My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

Ah, it worked now! Thanks!

porco_rosso You're welcome!

Rabih Rihana, who made a few demos for VI Labs Modern D, did a preset exploration livestream today, and if you want, you can hear / watch him in action.

porco_rosso It will take some time to load. I would also suggest you set up your midi and audio devices. If you don't have an external audio interface, you need to work with ASIO4All, which uses the native ASIO driver. Not the best, but it gets the job done.

Wow, my first impression is that the D sounds gorgeous! Really natural and warm, with an intimate character. Way better than the VSLs I tried. It also plays really good so far, but I have experiment with the MIDI and gain response curve a bit.

I succumbed too 😉 My first impression was pretty awful due to latency issues, wasted a couple of hours… I'm happy with the sound, does sound better than Pianoteq (demo). But regarding the "playability", the native FP90 sound feels better, though I'm not particularly in love with its tone. And it can't really compete in playability with my old upright (a recording would probably come out better with this Modern D than using affordable mics with the AU, but recording is not a serious objective here).

_sem_ What drivers are you using? If you're using anything Windows native, then I'm sorry, latency is expected.

Not certain what's going on with this new laptop yet. The built-in audio has ASIO but a fixed buffer 512, too much. Windows audio with the shortest buffer - the latency is reasonable and no crackling. I couldn't get the external DAC to work yet, seems to be a connector issue.

_sem_ I see. I have moved away from the Windows built-in audio for piano VSTs for many years now. Hopefully you can work it out with your laptop. My native ASIO driver doesn't work, unfortunately, so I'm forced to "outsource" my audio. 🙂

Windows systems can be hit or miss for low latency audio, regardless of drivers or external hardware. Unfortunately, there's no standardized spec you can look at prior to purchase that'll tell you whether or not a given system will be suitable.

Last year, for instance, I got a great deal on a laptop, only to have to return it because it was useless for playing VIs. Crackling at all buffer settings, regardless of what I did, even when using my audio interface and its dedicated driver. A mini PC with essentially the same CPU, memory and storage allotment as the laptop, however, has given me exemplary results, allowing me to run virtually all of my libraries* with the minimum buffer size allowed by my audio interface, with zero issues.

*The only exception is the Embertone Walker, which must just be poorly optimized because it's crackly on every system I've tried, and I've read of many other people having similar trouble. Even the official demonstration video has some crackling in places.

Argyris That's interesting. So for my next Windows computer, maybe I should think about mini PC's?

My second impression is that the piano still sounds gorgeous, but that the upper mids regions (form C5 up) is a bit soft and it requires really much (too much?) effort to make it stand out and "sing" compared to well prepped acoustic pianos, built-in digital piano samples and Pianoteq. Do you agree?

porco_rosso My second impression is that the piano still sounds gorgeous, but that the upper mids regions (form C5 up) is a bit soft and it requires really much (too much?) effort to make it stand out and "sing" compared to well prepped acoustic pianos, built-in digital piano samples and Pianoteq. Do you agree?

I agree that the upper registers are on the softer side. According to VI Labs, every hammer was voiced, so this softer more intimate sound is deliberate. At first I was a little surprised by it, but now I appreciate it as part of the overall character of the piano. I'm not sure what it would sound like in a concert hall, but I think it would be perfect for my living room. 😀

God Bless,
David

porco_rosso My second impression is that the piano still sounds gorgeous, but that the upper mids regions (form C5 up) is a bit soft and it requires really much (too much?) effort to make it stand out and "sing" compared to well prepped acoustic pianos, built-in digital piano samples and Pianoteq.

David B I agree that the upper registers are on the softer side.

This actually makes me more curious about the Modern D since I often find the treble on VI:s to be a little too forward and fatiguing, especially when used with headphones.

from how I’ve played and heard Modern D, I do feel that the lower notes are more powerful than the treble, but this response is also true on New York concert D’s. Older D’s even require me to voice the right hand a bit more than my left hand in order to get a sharper attack, if that’s the sound I was after. That said, I suggest loading an additional mic perspective, this would increase the thickness of the mid to upper notes.

VI Labs managed to capture how a contemporary New York Steinway D feels and sounds like, and I think that’s really special.

FWIW, I like pianos that have kind of weak high notes compared to the mids and bass. That's how most acoustic pianos seem to work, there's really a very short speaking length of the strings, while the hammers are rather tiny and sharpened since they have to make sure they put energy in a more concentrated way and not dampen the high-frequency vibration while still near the string, so there's no way that region can sound overpowering compared to the rest. Some digital pianos (for instance most of the Kawai-s I've played) and sampled libraries seem to be overly sensitive and piercing in the treble and I hate it. FWIW, whenever I test Pianoteq, it also has overly sensitive touch and sound in the treble region. Of course, this can be corrected but I wonder what controller and speakers they use to make their default touch curves and brightness of sound.

CyberGene Well said. I feel like generally speaking, more so on concert grands, I have to voice the right hand significantly more than you do the left.

CyberGene FWIW, I like pianos that have kind of weak high notes compared to the mids and bass. That's how most acoustic pianos seem to work, there's really a very short speaking length of the strings, while the hammers are rather tiny and sharpened since they have to make sure they put energy in a more concentrated way and not dampen the high-frequency vibration while still near the string, so there's no way that region can sound overpowering compared to the rest. Some digital pianos (for instance most of the Kawai-s I've played) and sampled libraries seem to be overy sensitive and piercing in the treble and I hate it. FWIW, whenever I test Pianoteq, it also has overly sensitive touch and sound in the treble region.

I think this differs a great deal among acoustic pianos but If there's one acoustic brand that generally have this sensitiv and high energy in the treble it would be Bechstein in my experience, especially the new ones (not in a disturbing way though).

johanibraaten And I also find smaller concert grands to be more treble forward.

Interesting! But yes - I played a Steinway D once, and also found that it wasn't so upper mid/treble foward as most acoustic pianos I played. But I think I just like it more when it's easier to make the melody "sing" on a piano.

johanibraaten I often find the treble on VI:s to be a little too forward and fatiguing

Same here! Quite often indeed.

Cheers,

HZ