out_of_the_box setting is horrible (which Is not surprising with vsl pianos and their linear velocity mapping) bright and hard edged, but with a little velocity tweak, it becomes a new piano, warm and intimate, it offers one of the best -usable- dynamics among other vsl pianos, all of the mics are quite usable on this one which is not common in the lineup, and there's next to no background noise, it's my most-used vi piano The tone : warm/bright - intimate - from rounded to brutally clean Another 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 03 - VI Labs Modern U One of the beautiful things about this piano is that it sounds like a medium sized grand instead of an upright, it has some in-your-face quality to it and because it's not overly bright makes you drown into the sound, very beautiful, this is one of those "industry standard"s that every part of it is great, piano behaviour is topnotch, and it has silent key, resonators and some mics to choose from The tone : modern, well balanced, from intimate to anything else Another ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 04 - VSL Synchron Bosendorfer Imperial Perfect combination of warmth and punch, it has a beautiful singing tone to it but also a very present attack, the dynamics on this one is great right out of the box, you can go from whispering soft to ear ripping loud (but some of the lowest dynamics sound the same and only their volume changes with different velocities which is also true with the real thing - 290 imperial), some times the loudness is just too f++ing much on the fortissimos, the best vsl piano to date IMO, although i love the 280vc more obviously. The tone : grandeur, giant, hugh, warm and orchestral Another ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 05 - VSL Synchron Yamaha CFX The last but definitely not least For most people it's the N#1 and you would never understand until you touch it yourself (i mean play it💀) yea, it responds so quickly and plays the notes that you haven't played yet, super clear tone and great playability, it offers two close mics (which is less then standings in the synchron stage a lineup) but you can get a lot more real with these two that I'm afraid you can't with some other synchrons, it's a very well recorded well mic-placed piano, the reason it's the last piano on my list is because it's a bright instrument and if you've read my comments about the previous ones, yk that i love warmer sounding pianos, but it's still excellent. A 4 star for this one ⭐⭐⭐⭐ So what's your top 5? Bring it on

HZPiano

johanibraaten not a great match for my controller

Hi Johan,

Out of curiosity: which is the piano controller you use?

Cheers and happy playing,

David Lai

HZPiano Yeah, I believe creating a curve should be easy. I'm trying to learn this art now.

johanibraaten

HZPiano My controller is a Yamaha N1. Unfortunately a “normal” velocity editor doesn’t do the trick for me. The problem is that the nature of the grand action in the N1 makes it a little harder to reach a certain velocity value in the lower registers than in the higher. So if I set a good curve for the bass the treble gets too sharp and if I set a good curve for the treble the bass gets dull and not very dynamic. I would like a “velocity balance”-slider or something. In Pianoteq I can fine tune this with hammer voicing and the VSL CFX has a great velocity respond out of the box for the N1. I’ve tried the app VelPro where you can set individual velocity respons for individual notes or parts of the keyboard but I haven’t got it all the way to feel really good and honestly I think it’s too much of a hassle. But I do understand why so many (not least you😊) loves the modern U, I guess the problem is me, not the VI😊

klausi6

Pianoteq Bösendorfer for daily practise. i Switch the ipad on and play, yipiii 😀
VSL Bösendorfer Imperial over all the best
VSL Steinway sounds perfect with my nearfield monitors
VSL CFX a little bit thin in the bass
all NI (Grandeur, Gentlemean,Noire, Maverick etc.)

Not very often used: Bechstein digital, Production Voices Grand LE, Modern U, Ravenscroft 275, Addictive Keys Grand, Garritan CFX

somtimes Windows can be a nightmare, MacOs sometimes need to long to recognize a class compliant audio interface

David Lai

johanibraaten Oh, the N1!!! I now own the NU1 at home, and it has the same problem. The velocity curve is hard to do, I can't wait to go back to my VPC1 late August!!!

Mindbullets

Depends on what I'm in the mood for, but generally speaking:

Playability / Practice: Pianoteq, Ivory 3, Modern U, VSL CFX. I suppose Vienna Imperial also, but I never play it. That detuned F honks like a goose.

Sound: Modern U, VSL Synchron CFX, Noire, 300 Grand after denoising the samples. I'm sure Garritan would be up there also but I don't need another CFX.

Fun / goofing around: Pianoteq, Noire, Heavyocity Ascend, Alt Piano, Postfelt

johanibraaten

David Lai Oh, the N1!!! I now own the NU1 at home, and it has the same problem. The velocity curve is hard to do, I can't wait to go back to my VPC1 late August!!!

Yeah, the velocity curve can be a struggle. Strangely I don't have an issue at all with VSL CFX. When they sampled that piano they used the built in Disklavier system to trigger the notes instead of their in-house robot. According to VSL the CFX has a particular wide dynamic range because of that. Maybe that has something to do why the mapping is different. Too bad the tuning isn't that great on the VSL CFX, otherwise it would have been a perfect solution for me.

How do you feel the Ivory 3 works with your NU1? I've been curious about that piano.

David Lai

johanibraaten How do you feel the Ivory 3 works with your NU1?

Not good, I'm afraid, due to the controller. In fact, I find all my libraries do better on the NU1XA thanks to the keyboard response. It's just that on the NU1, I can't really play soft and loud sounds without one end becoming very very difficult. It's either I need a lot of effort playing in the piano or lower dynamic, or a lot of strength is needed to play very loud. Too bad…

pianow

klausi6 Pianoteq Bösendorfer for daily practise. i Switch the ipad on and play, yipiii 😀
VSL Bösendorfer Imperial over all the best
VSL Steinway sounds perfect with my nearfield monitors
VSL CFX a little bit thin in the bass
all NI (Grandeur, Gentlemean,Noire, Maverick etc.)

Completely agreed, the ptq is an excellent practicing/live_playing tool
The vsl big three concert grands are awesome as well, with their steinway d, you need to adjust the hell out of it to be able to play it, but after the adjustments it's a great instrument, i wish vsl would fix its playability bugs in an official patch
The bosendorfer imperial is my favourite out of the three, it has that rounded big sound that i always loved (like their 280vc - my all time fav)
And the cfx is just so good for most compositions, it plays like a dream, very well sampled/scripted pianos.

The ni pianos are really fun to use, and they have a feature that makes everything so simple
The colour knob

I mean
You play it for the first time, is it hard? Turn the knob to the left, is it soft? Turn it to the right
Done
It adjust the velocity curve and the dynamic volume at the same time it's a joy to use i wish vsl would add it as well

jenpal

I am relatively new to virtual instruments, but I have enjoyed all of them so far, especially the Modern U, VSL Steinway D, and Garritan CFX. It's fantastic to have the ability to play various piano instruments whenever I want.

Additionally, the VILabs Ravenscroft 275, which I purchased earlier this week, is also good, though I haven't had much chance to explore it yet.

After reading numerous positive feedbacks about Pianoteq on this forum, I decided to purchase the Pianoteq Standard today. Now, I have the additional Bösendorfer 280VC, Steinway D, and Petrof instruments in Pianoteq. I am particularly interested in using Pianoteq with my iPhone for convenience.

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