My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

OlivierW I saw this yesterday. That was some great first impressions, I must say.

24 hours to decide if I buy it now or wait for the next offer 🤯 (I guess this year the Black Friday one won't be better than the intro price, it is too close, so that would mean perhaps a year or so from now to get a similar or, perhaps, slightly better deal)

My inner question is: do I really need another piano VST?. The answer is obviously NO. But… would it help me to enjoy playing more and, perhaps, get me back to practice?… I would say YES to that.

So… well, still 24h to go 😅!

Jose

Jose EB5AGV I can certainly say that Modern D has made me enjoy the playing experience a lot more, especially when knowing that the Steinway I play at school has a close cousin at home. 🙂 It's helping me to prepare my performances better. What's more, it sounds great! So If I was in your situation, I'd buy it without hesitation, considering it's a deal.

Jose EB5AGV

😄.

Let me be your sponsor in the VPA*): I didn't, and won't in the foreseeable future, buy it either.

Wishing you strength,

😋

HZ

*) Virtual Pianos Anonymous

HZPiano Wow, you are certainly holding it very well, HZ! Good for you in resisting from being tempted, driven, or whatever the word is, even by professional pianists around here. 🙂

Jane I confirm you that this behavior is caused by the fact that the Half-Pedal feature is enabled in your instrument.

So, they’re saying that you simply disable half-pedaling?

I suppose that’s an indication as to whether they’ll ever “fix” the resonances……

“Hello, VI-Labs, the top 8 keys have gone mute (no sound when I play them); is there anything you could do about that?”

“We strongly recommend you only use the remaining 80 keys; the truth is that 88 is already overkill!”

If I were Jane, I’d send it back……oh wait! 😁

Pete14 "Hello, the top keys have gone mute."

"Some pianos only have a limited playing range…." 🙂

In all seriousness, though, hope Jane can experiment with turning off the samples but keep the half pedaling featur on. Like I said, it's a rare thing, she's the first person to report this. I haven't seen this using my VPC 1.

David Lai she's the first person to report this. I haven't seen this using my VPC 1.

Also, she's using an N3. Gene is using an N1X and doesn't have the same problem with undampened resonances.

After experimenting some more, I think I've found my ideal settings sound-wise: an combination of the Player, Close, and Hammer mics at equal levels with a touch of the "Pink Concert Room" reverb set at Dry: 100 Wet: 16, and the tone knob turned to -1.0.

I prefer a dryer sound, and to me this has a good sense of closeness and presence without feeling airless or claustrophobic.

I recorded a quick Bach prelude with these settings this evening:

bach-prelude-modern-d.wav

David B You can try adjusting the continuous pedal values on the Modern D. The min/max is set at 54/74 by default. you can try adjusting that parameter either narrowing or lowering. Hopefully, you'll get it resolved.

Thanks for that, David. I can definitely improve the situation by changing those parameters. Enough so that it only occasionally bites me. But even then the unexpected sound sometimes startles me, so I'm thinking my best solution is to disable half-pedal altogether - that definitely fixes my issue. (Or I could get rid of my N3 and try to buy another controller to work better with this VST.... no, my lunacy has some boundaries...)

With my original settings (half-pedal limits at defaults), when I stopped playing something loud and got that long after BOING I tried quickly pressing the sustain pedal a couple of times to see if that would reset it... but not.

I got another useless reply from VI Labs -

Hi Jane,
THanks for your update,
It is maybe due to the fact that you are using two close mic positions in your example, or simply because the Steinway Model D has longer natural resonance in the lower register compared to the other pianos.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Best regards,
VI Labs, LLC Support team

I'm sure they're nice and are trying to be helpful... 🙄

Jane Again, Jane, it sounds like you are the only person I've heard that has this problem. Not sure how your pedal values are on your N3. But I guess, if push comes to shove, turning off half pedaling is perhaps the only way.

Thanks for letting me know that you can't turn the feature on without loading samples. I thought it can be done…

jdg78 Sounds great! It's like sitting in front of the piano, in a very realistic way. Thanks for sharing! 🙂

David Lai Jane, it sounds like you are the only person I've heard that has this problem. Not sure how your pedal values are on your N3. But I guess, if push comes to shove, turning off half pedaling is perhaps the only way.

I'm special, David!
I seem to recall a movie where Gene Wilder was at a train station and there were hundreds of people dressed just like him and he yelled, "I am UNIQUE!"
(Or maybe just my senile confabulation?)

But if I'm the only person who has this problem, I can bask in happiness for the rest of the world 🙂

Jane Haha, I love the way you put it! 🙂

Yeah, indeed your problem is a puzzler… Kept me studying for a while. Well, at least you can still enjoy the piano… or somewhat… I guess… 🙂

jdg78
that's one of the very best piano sounds I've ever heard with a virtual piano
great setting

Jane Thanks for that, David. I can definitely improve the situation by changing those parameters. Enough so that it only occasionally bites me.

If you have Ivory 3 or Pianoteq you can determine exactly where the your pedal voltage/irregularities are occurring. Ivory 3 gives this helpful graph.

The "vertical" line currently starts at midi value 54 (just like Modern D default) and 74 at the top just as it shifts into horizontal. From 0-100% represents the full 127 midi range. The little dot at the bottom represents active pedal position. If this was a video you would notice the dot moving erratically back and forth (jittery) when the pedal is not pressed. That's because my Roland DP10 pedal doesn't work well with the my Numa. Sometimes when I press and release the pedal that little dot will not immediately go all the way to the bottom horizontal line and there will be a lingering sustain trail just like you experienced. I remedy it by adjusting that "vertical" line from 54 to 64. That solves the problem for me. You can keep increasing that a first number in the Modern D until you finally reach the point where you don't get the lingering sustains anymore. Of course, increasing the second number in proportion will keep the range the same. I've got mine setup at 64-94. I'd play around with those values a little more and you might solve your problem.

God Bless,
David

jdg78 Can you try this preset on your Numa and tell me what you think? Thanks.

jdg78

A lovely performance of my favorites from WTC Bk I. I really enjoy the accompanying fugue as well. Thanks for sharing!

jdg78
it kinda reminds me of the c.bechstein digital grand which i adore, but without some of DG's flaws.
i love how intimate it is, and the tone is super balanced to my ears, not very bright and not very dull either which is a little boring (that's a positive word among producers and sound engineers 🙂 )

sidenote : i love the interface a lot, not only because it's user friendly but it actually looks so nics

Unlike Bechstein 280 in EWQL Pianos, both C. Bechstein DG and Akoustik Pianos Berlin have thin tone. Wish the next great piano vis from VILabs or hopefully Garritan or any other promising brands, will bring some thick creamier tone like PV 300 or Kawai Legend or Embertone Walker 1955.