My Desert Island Piano VST - VI Labs Modern D

finally bought it from @CyberGene for a great price last night, he's a friendly and professional seller and i highly recommend him🤍 🙂

so far it's been a good experience, the sound is nothing especial, a typical steinway d (i think the technology is at the point where we shouldn't really be that excited about the samples accuracy)

the playability is very good, fast and dynamic and there's something about it that reminds me of pianoteq, it makes me wanna play softer, i think it's because of it's excellent recording quality, most sampled pianos get thin and lifeless in the lower dynamic levels, but this one sounds rounded and alive with all the necessary punch and body, it's beautiful, and when you want to get it Loud, hell it gets very loud, I've read some comments about it being unable to go super loud on vi control forum, i kinda know what they mean now but they said it very wrong, this piano is voiced to be a studio piano, better for jazz, country, pop and such genres, it's not a classically voiced pinao, means it's not gets bright the moment you pass mezzo piano, but it's capable of loudness and sharpness while being incredibly realistic, i think the more classically voiced ny model d on the market is the ivory American d,

let's talk about una Corda, i never had a better experience fr, even on acoustics, most pianos don't have a very well regulated u.c, so they sound softer (a bit), the una corda on modern d sounds like a different piano, it adds a lot of character and depth so it's absolutely impossible to recreate with the typical software Una corda stuff (eq, velocity edit and sample shifting)

before i forget, i find some of the notes to be a little off, some of them don't get as bright and punchy as their neighbourings when you play fff, not a deal breaker at all, but worth pointing out imo,

the mics… they're excellent, very effective and different, i loved the player, side, and hammers

all three sounded so warm and lovely, the room is something I'd use if i want to put the piano behind other instruments in the arrangement, and the close u87s sound a little too nasal for my taste, especially in the lower midrange of the piano (the keys, not frequencies)

and one more thing, it sounds so close to my all time favourite steinway vst - ni grandeur

anyway, a 9.3/10 product, thanks to my dear friends @CyberGene for the great deal, and @David Lai for advertising this incredible instrument 🤍

pianow

A very nice and useful report, thank you!

Cheers,

HZ

David Lai 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. 🙂

After a while of testing Modern D and some others I've noticed that Modern D works with Windows audio better than most others, that tend to crackle without ASIO4all. As if it had sth like ASIO4all built in? The achievable reported latency around 3 ms feels okay for me, while the default 10 ms isn't.

So I'd say that add-on ASIO like ASIO4all does make a difference (if a proper ASIO driver is not available) with other VSTs that handle winodows audio "averagely".

I found another factory ASIO driver for the built-in Realtek card which is supposed to be a "proper" ASIO driver (came with a Realtek driver for some Dell model) which kind-of works but it appears that changing the latency isn't effective, so ASIO4all is better.

I hear M$ is planning native ASIO support in Windows, for the start on ARM (!?)…

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/windows-music-dev/making-music-on-windows/

Just found out there is a generic Steinberg ASIO driver for devices that don't have their own for Windows (since Dec 2024) but I haven't tested it yet, not sure if better than ASIO4all

https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/17863730844946-Steinberg-built-in-ASIO-Driver-information-download

pianow

Fully agree with your report of Modern-D!

the other things I've noticed (comparing it to other model Ds on the market) is that it sounds so close and in your face, and as a result, all the characteristics are more noticeable, it's more rounded then any other sampled steinway, but also, more nasal, more dynamic (honestly.. the triple fortissimos make me jump scare on studio monitors, and some triple pianissimos aren't even easily audible, that's what i call a healthy dynamic range)

in comparison:

the vsl steinway d sounds far away and empty (only close mics) and most mezzo piano, piano and triple pianos are super thin and bodyless, however it sounds like a more mature piano, and i think if it was recorded with the same techniques as modern d, it would have sounded better maybe. although not with its current voicing - cold and metallic.

