My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

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.

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

Sure, that’s “alright,” so long as it isn’t “The Magnificent D;” where I had the audacity to humbly question its magnificence and was all but crucified; heck, I was kicked out, “alright,” of this here thread because I wondered: “could it be that it might need/use some help in the resonance department?”

But of course, I’m not saying there’s a double standard, alright!

Pete14

if they kicked you out, why are you still here then? David just didn't want you to trash the party (like he said)
and for most people the important thing about vilabs and of course their modern d is the fact that it's completely sample based, and they don't wanna ruin that with using a modeled resonance,
r v clear?

MacMacMac It's been years since I felt any need to buy a new piano library

out of curiosity😄
what's the last piano vi you bought? and when did you buy it?

i think you'd appreciate this new modern d (i need to wait a little bit unfortunately 😑)

CyberGene Well, you can always achieve that reverb-like cathedraly sound with the reverb engine on the interface. To me, that sounds just like room mics in a large hall. I made a couple of demos where I put Modern D in such spaces. They even have a "complete classical" preset with the extra reverb, and I'm grateful they included it. Don't lose hope, a distant pair of room mics plus a reverb and you can get what you're looking for from this library!

Pete14 it might need/use some help in the resonance department?”

To some people, yes. But IMHO (there, satisfied?), no. Because they've captured the flowing,-like feel of resonances through sampling the real thing. I don't know how they do it without the attack, but they surely provide me with a great emulation, and that's what I'm looking for -- the representation of the acoustic D. Unlike sampled resonances, modeled ones sound dead, just a wall of sound. So, it doesn't need help, IMHO, and I agree with VI Labs, the developer.

Anyone else noticed the higher you play the more dead the piano sounds? the notes decay so fast, maybe it's a problem with my setup, or a problem with the sampled piano, I'm hoping it's just a bug, the lower registers and from middle C upwards to around A all sing, from B upwards and all the way up, so much decay. 😒

SH4DOW No, the sustain is long enough, and typical of Steinway pianos. The higher you go, the shorter the sustain is, and when you reach the undamped strings, the sustain is even shorter. That's how acoustic pianos work.

It really feels like the hammer is coming down on the string and muting it too soon, happens when I hold the key down with and without the damper 🤷

I've tried a lot of VSTs the behaviour is not normal compared to those. I haven't played an acoustic grand so I cannot directly compare to that.

The notes disappear so fast with the damper pedal down. 😒 😓

SH4DOW The notes disappear so fast with the damper pedal down.

Maybe that's your setup, but the notes, along with the resonances, actually sustain longer and fade out slowly. The bigger the concert grand (in this case, being a 9-foot Steinway), the more this effect is pronounced. As a person who's played acoustic concert grands before and majoring in piano, I can tell you that the Modern D behaves just like an acoustic piano.