My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

David Lai
of course, i was thinking about the sound of these instruments actually
how the grandeur and maverick compare to the modern d sound wise?

i know about the feature set

btw the grandeur was my first piano that has sampled resonances, i used to adore this thing, i still love it of course but it was a romantic relationship back in the day
it sounds GOOD
and one of the reasons i love vsl imperial is that it has a similar tone and the recording techniques are very close in my opinion
but what about the MD
how close is it?

pianow Well, I'm a bit limited in time, but I'll let a blind comparison help me speak.

Someone on VI Control posted the following demo. They tried matching the response curves between the 7 libraries. They recorded a midi and copied it 7 times and pasted with different piano VIs. Have fun listening

vst-steinway-comparisons.mp3

Featured libraries:

Ivory II American D

Session Keys Grand S

NI The Grandeur

VI Labs True Keys American

Pianoteq 8 NY Steinway D

IK-M Pianoverse NY Grand S274

Cinesamples Piano in Blue

The tone similarities are ordered. Happy listening!

Note, this was posted by someone else, not my playing.

David Lai

thank davy, i saw this on the VIC forum but idk why i don't have access to the website
i never had actually

pianow OK, just a moment. I'm making a "blind listen review" file. I'll post it here shortly.

OK, Microsoft Jenny will announce every time the pianos change. Have fun

vst-steinway-comparisons-guided.mp3

David Lai

wow that was excellent, thanks buddy
it's amazing how most of them have that steinway sound to them
it's truly hard to pick one over the others
i enjoyed most of them

pianow it's truly hard to pick one over the others

With sound, sometimes it is hard to pick. But when you put feature set into consideration, the decision wouldn't be too difficult to make.

David Lai

session keys grand ass💀💀💀

pianow LOL, she said S, not ASS! 🙂 It's a speech synthesizer problem. The S followed the grand very closely, that's why. 🙂

David Lai
i know I'm just making fun out of things😂
but if a company would name there piano grand ass, i would buy it immediately

the top end of the modern d is very in your face and forward i like it, actually the whole range of the piano is quite forward but i know very few virtual pianos with such high quality top end

pianow Haha, thanks for making me laugh in the process! Anyway I hope this "cheat sheet" version is helpful for you to compare the sounds directly.

David Lai
you're very welcome dear davy
and yea... the back to back demos were incredibly helpful but the moment i heard that GRAND ASS i couldn't hear a thing anymore😂
jokes aside i love the MD.

pianow Haha, I'm glad I can help. She is one of the voices on my laptop.

btw I'm waiting for the Simeon amburgy review (play through actually)
i think he'll release it tonight (or going live?)
anyway he plays everything for over an hour so i can get everything i want

David Lai
thanks buddy🤍

Hey everyone,

I’m new here and to forums in general. Even though I usually check them out to read reviews of Sample Libraries, I’m not much of a writer… partly because English is a bit hard for me. But after reading this thread, I couldn’t resist joining in and sharing the amazing experience I’ve had with the Modern D these past few days. Before, the piano I used the most was the Ravenscroft, especially for gigs… but the Modern D definitely performs way, way better.

A couple of years ago, I decided not to buy any more piano libraries after trying out VSL, Synthogy, ViLabs, and so many others… and like I said before, Ravenscroft used to be my go-to piano. Not so much for the sound, but because with a good velocity curve, it responds really well. Now, the first time I loaded up the Modern D, I was blown away. The playability is even better than Ravenscroft, and it’s the best Steinway sound I’ve heard in a sample library.

By the way, I’m using it with a Roland RD-88 and the Light Touch 2 curve. For me, it works better than the Light Touch 1 that everyone recommends for this action… probably because during my conservatory years, I played on Yamaha pianos, which were usually really bright.

Anyway, huge congrats to ViLabs for this fantastic piano. And shout out to David for the amazing demos. I think the Mozart sonata and Debussy prelude were what convinced me to buy it. Really great performances.

Sorry for the long post.

Cheers!

rodrigopv Sorry for the long post.

No need to be sorry. I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing your experience and welcome to the forum.

God Bless,
David

pianow I expect the Grand Ass piano might have a fuller bottom end, though… 😆

Seriously, I've been lurking a few days here, following the discussion. I bought Modern D within a day of its release. The hour long demonstration video broke me down.

I have a pretty sizable collection of virtual pianos, including some of the usual suspects mentioned throughout the thread (e.g. Garritan CFX, the Grandeur, American Concert D), as well as the Embertone Walker, which I don't recall seeing mentioned yet. I also have Vintage D, as well as the Meldway grand, which is kind of an obscure one.

So far, I feel like Modern D is the best VI I've used to date, and that it's a pretty sizeable leap over most of my collection. The mic positions are all useful (the hammers are my favorite), the tone is right in the sweet spot for me for a Steinway D, the sampling is pristine and even without sounding sterile and disembodied, the playability reminds me of the CFX and Ravenscroft, meaning it's a cut above all the other libraries I've tried; and Modern D is hands down the most versatile VI in my library. From bright and in your face aggressive through to smooth and diffuse (for classical, mainly), it does it all. It's a true chameleon.

Out of my collection, I would say Modern D is closest to, and consequently serves as a drop-in upgrade for, both the Grandeur and ACD. IMO, Modern D bests both at their respective strengths, while boasting more features and better playability than either (not to mention finally freeing me from the unfortunate re-pedalling glitch in the Grandeur).

Right now, my top three are Modern D, the CFX and the Walker, though the last one only makes the list because of its heavenly tone. It's one of the two worst in my library for playability and performance, and while I can get used to it well enough to get something recorded, the experience is rough. The finished render makes it all worth it, however.

Anyway, I'll close this post here. To everyone reading, free to ask me anything you'd like to know about my experience with Modern D, including any more detailed comparisons you might like with any of the other libraries I mentioned. 🙂

rodrigopv

Hello,

Nice post, and I didn't spot any English issues!

Cheers and well done,

HZ