Hi everyone,
Thought of a while how to title this discussion. I decided to just keep it general.
I wrote to Dexibell asking about the T2L Piano. They mentioned that they didn't test with NVDA, but that I could download a free demo to test. It's limited that the velocity is linear (meaning, how hard you press the keys it'll still respond the same soft way), and the octave above middle C is silent. After listening to a few videos and playing the free demo, I decided not to get the plugin for the following reasons:
1. Engaging with the user interface is difficult. I have to first use OCR to simulate a mouse click on the keyboard, and then I can use the Tab and arrow keys to adjust parameters. 90% of the buttons, knobs and switches are not labeled correctly, so when I tab around, I hear "combo box," "edit field," "button" ETC. With some guess, I was able to figure out where to choose a tuning and where to choose a piano preset.
2. On a related note, hosting the plugin on Reaper wasn't a good idea either. Although all elements can be navigated using the Parameters menu (the hotkey P), when adjusting, nothing happens. However, when engaging with the UI and then look at the parameters menu, I discovered that the parameters have changed. In other words, it's impossible to, say, change the piano sound using Reaper, but once a sound is changed on the plugin UI, the related parameter on Reaper, "Sound ID," also changes value. This leaves me in more confusion, as I won't be able to directly interact with the plugin on Reaper, but have to use the rather mysterious UI. And when I adjust on the UI, the related parameter on Reaper also changes. Why can't they make it so that it can go both directions?
3. Hearing the piano respond in linear velocity isn't great. I had to rely on Youtube videos to assess and judge. I'm not sure if the reviewers didn't turn on resonance, or the resonances arn't loud enough, but I just couldn't hear the bloom and shimmer of the pedal resonance. Even the piano sound themselves lack the spark when played in the treble region. Compared to famous samplers like Ivory grand pianos, VILabs Modern D, or Garritan CFX, there's a huge difference in the presence of sound. The Dexibell sounds more stilted, somewhat dark and not alive.
4. Speaking regarding the concert grands, I feel all of them sound rather similar. The only sound that made me a bit interested was the Italian grand. I felt it had slightly more spirit than the rest, but still isn't as lively as the other piano plugins I mentioned above.
With these points in mind, I'll not be getting the T2L Piano plugin. Your milage may vary, perhaps you might enjoy their approach to sampling + modeling. But as for me, I'll stick with the piano plugins that have a more lively sound presence and have better accessibility.
