Galaxy III Pianos

QuasiUnaFantasia

I know Modern D, and the even newer Ivory III D are all the rage these days, but it seems that quite without anyone really noticing, the Galaxy II piano's have become the Galaxy III piano's. In the process, the Galaxy II Steinway was dropped, and replaced by the Vintage D (which originally was a stand-alone VI).

There is pricing for the full package, and for two different types of upgrades, one of which is called "update", and the other one called "upgrade". I don't as yet know what the difference is specifically.

Also, it is apparently now possible for owners of the original Galaxy II Steinway to crossgrade to the Vintage D.

As an owner of the Galaxy II piano's I will have to think about this (even though Steinway D's are not my favourite by any means).

But whether there is any difference to the individual VI's themselves, in going from Galaxy II to Galaxy III, I don't know.

pipAT

Galaxy Steinway 5.1 in 2004. Galaxy II Pianos in 2007. Galaxy Vintage D in 2010. They may have updated Kontakt patch because of ever updating Kontakt versions. It is all I know. I guess there is no big difference after K4 version Galaxy II Pianos.

And the guys who did Galaxy Pianos made Una Corda and Noire for Native Instruments. So Noire is the most recent, and it has been there for over five years. Wish the next acoustic grand pianos from these guy are on the way.

David Lai

That’s interesting. Vintage D was my go-to till I heard of Garritan CFX, and the rest is history.

Argyris

I remember the days when Vintage D and ACD were the standards that all newer libraries seemed to be judged against. Vintage D in particular seemed to be quite well loved.

I feel like these days, the Garritan CFX has taken over that role, which is interesting because, when it was new, the CFX threads were full of Vintage D users weighing in one way or the other (often complaining about the lack of half pedaling or repedaling, neither of which the CFX had until a late 2016 update).

I'll confess, I've never been a huge fan of Vintage D. It's an instrument that can sound really nice in demos, but which I've never enjoyed playing. I'm not sure if the sampling is just too sterile for me, or if I just don't like something about the source instrument.

David Lai

https://www.bestservice.com/en/galaxy_iii_pianos.html

jdg78

As far as I can tell, this just seems to be a repackaging of the already existing versions. There doesn't seem to be anything improved/updated about the the instruments themselves, unless they're counting some kind of under-the-hood compatibility requirements as an improvement.

I've always like the tone and sound of the Vintage D, and it's held up better than many VSTs from that era, but it's long been outclassed by newer VSTs in terms of sampling depth and technical capabilities.

I do quite like Noire, though, and I would be very interested if the Galaxy team ever decides to sample another mainstream piano.

David Lai

jdg78 Repackaging, yes. Just like Ivory III's American D, in my understanding. So, that's about it for that. 🙂

Argyris

Looking more closely at the asterisked footnotes, it looks like the discounts amount to either a cheap ($59 or whatever Best Service considers the equivalent in local currency) way to get Vintage D for owners of the original Galaxy II trio, or else a way to upgrade to the current Galaxy III trio (now including Vintage D instead of the Steinway that was there before) for owners of any of a handful of non-Vintage D singleton pianos.

If either of those is what a given customer wants, unless I'm misunderstanding what's on offer, the pricing doesn't look awful.

Pete14

David Lai Repackaging, yes. Just like Ivory III's American D, in my understanding. So, that's about it for that.

Lots of repackaging going on as of recent, and I wonder, is this becoming a thing?

But to be fair, “implied” repackaging has been going on for a while; take the iPhone 16; which is a repackaging of the 15; which is a repackaging of the 14……etc, but it now seems like shameless repackaging, “yes, it’s repackaged, so what!”

David Lai

Pete14 But to be fair, “implied” repackaging has been going on for a while; take the iPhone 16; which is a repackaging of the 15; which is a repackaging of the 14……etc, but it now seems like shameless repackaging, “yes, it’s repackaged, so what!”

Yes, just like something that starts with P and ends with Q, 8 letters.

Pete14

David Lai Yes, just like something that starts with P and ends with Q, 8 letters.

Touché!

David Lai

Pete14 So you are also seeing now that PianoTeq, though it's been making incremental progress over the years across different versions, is basically the past version slightly repackaged. That's why we're bashing it so much, as the characteristic notes are still there, even in the 280VC model, which is not there in the original acoustic. So, until PTQ gets rid of these notes that would let us know "it's a synth," it's still basically a repackaged update.

Pete14

You see what I’m saying? I let you score a point, and then you get all greedy on me….

Yes, I thought your point was made with a certain level of finesse, but that doesn’t mean I’m agreeing on P being repackaged!

How dare you!

David Lai

Pete14 How dare you!

I'm not being greedy on you, however, I'm just saying what I hear in the PianoTeq synth. That said, thanks for contributing a modeled library in a sample library discussion…

David Lai

Returning to the Galaxy Pianos at hand. While 13 or 15 velocity layers may not seem much, they really map their velocity transitions well that it plays quite natural. I fell in love with how the Galaxy Vintage D both plays and sounds. It was my go-to piano for at least 4 years before I heard of Garritan CFX and Ravenscroft 275 from Piano World in early 2020.

Pete14

David Lai That said, thanks for contributing a modeled library in a sample library discussion…

You’re welcome! 😁

JonFromMaine

Hi. Has anyone actually tried the Galaxy III update? I have licenses for all three of the Galaxy II pianos, plus the Vintage D and I'm not clear on what's been updated, other than using Kontakt as the underlying engine. I sent a note to Best Service asking this same questions. I think I'm entitled to 'update' for $50, but don't want to bother unless there's a significant change in the product.

jdg78

JonFromMaine From what I understand, nothing has been updated. They simply swapped out the old Galaxy Steinway for the Vintage D, and are repackaging the trio of instruments as "Galaxy III." Seeing as you already own all of the original Galaxy II pianos plus the Vintage D, there is nothing to update to, as the instruments themselves are unchanged.

The only upgrade path would be for someone who owns the original Galaxy II pianos, but not the Vintage D. In that case, they could add Vintage for $50 instead whatever it costs for the standalone version.

JonFromMaine

Too bad. If so, the new version number is more than a bit misleading. That said, I haven’t used any of them in more than a year (casualty of too many plugins) and have spent the evening practicing with them. I forgot how nice they are, especially the (non-vintage) Steinway.

QuasiUnaFantasia

I particularly like the German Baby Grand, but also the (non-vintage) Steinway; the Bösendorfer is not so great, for me. I don't have the Vintage D, so I am tempted to get the "cross-grade" version of it, which is cheaper than the whole Galaxi III set.