My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

Although I don't really need it (worklife has been so hectic that I barely practiced in the last 6 months and I continue to play piano worse than I play doorbells), GAS hit me and I bought Modern D yesterday thinking that it may help me in not letting dust accumulate on the keys (GAS excuses are the lamest…).

The tone is nice, but to my untrained ears the mics all sound very similar, while in VSL the mic selection make an immediate difference. I had the same feeling with the Modern U… The room mic is very dry, and I much prefer a room mic to any reverb, so I miss a distant mic that I can use at 10-20% to add space to the sound. Overall, it is more "in the room" than the VSL pianos, and it will probably become my main practice VST, because I feel it is less forgiving than the VSL pianos. My unrefined touch is much more obvious than in the VSL CFX, for example. Then, after playing for a few minutes, I launched Garritan CFX just to compare and after 2 notes I switched Garritan off because I could not stand the sensation of playing in a cathedral.

Although I now use a M1 macmini (baseline model that is enough for me), I also installed Modern D in my old windows i5 laptop (2015 maybe???) just to check its performance, and with 3 mics and max symp resonance (no custom EQ or reverb), I had no glitches (audiobox GO interface at 32 samples).

A final question to UVI / VILabs experts: is there a way to delay one of the mics by a few msecs? In the VSL engine, the room mics come with a standard large delay that highlights the roominess of the mic and acts as a reverb, but that delay can be adjusted in the GUI; when set to zero or only a few msecs, it adds body and early reflections to the tone without too much of a reverb/echo effect. Is this possible on the VILabs pianos? I would like to try adding a 4-8 msecs to the side mic (I know I can do that by setting separate mics to separate DAW tracks and adding the delay in the mix… Simply asking if there a direct way to do that within the standalone UVI-VILabs).

vagfilm Although I now use a M1 macmini (baseline model that is enough for me), I also installed Modern D in my old windows i5 laptop (2015 maybe???) just to check its performance, and with 3 mics and max symp resonance (no custom EQ or reverb), I had no glitches (audiobox GO interface at 32 samples).

That's really good to hear! Looks like they've taken care of the CPU load quite well.

I'm not sure about delays on mics, though. I just slap on a cathedral reverb, mix the room mic high like on the complete classical preset and go from there.

I have to say I am truly amazed. It has a lot of advantage over VSL, first of all is it doesn't sound like on an empty stadium and costs 50% less. And it sounds good our of the box.

Funny thing is that this is American D, but sounds much darker than Ivory III lol.

It's a clear winner for me, and first ever VST that listened to for one hour without a deep though, that I would have a buyers remorse over my internal Kawai sound.

Yes, VSL Bosendorfer 280vc is great, but just not my sound character, Fazioli the same. Ivory Iii Is too bright.

This just feels like being perfectly I home. I think I will get.myself a Christmas gift from VI Labs or will wait for some black Friday or so promo.

Yes in a moments it sounds a bit too dry with too much artificial revers, but this is rather like looking especially for any fault than there really is. But most probably with correct tweaking I could get proper reverb 🙂

I care about sound character and playing experience the most, and that piano is just not giving me any questions like why should I buy or how much I have to change it.

Garrison CFX is great too, but is too heavy and bold for my taste.

Khuja Wangtishvili I've used both Garritan and VI Labs Pianos, and I have to agree with your thoughts. Regarding Modern D, it's one piano VST that I can listen to without ear fatigue, and each practice for me feels like playing an actual acoustic piano. I have to really phrase. It's quite an unforgiving VST.

#1674

https://youtu.be/NpNMjjHzwck

OlivierW Bravo!!! And with actual orchestra. Very nicely done!!!

David Lai Thanks ! and this piano , this Steinway D is so nice…. magical…. new area of virtual Piano. Hope they will fix SR soon between pedal down and up as an option (if they are afraid about CPU usage). 🙂

I've made a new video, because first notes are missing… bug 🇦

new 🇦

https://youtu.be/N1_0Fr9pg5E?feature=shared

David Lai I've used both Garritan and VI Labs Pianos, and I have to agree with your thoughts. Regarding Modern D, it's one piano VST that I can listen to without ear fatigue, and each practice for me feels like playing an actual acoustic piano. I have to really phrase. It's quite an unforgiving VST.

