My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

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

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

😄

Argyris and VI LABS support, just contact me that they will add a Sympathetic resonance option to simuilate SR between pedal down and uop transitions, in the next update.

Can't wait they fix that. I love this Piano

OlivierW

and VI LABS support, just contact me that they will add a Sympathetic resonance option to simuilate SR between pedal down and uop transitions, in the next update.

Nice one! Good to know they're taking user feedback seriously. I'll have to keep an eye out for that update. Normally by the time I get around to a VI, it's already a few years old and won't have any additional development, so I seldom think to check the support section.

My favorite ever post-release improvement I've experienced with a VI is a tie for me, between Garritan adding re-pedalling (a sorely needed feature) to the CFX, and VI Labs implementing sample compression for the Ravenscroft, which IIRC shrunk the library from around 35 GB to around 5 GB. Oh, and it's not strictly a software improvement, but they also eventually ditched the hardware iLok requirement for the Ravenscroft, which is something a lot of folks were asking for.

OlivierW You are so excited about this, more than me. 🙂 Let’s hope it goes well that they fix it.

Argyris Indeed, all 5 mic positions are useful, and provide different colors and sound. That’s how I felt as I was getting to know this plugin.

rodrigopv Welcome to the forum, and you express very well with your English! Fun fact, English is my second language as well.

I’m glad my performances were convincing, and I hope you enjoy Modern D!

David Lai it's an important fix, if you want that the Piano behave real and sound real.

rodrigopv

welcome to the forum buddy, yea it's a Incredible instrument for sure, the tone isn't 10/10 for me personally, I've heard better (for my taste OC) Ds before (both in vst and acoustic worlds) but this one is a complete package, the best in vst world, especially because the una corda samples, we have the best of both worlds (hard and bright with the regular samples and soft & mellow with the una corda)

the only technical thing that i wish it had is a bigger resonance (and that's simply impossible cause the resonances are sampled and on a fairly new instrument they can't get too big in real life so it's realistic anyway)

pianow Of course if you bump up the resonance volume, you can get some long resonances, too. 🙂