OlivierW The engineers at VI Labs are incredible and truly listen to their customers — unlike some other arrogant companies in the same piano sampling field. They really listen to their users.
Folks from VSL also listen to their users. The problem for us is that their users are not piano players. 99% of their income (my estimate based on user activity in various audio forums) come from orchestra sound producers.
Pianos are essential part of VSL catalogue, but not the top priority, they spend most of their resources on orchestral instrument sampling.
Their piano libs are targeting the needs of those who mix the sampled sounds into recording, not of those who play live and expect the real piano behavior. And those producers have no intent to create recordings of Rach, Gilels, or Juja Wang level. These producers are expected to deliver a solid product for distribution to a general listening audience without hiring real musicians, and nothing more. They need samples that mix well with other orchestra instruments, not silent key.
VI Labs specializes in pianos, and I would expect their product to be much more refined than offerings from VSL, EW, OT, etc. Otherwise they would be out of business.