That's actually good that it's unforgiving 🙂

BTW, I fully agree with you on Pianoteq. As long as they will not change the fundamentals (I.e. modeling method), I don't think that this will sound any different.

Indeed they are all Pianoteqs, no matter which piano one will choose.

You guys are killing me!

It's been years since I felt any need to buy a new piano library …
… and now comes the super spectacular, colossus, stupendous VI Labs Modern D.

Can the Mac resist?

Must control the fist of GAS!

How's the velocity balance between lower and higher registers in the modern D? That's my main concern with the modern U.

Very balanced and playable, with player C414 mics and others mics, without mod a lot velocity curve with my Yamaha N1X.

Right out the box, but i advise you to use at least C414 player mic.

(The default mic alone is not the best)

My presets

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/2cz7yl7o0ncuoxshy92fu/ACD6_GuCnEoHGIFn-78a6EM?rlkey=xg0un0scjy937rbnq6a63mum3&st=rabq2ztn&dl=0

Any MP11SE curves?

OlivierW

If I may,

How does it sound through the N1X on-board speakers; which I believe are “multi-channel”?

Another Mozart Demo with not much reverb to show the warm and soul of this Steinway D :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIQL024qGqs

Pete14 very good

vagfilm I launched Garritan CFX just to compare and after 2 notes I switched Garritan off because I could not stand the sensation of playing in a cathedral.

🤣

Another reminder why we are all so different. That is the reason why I still love Garritan CFX and what's the only missing thing for me in the Modern D: a really distant mics with nice and deep reverb. There's only room mics in the Modern D and I'd prefer slightly more "cathedraly" mics. Like Garritan CFX 😀

BTW, your inquiry about the delay got me into thinking, I never realized such a thing can exist or be important. But here's the thing I don't like about so many VSL demos and personal recordings of people: the ambiance always sound like there's a delay, a weird feeling of repeated sound that muddies up the actual piano sound. Only Garritan CFX sounds good in that regard with no sense of delay and I'm wondering if it's because the sound from the distant mics was somehow compensated for the delay of the distant mics. Or maybe it's the opposite: the natural delay was preserved and is what makes it sound so real? Yeah, probably not your thing but I love it! 😀

Okay guys, calm down!

Let’s not get into a Garritan vs. Modern fight, for I’m sure Vagfilm has a valid reason for his dislike of cathedrals.

Let us not jump to conclusions and assume that he’s a vampire (they hate cathedrals) who prefers dry, dark, and shady dwellings. Surely, it could be that he was forced into the cathedral every single Sunday of his childhood, whence all he wanted to do was stay home and watch cartoons…..”damn that cathedral, I want to watch Tom & Jerry!

CyberGene Another reminder why we are all so different

yes, what i call intimate and close someone else might call it clinical and isolated, and that's alright 🤍

CyberGene the ambiance always sound like there's a delay, a weird feeling of repeated sound that muddies up the actual piano sound.

the thing with vsl is that they're very flexible, I'm sure that someone can copy the sound of the garittan with one of the Synchrons if he/she wants

but still the price isn't reasonable, 600$ for a single piano is just nuts especially when it lacks some really important features like una corda and resonances (those become deal breakers for me)

about the modern d, i think most people can use convolution reverbs with it and get great results, personally i always recommend the fab filter pro r, it's excellent but the reverbs in the modern d itself are nice as well

CyberGene the only missing thing for me in the Modern D: a really distant mics with nice and deep reverb

+1. Although I would not use it daily, having a large hall mic is a plus. But you cannot record from afar in a small room…

About the delay, I don't remember the exact values (I'm not at home so cannot check, but maybe someone can correct me if I am mistaken) but in many presets the distant mics (maybe even the decca tree) have something like 20msecs delay which is almost an echo. If you reduce that to 4-6 msec in the GUI you have garritan ambience without echo.