VSL Synchron Concert Steinway D-274 - a sort of review

So... I was kindly challenged to write a review of the VSL Synchron Piano Concert D-274, a VSTi of a Steinway and Sons piano, Hamburg model, that belongs to the trio of available concert pianos in the Synchron Stage, a top music and soundtrack recording facility in Vienna, Austria. It was, if I am not mistaken, the second of the six sampled pianos that currently comprise the Synchron Series, and the first one to be sampled using a "robotic finger" to press the keys in a controlled and reliable way to achieve a really high number (undisclosed???) of sample layers. Among the Synchron series, the D-274 seems to be an ugly duckling, with an almost universal preference for the two sampled Bosendorfers or, alternatively, the quite distinctive Bluethner.

A few weeks ago, I took advantage of the very generous VSL discount for students and academics, and bought the standard edition of the D-274. I chose the D-274 over the other synchron pianos after quickly demoing all of them during the pandemic. A second reason for choosing the D-274 was to have a second good VSTi with a clear sonic difference to the Garritan CFX Full that I also own.

I will not attempt to write a review of this sampled piano, because I am not knowledgeble enough to discern if the fine technical details of the VSTi are correctly implemented (ie, if the sympathetic resonances match reality, if the half-pedaling allows full nuanced playing, or if the staccato truly captures the stacattisimo of a real Steinway). Here, I will only convey my subjective beginner impressions.

And my impression is that I love the D-274... So much, that I now rarely launch the Garritan CFX. Why do I like it? Because for me it is as lively as I imagine a 9-foot piano to be: you press the key a bit stronger, and your ears will pay the price for your mistake. It is not simply louder: it changes character from sweet and mellow to aggressive and metallic as if the strings are colliding with each other, or when the guitar strings hit the neck frets. For me, it has a tone clarity better than any other sampled piano (apart from the VSL Bluethner, but I am not a fan of the period character of the Bluethner): the VSL Bosendorfers, the VSL CFX and the Garritan CFX have an almost perfect bell-like attack that sounds a bit artificial to me (together with an hint of the middle range, middle velocities, nasalness of Pianoteq...). I don't hear that at any of the velocities of the VSL D-274.

The D-274 plays like a race car, while the Garritan as a refined Bentley. Moreover, the Garritan CFX has much more "room" in the samples which I am not particularly fond (although neither is as "dry" as the also very good Bechstein Digital), and that brings the treble and bass notes closer than on the D-274, which does not help for voicing separation.

So, I think that by having both the Garritan CFX and the VSL D-274, I pretty much covered both ends of the pianistic sample world; at his moment, I prefer the challenge and the "in your face" attitude of the D-274, but one day I may change my mind and switch to the easiness and elegance of the Garritan CFX. They both have very different strong points, and are both excellent...

Because everybody will ask, here are my current settings (don't know why I show them, because I am no expert pianist). You will notice that my velocity curve is sigmoidal: in this way I favour the mellow tone of the D-274, while not loosing its power under an heavier touch. For a different keyboard I would probably only slightly raise or lower the middle velocities (from MIDI 40 to 90) and leave the long taper of the low values and the fast ramp of the higher velocities untouched.

Finally, since my playing is (still) embarrassingly below-par for this forum (well: it is bad by any way you measure it...), I prepared a comparison set of 4 pieces rendered in 4 different VSTi. You can listen to the files (and download if you will) in the following shared Google Drive folder:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RU8JXLUonZ11qckCJhzIdJfidVzqf7H8?usp=sharing

The pieces are from MIDI files obtained from the Minnesota International Piano e-Competition repository (keep in mind that these pianists are not of Chopin Institute caliber, but nonetheless, their MIDI files are miles ahead of others freely available):

• Chopin, Barcarolle Op.60 - played live by Julia Kociuban, 2008
• Chopin, Polonaise-Fantaisie Op.61 - played live by Vsevolod Dvorkine, 2002
• Debussy, L'Isle Joyeuse - played live by Timur Mustakimov, 2014
• Mozart, Sonata DMaj K311 - played live by Andrew Staupe, 2009

And the VSTi are:

• VSL Synchron D-274 (settings as in the screenshots above)
• Garritan CFX Full (the ambient mic was at the minimum level)
• Pianoteq Petrof Mistral (used the Modartt demo, so some notes will not sound...)
• Bechstein Digital (asked a friend to render: for me the Bechstein is wonderful and crystalline as no other... But after 5 minutes that clarity becomes ear-piercing... Maybe others don't feel that; if not, appreciate this underdog VSTi because the sampling is really good, although I think it would benefit from careful and measured addition of external reverb).

