My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

Now that I'm home from work I was able to download the Modern D and have been playing around with it for about an hour. My first impression is that they've really knocked it out of the park, and it's pretty much exactly what I was hoping it would be.

First and foremost, the playability is fantastic. No surprise here, given the excellence of the Modern U, but I'm glad it lives up to expectations. My own personal acid test for any VST is how it responds to soft, pianissimo playing - if it picks up all the nuances and gradations and still remains expressive within a narrow dynamic range. This one passes with flying colors and really feels alive to the touch at all dynamic levels. And the una corda samples are absolutely gorgeous - the best I've heard from any VST.

The piano itself has an almost perfect middle-of-the-road tone - not overly hard or steely as the VSL D-274 has a tendency towards, but also not as soft-edged and lacking in bite as the Ivory 3 German D can be. The tone changes appropriately to the touch, and I think a lot of people are going to be very happy with this sound profile.

The recording is very clear and detailed, if not quite as deep or polished as VSL (though to be fair, that is an extremely high bar to clear). If I could make one critique it would be that the raw base recording sounds just the slightest bit boxy and constrained to me, though it may be that I just need to play around more with the microphone blend and reverb settings as I've really only scratched the surface here. But it certainly sounds and feels extremely real - like being in a small studio with an actual piano in front of you.

Anyway, I'm sure it will take some time to find my ideal sound settings and velocity curve, etc, but on first encounter I think this is going to be a real winner.

jdg78 Your review matches my feelings very much!!! I suggest you try different mics. The close and side mics combined would give you some rich bass plus great clarity.

jdg78 The tone changes appropriately to the touch

that part i think is because of human sampling, there wasn't any robots or native midi systems involved, it's a human hand that in my opinion is the best way to sample any kind of virtual instrument, with vsl steinway the hardest and the softest parts are way above and below what a human can reach when playing a real piano, but it still rendered in 0-127 velocity, means that when you play mf it sounds like f (forte💀)
and when you play mp it sounds like p, worse when you reach the edges like fff or ppp, it sounds unrealistically loud or quiet.
and that's because the extended velocities that aren't realistic at all, but with modern u, it's all human. so the entire dynamic range is usable and realistic.

pianow Yeah, and interestingly, all other instruments VSL sampled with people playing them, except pianos…

jdg78 if not quite as deep or polished as VSL (though to be fair, that is an extremely high bar to clear). If I could make one critique it would be that the base recording sounds just the slightest bit boxy and constrained to me

actually the amount of unnecessary samples that vsl have, and the super processed samples (especially with their steinway) made it unusable for me.

in my opinion, "enough" is far better then "a lot". especially when you get enough of every aspect instead of a lot of one area.

about that boxy bass, i think it has something to do with the 9foot concert grand being recorded in a studio (instead of a large hall)
although you're right, other mic positions are potentially capable of solving that problem.

David Lai
imagine they create a robot that can move a bow🥴😂

jdg78 but also not as soft-edged and lacking in bite as the Ivory 3 German D can be

interesting, in the demos i find the ivory 3 to be quite hard sounding, it almost felt like the steinway version of the vsl cfx (bright and loud but not as ringy as the vsl d274)

but maybe playing it is different.

looks like the repeat (user) from the vi control is finally impressed with a virtual piano, and if you read some of his/her comments about most modern vst pianos you'd know that it's quite unusual, this guy look at vsts quite technically so his opinions are very valuable to me.

David Lai a link

damn, it sounds wonderful, kinda like (not sampled but a) recorded piano, easily the most convincing piano vst on the market.

bro @David Lai are you Asian? i mean you look like an Asian boy, it's nice to actually see you🤍 the demos were wonderful well done

pianow are you Asian?

Yes, I'm Chinese.

David Lai

well, it's good to know because I'm from iran and it's nice to see other people from Asia in here🤍 nice to meet you sir, you're an outstanding olayer

pianow Thank you! I hope there can be relative peace where you are so you can enjoy great piano VSTs like the Modern D. 🙂

David Lai

oh i enjoyed the hell outt of every single one actually🤍

pianow Good to know! 🙂

David Lai I suggest you try different mics. The close and side mics combined would give you some rich bass plus great clarity.

Okay, I take back what I said about the slight boxiness to the sound. After playing around some more, the flexibility that you can create in the sound is quite amazing. I hadn't realized initially that there are actually 5 microphone positions (Hammers, Close, Player, Side, and Room), and you can achieve a really clear, natural sound depending on which combo you choose. Also the tone and timbre knobs can alter the tone quite drastically while still sounding believably real. It's rather like Noire in this respect.

I also have to say that the factory presets are very well executed and really show off the range of what it's capable of sound-wise.

jdg78 that’s why I said that this VST is my desert island piano VST. I feel like I have all that I need with this library.

pianow interesting, in the demos i find the ivory 3 to be quite hard sounding, it almost felt like the steinway version of the vsl cfx (bright and loud but not as ringy as the vsl d274)

but maybe playing it is different.

Actually, Ivory 3 is pretty flexible tone-wise so you can make it sound more or less hard depending on the settings. But by default, its basic tone isn't nearly as hard and bright as the VSL Steinway.

In any case, after comparing them back-to-back, I think the Modern D is actually a lot closer to Ivory 3 tone-wise. But the Modern D doesn't have that slight synthetic twang that you can sometimes detect in the Ivory 3, and its tone seems a touch more focused to me. Though Ivory 3 feels a touch smoother and more even overall.

Both of them are really excellent though.

jdg78

their mic selection is excellent
they're more focused on the piano itself rather than the room reflections and reverberations,
i can see myself using every single mic they have, the room mics are very user friendly when there's only a single one of them around😂 (looking at you vsl, 5 different room mics plus a room mix?)

jdg78

i don't think that I'd purchase the ivory, at least not while something outstanding like the modern d is around

but still thank you for giving me some information about it

David Lai

something that is equally playable and good sounding
with every single necessary feature.
i think most people can see this lib as their one final pvi purchase (including me)

the desert island is an interesting way to address it, i remember you said it in my "top 5" thread, you were talking to the hz, he said that he only has a single vi that he loves and that's modern u
you said something like: I'm happy to see you've find your desert island vst im still searching for mine

the question is, were you testing the modern d when you said that? hmmm??? liar?😂