native instruments grandeur, well this one's quite similar, except it doesn't have that super fancy dynamic range and also lacks a great deal in the higher dynamics (remember, only in this comparison, otherwise the grandeur is one of the best pianos when it comes to dynamic reach)

pianoteq nyd, it sounds close although when compared back to back, the unrealistic and synthy nature of the pianoteq gets super annoying (and I'm not one of those sensitive people who can't deal with that, sometimes i can even play pianoteq for a few hours without hearing that {a better word: without get distracted by it})

i think it's because of how well modern d was captured back in the vilabs studio, it's very accurate and alive and even though it's nasal, as i mentioned earlier, its nasal quality is nothing compared to ptq model d.

anyway, i tried using the same mic position in all three mic slots, with some of them (for example the u87) it gets NASTY, edgy and uncomfortable, with others it sounds excellent, for example the player mics sound so POP and bright (in a beautiful way- kinda CFXish😅) and i simply can't stop playing modern pop chords, with the side×3 it sounds like a calm ocean, for romantic stuff, YEA.

I'm not yet very comfortable with its "in your face" quality, it's new to me in the virtual piano realm, but that very quality makes if much easier fo drop within an arrangement without excessive eqing and such, it melts down and fill the wholes of a mix like butter on bread. this is the best thing i can say about any kind of virtual instrument, it's EASY to make MUSIC with😇

in my opinion the only competition this piano has is garittan cfx.

pianow the triple fortissimos make me jump scare on studio monitors

😋

https://youtu.be/axXrs55X9kE?si=pvNBSv3wuZETal4F

pianow that's what i call a healthy dynamic range

pianow Increasing the Tone dial makes the instrument more thin, a bit more Hamburg D.

HZPiano that footage was wild💀 but accurate

HZPiano Hahaha, overdrive!!! 🙂

pianow Wow, you finally made it!!! I'm very happy for you! I knew you'd like it.

David Lai

yup, thanks to you for advertising and demonstrating it first, it's a very well made product, everything about it is pretty good.🤍

David B P.S. Don't feel too bad Pete. You have a good personality and girls are always looking for more friends to talk to. 😉

for a moment i thought you're going to show him a little sympathy and friendship after the first beating💀

this modern d thread by David lie is a treasure😂

I never am the kind of person to create viral threads, but probably this has been one since last October.

David Lai Hi David, Any recent updates from VI Labs on the sympathetic resonance / pedal down issue? It’s actually preventing me from using Modern D for new repertoire I’m working on (Berg 4 Pieces for Clarinet and Piano Op. 5).

Mike

Dear Mike,

Please be advised that Mr. David Lai does “not” work for VI Labs; therefore, he would not be privy to the information you requested.

Yours truly,

Pete XIV

MikeR Dear Mike,

Pete is right, I don't work for VI Labs. And unfortunately, I haven't from my contact there, either, regarding if there's a new update they're working on. I surely hope they can reply to my messages soon!

Thanks,

David

David Lai Hi David,

Thanks, much appreciated. I was aware you don’t work for them. Just hoping you had heard something. My fingers are crossed for an update.

Best,

Mike

i don't get it guys

you know there will be an update but you don't know when they're gonna release it? or you're just guessing there's an update?

pianow Pages ago, I believe Jane had shared that they were working on an update, if memory serves.

_sem_ After a while of testing Modern D and some others I've noticed that Modern D works with Windows audio better than most others, that tend to crackle without ASIO4all. As if it had sth like ASIO4all built in? The achievable reported latency around 3 ms feels okay for me, while the default 10 ms isn't.

So I'd say that add-on ASIO like ASIO4all does make a difference (if a proper ASIO driver is not available) with other VSTs that handle winodows audio "averagely".

I found another factory ASIO driver for the built-in Realtek card which is supposed to be a "proper" ASIO driver (came with a Realtek driver for some Dell model) which kind-of works but it appears that changing the latency isn't effective, so ASIO4all is better.

Just found out there is a generic Steinberg ASIO driver for devices that don't have their own for Windows (since Dec 2024) but I haven't tested it yet, not sure if better than ASIO4all

I've checked the latency unscientifically with the modern D (and some others) and the Dell-built-in Realtek soundcard on one ear and the built-in Roland engine on the other.

With ASIO4all and 3ms buffer I don't notice any latency, 10ms slight.

With Windows audio and 3ms buffer slight, 10ms more noticeable. Exclusive and low-latency modes more noticeable.

Steinberg ASIO also has more noticeable latency, buffer not adjustable.