I would like to note a few interesting points of comparison: the first one is how more lively the Mozart Sonata is on the D-274, and how the two hands sound more "independent" than on the Garritan (the Bechstein is equally efficient in keeping good separation between the treble and bass notes, but it is less expressive than the D-274). Another good comparison are the repeated notes in the beginning of L'Isle Joyeuse: the way the D-274 spreads the cascade of notes, while the Garritan blends the sounds together. A third example is on the alternation of sweet and power passages in the first 3 minutes of the Polonaise; and the last example is the beginning of the Barcarolle in which the D-274 is underwhelming compared to the Garritan (the left hand notes have no sustain and sound lifeless), which demonstrates how playing (probably half-pedal adjustment in the MIDI file) affects the best sampled instruments...

Finally, there are many good examples of VSL D-274 demonstrations on YouTube, but I particularly like this one:

On the other hand, it may be that I am easily fooled because I am a beginner with almost no acoustic experience (what can a non-player say about playability?) and the VSL Bosendorfers are in fact the best (or the most versatile) sampled pianos 😊

vagfilm the VSL Bosendorfers are in fact the best (or the most versatile) sampled pianos

This is the only sentence in the entire review that people need to read. 😀

I remember when the D-274 first came out and the velocity mapping was off creating an overly aggressive attack. VSL introduced an update that fixed it. The 274 has a very clear and distinct sound, but a little more cold/metallic than I prefer.

Here is a song from a Duane Shinn course I uploaded a few years ago using VSL's D-274. I play it as written and then arranged. If I remember correctly, the arrangement was not covered in the course, but since I grew up playing hockey (sometimes in Canada), nostalgia motivated me to arrange it.

God Bless,
David

Hi David: that piano tone is way too metallic, and the VSL does not sound like that at all. I don't know if it was due to the update or to my settings, but the current D-274 played with that light touch, sounds very mellow and not metallic at all...

That recording was done after the update. The update didn't change the overall tone of the piano but just the velocity mapping. It made the lower dynamic range more controllable. I don't remember what settings I had for that recording, but the overall tone sounds the same to my ears when compared to the Stefan Mendl review in your original post.

Here is another song (from Duane's course) using the D-274. I'll skip right to the arrangement. It's a fun upbeat song that I think the 274 gives a nice pop to it.

God Bless,
David

Perhaps the touch curve makes the big difference. I've noticed that just changing the touch curve on my N1X changes how Garritan CFX feels. The default one is very mellow and soft, perfect for lyrical pieces. The light one moves into a more brighter velocity region and the piano becomes more metallic, better for more clarity and fast pieces.

I feel like I'm turning your review into a concert. 😀 But here is one more song using the VSL concert D. To me the tone sounds better in this recording (I don't remember the settings, but it is the full library) and it would have sounded even better if the latest velocity curve editor update had been available when I recorded it.

I think this was the only song in the entire course that was played as written with no arrangement.

God Bless,
David

CyberGene Perhaps the touch curve makes the big difference.

Yes. I would like to try the concert D with the newest VSL updates. The "smooth attack" feature and the velocity curve editor would give this sample library an entirely different feel. Maybe I wouldn't have sold it.

God Bless,
David

Do you want to send me a midi file and I will render it to audio?

Hello,

@vagfilm I don't have much time on my hands now, but at least let me compliment and thank you for your elaborate and nice article!

When there is some time, I will listen to your 4x4 comparisons, I'm sure that will be interesting, and to @David B's videos as well.

Cheers and the happiest playing,

HZ

PS I reckon the pastor is happy 🤭 😉.

