My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

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. 🙂

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

a "thicker" bottom end💀🍑

Argyris 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. 🙂

wow generous offer😄 i would like to know if we can get close to the grandeur with the modern d
the grandeur is simply my sound Ideal piano, if there's a way to shape the modern d to sound close to the grandeur that'll be it❤️

anyway i would probably buy this anyway, it's not like I'm willing to miss the opportunity to play the finest piano vi on the market

David Lai
of course and that's how I'm planing to use it, sustain resonances at +6db🔥

idk why but i love it when the sound gets drowned in resonances

David B oh, thank you so much.

HZPiano Thank you so much! Anyway, I’m using a translator to help me out. Still, this is a good chance to improve my writing. That is, if I don’t end up spending the whole day playing Modern D… Yesterday I tried the player mics and hammers, and turned up the tone a bit. Before I knew it, two hours had passed, just improvising.

pianow Yeah, for sure some VST pianos sound better in certain contexts… I really like the sound of the Steinway from Pianoverse, but the playability leaves a lot to be desired, at least in my opinion.

What I love most about the Modern D is that by adjusting the microphones and other parameters, it becomes a super versatile instrument. Today I rehearsed with a rock band, and I used only the hammers and a bit of EQ… and it sounded amazing, my bandmates even commented on it. Then, with the slightly modified “Complete Classical” preset, I played some Chopin and once again got totally lost in the experience.

As for the resonance, I almost always end up maxing it out… not sure if it’s the most realistic, but it behaves more like pianos like the Garritan CFX, for example.

rodrigopv

great, what i don't wanna do now is to buy something that's gonna be another dust gather in a month or so...
not because 200$ is too much for a good vst, but because I'm tired of collecting virtual pianos for no reason
it just makes the next buy harder and harder (in fact that's the reason it's difficult for me to buy modern d now, because i spend a significant amount of money on a lot of pianos that I'm not even looking at anymore, like... i didn't know i have the walker steinway in my collection but i do💀)

i wish they'd allow people to demo their pianos, that'll be a lot easier

pianow i wish they'd allow people to demo their pianos, that'll be a lot easier

Finally, you’re making some sense!

To buy a VST because someone else makes it sound great is a risky proposition, and having the ability to try-before-you-buy is a must….IMHO!

Pete14
i always had this opinion bro nothing's changed
yea i don't wanna buy it cause someone else's having fun with it.
and if i didn't think so i would have bought it on its release day,
and one more thing, i think nobody made it sound so great yet (at least for my taste)

and that's why a demo license is a must, i should see if i can shape it into what i like, and that's why i didn't buy most of the Synchrons cause most of them couldn't sound even close to what i wanted them to

pianow I completely understand you, I’m honestly in a similar situation… after buying Ivory III and being disappointed, I decided not to buy any more pianos—after all, Ravenscroft was giving me what I needed. However, knowing ViLabs’ reputation, plus David’s demos, my willpower caved.

That said, I totally agree that it would be great if more companies let you try their products before buying, like VSL does… in my particular case, it’s not just about whether I like the sound, but also because, being blind, I use a screen reader and not all software is accessible. Too many times I’ve spent money on plugins that I can’t use without help.

Anyway, and to make your life more difficult, the Modern D is really versatile, and with patience, it could definitely be adapted to fit your needs.

Oh, and by the way, I also have the Walker… such a great sound, but I just can’t connect with it… in my opinion, it responds really poorly.

Cheers!