My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

ok here the preset :

OlivierW Thanks, I'll load it in and have a look!

pianow how perfect modern u is

After a pianoless week I just played again for about half an hour. Modern U of course.

And it just sings so beautifully… plays so accurately… It is a true joy.

I've said it multiple times: without Modern U, I probably (well, highly likely) would have given up digital piano as a feasible instrument already several years ago.

Cheers, and the happiest playing,

HZ

David Lai

Maybe this is related and can be relayed to @VILabs as well (and solved, I would love that):

In Modern U, also related to pedaling, sometimes releases aren't played. Modern U's releases are utterly succulent and so this is a pity. I'm not at the piano but try(!) to describe it:

• Playing notes without pedal, and letting go of the key(s): nice release.
• Playing notes with pedal, letting go of the key(s) but holding the pedal, then releasing the pedal: no releases, sound ends abruptly.

I notice this the most in the bass and tenor region, perhaps because releases are most pronounced there.

I would be curious to find whether this behavior in Modern U is related scripting-wise to these resonance findings, also pedal related, in Modern D.

Anyway, Cheers!

HZ

PS Now that I think of it, in your Chopin demo, there are some busy passages in which at a few moments there also are some very abrupt endings to the sound which to me sound odd (and unpleasant). This made me think of the release experience I have with Modern U as described above. The scripts for U and D undoubtedly share a lot of code so who knows, is some or all of this indeed related. Cheers again!

It’s hard to be objective when the only benchmark is praise, and surely, the Modern D isn’t a god, so as with all things mortal, it must not be without flaws….

The first flaw is that it is sampled! 😆

That being said, it doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a sample every once in a while, in the same way we sometimes play dress-up, put on a wig, some old rags, and go out-and-about looking like Napoleon; yes, that can be fun (despite), and I sometimes indulge in it in the same way I indulge in samples, but the one thing I demand is some dressing (modeled resonances) atop the samples; that’s the one thing VI-Labs proudly decided to sample instead of model. Yes, they are proud about the lack of modeled resonances, and this is odd to say the least.

Pete14 it’s odd to you, but not to me. And I have to say, your sentence “The first flaw is that it is sampled!” Though you meant it for fun, really speaks your heart out so well.

HZPiano thanks for this, HZ! Yes, I find this interaction with resonances to be very difficult. The main problem is trying to find a condition that is consistent and able to be reproduced. So far, I haven’t had success in searching for such behavior that is consistent, and continues to have bugs. The bugs seemed to come out out of very unpredictable situations. Once I find something that can be repeated, I will then submit to VI Labs. So we’ll see.

Also, the UVI engine has its limitations. Its polyphony management is a problem, imo. But the engine isn’t developed by VI Labs. They just use an engine that’s developed by a different company. They are a very small team of people, so can’t possibly write their own playback engine. I’m sure that if they do come up with their own engine one day, there would be less conditions to abide by, and more easier to consider what files to continue streaming while others stop abruptly, etc. That’s just a thought.

David Lai

imagine hating something because of its best qualities, the best part about modern u and modern d is the fact that they're 100% sampled based, but our resident troll loves artificial sound so he prefers the ptq😂

btw i finally did it, finally pressed the ignore button on this clown so that i can talk to real people about what i love not to fake chatbots about what i hate😄

another demo , MODERN D with PTQ SR Resonance :

it's an improvisation :

improvisation-modern-d-with-pianoteq-resonances-sidechained.wav

Regards,

Olivier F.

well here's the real question

now that we have modern d
do you think the good old modern u still worth it?

i personally think it is, it has a different character, very different, for a producer it can be a great alternative to the modern d, especially when you wanna make a mellow music of course a deeply sampled steinway can be excellent, but having a small upright sound can be the weapon of choice there.

but that's how i feel about it, what do you guys think?

David Lai Finally had a chance to listen to all of your sound demos on the VI Labs site - outstanding playing as always. Congratulations.

Quick question - do you happen to remember exactly what settings (Mics, reverb, tone knobs, etc.) you used for the Mozart sonata K. 333?

That particular mix sounds practically ideal to me - it's so present and real. I don't think I would ever have suspected it was recorded on a virtual piano if I hadn't known.

David Lai Actually, nevermind - I just realized the settings are visible on the Youtube video. I will have to try these out this evening.

OlivierW Very nicely done! However, I find the resonances on PTQ rather noisy, it sometimes covers the tone of the Steinway D in question. This particularly is a problem in the mid to lower regions of the keyboard. If you're going to use the resonances of PTQ, make sure to turn off the resonances on Modern D, including pedal and sympathetic resonances.

jdg78 I was going to send you my preset! Oh well, glad they put the settings up on Youtube. They did ask for that as well. It's basically a custom version of "Complete Classical," with 2 mics and no EQ.

HZPiano in your Chopin demo, there are some busy passages in which at a few moments there also are some very abrupt endings to the sound which to me sound odd (and unpleasant).

I also noticed it yesterday but thought it was due to no reverb. I haven’t noticed it when playing. Wondering if it depends on particular setting or mics. If it can always be reproduced through a particular MIDI file, then VI labs should research it. They contacted me today to request more info regarding the half-pedaling issue I discovered and I sent them everything, so they seem interested in ironing out those issues, it’s an initial release and bugs are not unexpected. I have also reported a bug in Garritan CFX Lite on the day it was released and it was fixed quickly.

CyberGene Good point. And wow, they are hard at work, even after product release!!!

Now, I find when half pedal is on is when resonance streaming can be crazy. And that's their only issue. And the problem with me is, I can't find a repeatable process so they could even do it by hand.

CyberGene Inspired by you, I reported the sympathetic resonance stops ringing bug to them just now. Thanks!

Heard from them very quickly. In short, they removed this feature for now because of increased CPU usage when sympathetic resonance is generated. On Modern U, you can do this and the resonance is still ringing when pedal is off. But they're afraid that if they kept this feature, users will complain about clicks and pops because of CPU usage.

Right now they decided to remove this feature (sympathetic resonances are not sounding when sustain pedal is down), but they increased the polyphony for the sustain pedal during full and max. They might re-introduce it in the future, but have to progress with care. It's also partly due to engine limitations, so a middle ground has to be taken.

Hope this explanation makes sense.

David Lai
i don't get it, they removed the sympathetic resonance feature? or the sustain resonance?

I'm sorry but I'm a little confused

pianow they didn’t entirely remove sympathetic resonemce. They just won’t sound when the sustain pedal is pressed, unlike on modern u.