PPS As written on PW, I have a love affair with the Blüthner 1895; still waiting for their migration to iLok to be completed and for some budget and/or price reduction. Had some hopes for the upcoming black Friday, but don't see any 'iLok is ready' smoke signals.

vagfilm Do you want to send me a midi file and I will render it to audio?

That's very kind of you, but I'm more interested in how the updates impact the playability. That's where I think the biggest differences would be felt.

God Bless,
David

That is where you own midi file comes handy: that will be you playability benchmark... A midi file recorded of you playing VSL Bosendorfer (or the internal CFX) is like you are used to play; you know it will sound good if played back through the Bosendorfer. If the same file also sounds good on the D-274, you know instantly what the playability of the D-274 is, at worse... It may even get better by tweaking the settings.

Don't know what happened, but the first sentence on the above post should have "your" and "your" instead of "you" and "you". I need an edit window of a couple of days 😊

I am interested in trying how these Minnesota MIDI files render in my VI's. Are they available from somewhere?

vagfilm I need an edit window of a couple of days

I agree. I don't see any reason to even have an edit window.

After all, a user can only edit his own posts. And it's not as if these posts are sworn, recorded testimony!

QuasiUnaFantasia I am interested in trying how these Minnesota MIDI files render in my VI's. Are they available from somewhere?

From here. As far as I understand, they are public domain, but if you intend to republish publically, better read the fine print...
https://www.yamahaden.com/midi-files

vagfilm Thanks! That site is quite a treasure.

I downloaded the Mozart, and played it through my Ivory II Steinway B; it sounds as brilliant as a blooming professional CD. Why does it not sound that good when I play that VI? Hmm … those pro's must have a trick up their sleeve (maybe all that practicing actually works).

QuasiUnaFantasia maybe all that practicing actually works

No way!!!

David B I feel like I'm turning your review into a concert. 😀

No problem with you turning this into a concert 😀 ... And I find the tone in this video very good, and very similar to what I anticipate a Steinway to sound. If at that time, you had the possibility of flattening the initial part of the velocity curve (from 0-70, being mapped like 0-60 or 0-55), the tone would be even better, I reckon. That is what I like in the VSL D-274: you can tame it down (either by exquisite technique or by flattening down the curve), while retaining the possibility of making an almost aggressive timbre in the top range of velocities. And with their engine and number of layers, that transitions are always smooth (if you create a smooth curve).

But the tone of the Steinway always has a bit of complexity within: will never have notes made essentially of the fundamental, but the harmonics are always very present and to an extent you almost hear the double or triple strings sound independently from each other. As if the strings are more tensed than in other pianos and give off more metallic blooming. Even when you play just one note, it almost sounds like there are two pianos being played. If you listen to classical music CD, that is characteristic of concert pianos. The VSL CFX behaves the same way, and the Bluethner thrives on that. On the other hand, more muffled VSTi (Noire is probably the best exemple of that, but even Garritan and the VSL Bosendorfer Imperial have a mild version of this) filter a lot the sound to make it more focused on the fundamental frequency. That is what I erroneously called "bell-like" in my initial comments (I say erroneously because there is probably nothing that generates more harmonics than a bell...). The VC280 has also that characteristic of a more "rounded" tone but on top of that the change in timbre in higher velocities never gets really aggressive like in the D-274, CFX or Imperial. For late classical music (which I hope to be able to play one day), I find this very important; for hymn playing like you do, the D-274 will probably always be a struggle and the VC280 is a match made in heaven of clear notes and more even timbre across velocities.

I feel that with the Garritan CFX and the D-274, I have covered my needs. Maybe in the future I get the VSL Bluethner, but this needs very good pedal technique to sound OK. When I tried the demo, in my hands it sounded really thin, awful and unforgiving; the notes sounded loud or silent by any slight error in pressure. And I really want to try the Modern U, but don't want to pay for something and then miss the deep bass notes... In only they had a demo...

Hello,

QuasiUnaFantasia (maybe all that practicing actually works)

That just cannot be it 🤔.

Cheers and happy pr…

HZ