rodrigopv Not so much because of the noise issues, but because I honestly feel it sounds cold, synthetic. It has the same problems as the German D.
Yes, that's exactly my impression as well. Did the original Ivory II American D not exhibit this synthetic quality?
jdg78 I would say no, but I might not be very objective in giving my opinion. It was my favorite piano for a long time. I can say, however, that although the resonance in Ivory has always seemed a bit synthetic to me, it had never been an issue until Ivory III.
It’s unfortunate because the German D has excellent playability, and I assume the American D does as well, besides the fact that the sound of the sampled piano is delightful.
jdg78 Did the original Ivory II American D not exhibit this synthetic quality?
as someone who only heard demos of both
i can say that i never heard that little midrange digital zzz in the old ACD
but this one has it
it's not a terrible thing and it's not that obvious but still a good ear can spot the differences between this and a authentic piano like modern d or vsl stuff
HeartKeys Well, I did get to use Modern D for free, so I wonder if this is a form of compensation? I don't know, but that's the main thing I got. Same as the Modern U.
I was asked by VI Labs to make the recordings, as in they verbally asked if I wouldn't mind playing some things for them. Hope this helps.
jdg78 As someone who both owns the II and now the III, I can say that the original II ACD is more faithful to the tone of the piano used for sampling. It was one of the first New York D's I've ever played, and I loved the tone ever since.
rodrigopv Thank you for sharing! The win for Ivory is its accessibility. Every dial and slider is automated on the Reaper parameters dialogue, so when you press P, you can adjust to your heart's content.
David B Yes, David. The attacks on Ivory are not that dry compared to Modern D. So I should have added some ambience reverb. But in fairness to both, I decided to leave reverb out of it. I also adjusted the release time on Ivory to 0.6 for all the short notes, because that sounds closest to the higher and mid range short notes on the Modern D. It was very easy to adjust a good curve to match the custom one I did for the Modern D, too, so all you hear is very much on par response wise. I made sure I try to minimize the differences, so you hear the pianos for themselves.
David Lai Well, I did get to use Modern D for free, so I wonder if this is a form of compensation? I don't know, but that's the main thing I got. Same as the Modern U.
no, that happens all the time with the youtubers and such
companies give them their products for review sake
but it's not like they force people to say positive things about their products, especially these big companies
some companies even take back the item after the review thing, one of them is beyerdynamic
pianow companies give them their products for review sake
I see, thanks for explaining. I don't know how this works. So yeah, in a sense, VI Labs did lose profit from me because I didn't buy their Modern U or D.
But I wasn't instructed on what to say, or how things are presented. I'm not working for them, or any company for that matter.
David Lai You’re right, but you know, the same can be done with ViLabs pianos.
rodrigopv Yes, exactly. What Synthogy did, however, was out-of-the-box. We have to come up with solutions for UVI WorkStation after the fact. That's the difference.
David Lai Good point. In fact, if I remember correctly, it’s been like this since the first time I used Ivory, back in 2008. Good times with Cakewalk Sonar 8.
rodrigopv It’s unfortunate because the German D has excellent playability, and I assume the American D does as well, besides the fact that the sound of the sampled piano is delightful.
I am entirely in agreement with you. While the playability of Ivory 3 is superb, it seems to come at the expense of tonal fidelity, which is not a tradeoff I'm willing to make, especially given the alternatives currently available.
At this point, I doubt I'll invest further in this platform unless they make improvements to the underlying technology.
Although I am a bit tempted by the original Ivory II version of the American D, as the basic tone is quite lovely. If I ever see it for offered for a good price, I might pick it up.
jdg78 Well, on Best Service, according to a post above, it's $150.
Thanks @David Lai for the response to me from above (in terms of being relatively impartial about your reviews).
I do agree meanwhile that the Modern D seems more meticulous done compared to the Ivory, in terms of its technology, and capturing the essence of the instrument, and just overall "getting it right."
It's probably the first sample-based VST that I felt rivals the responsiveness of Pianoteq. Modern D "feels real" while "sounds real" at the same time. Whereas, VSL to me has some amazing sounding instruments, but the user-to-instrument connection is less there (as well as some other coding quirks).
So far, my only quip is that the middle C# seems to be louder than all other keys (I didn't have this issue with my other VST's, so this seems to be isolated to Modern D, and not to my VPC1). I did use the VPC Editor and reduced middle C# by about 10 velocities. Would love that to be updated!
HeartKeys Very well-said, and I agree with you on both points. 🙂
Yes, I want to make sure that what you hear is what you get, because otherwise, what's the use for me to demo these things?
HeartKeys So far, my only quip is that the middle C# seems to be louder than all other keys (I didn't have this issue with my other VST's, so this seems to be isolated to Modern D, and not to my VPC1). I did use the VPC Editor and reduced middle C# by about 10 velocities. Would love that to be updated!
Me too, though I didn't experience that bug. Maybe I guess I was trying to control how I press the middle C, haha. We'll see if this gets updated.
Double lunacy.
First, to buy another VST.
Second, to post in a thread containing David's brilliant demo and analysis. (Sorry!)
That said... I'm old and have hearing loss. I honestly don't hear the hiss buildup that David finds so offensive.
I still haven't found pedal settings for Modern D that let me use half pedal, so that takes some of the fun out of that VST for me.
So far, I've been enjoying playing with the ACD3. Without any EQ changes it's clear enough to work with my diminished hearing and responds quite well.
I guess in a few weeks I'll see which way I drift... possibly back to the Ivory 3 German D. But probably not to Pianoteq, except for evenings of penance 😉
I did a quick little recording just to hear what the ACD sounds like. Lacking both David's professional playing and critical analysis, this is a raw snippet that includes una corda, detached notes, somewhat loud banging, etc. And then it just stops...
acd3testmicb.flac
jdg78 At this point, I doubt I'll invest further in this platform unless they make improvements to the underlying technology.
which is quite unlikely giving the fact that all of the "new" ivory stuff are based on old version samples
i would be glad if they would actually record new instruments
Jane I almost wanted to play this for the demo, glad I chose shorter musical moments that more directly made my point. It’s a beautiful piece, one of my favorites of Chopin’s! Thanks for giving me a possible idea for a future video, Jane.