Having lived with the SGX-2 for the past week now, I have to say that I'm even more impressed with it than I was at first glance. At this point, if I had to rank all of the dozens of piano VSTs I've owned or tried over the years, it would be something like:
*1. Modern D
*2. Korg SGK-2
.
.
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*10. VSL
*11. Everything else
Modern D still has a more 3 dimensional sound, and a more sophisticated emulation of sympathetic resonance and other subtle behaviours, particularly after the latest update. However in terms of speed, responsiveness, articulation, and finger/sound connection, it's pretty much a wash, and if anything I might give a slight edge to the Korg. It just has a certain breezy, fun quality that the Modern D doesn't quite match. And despite having fewer velocity layers, it still feels extraordinarily smooth and responsive to dynamics.
I also vastly prefer the tone of the Korg German D (I'm assuming it's a Steinway) over the Modern D.
For all its technical excellence, the chief drawback of the Modern D (at least in my view), is that they managed to find the most utterly characterless, plain vanilla Steinway as the basis for the VST. I suppose this was intentional as it is extremely neutral and will offend no one, but I also find it somewhat uninspiring as an instrument.
The Korg German D, by contrast, has a beautifully clear, bell-like tone, with a slightly more percussive quality at higher velocities, and just sounds much more distinctive and characterful to my ears. It also includes a lovely Italian Grand (I'm assuming it's a Fazioli) with a slightly warmer, softer tone, and a Japanese Grand (assuming a Yamaha) that's quite bright and forward, suitable for certain genres like pop. Not to mention a lovely baby grand, and a very nice upright.
And although only the Italian Grand includes real sampled una corda, I've discovered its very easy to program an una corda simulation to the other piano models within the main interface. The plugin has a built in modification matrix which allows you to assign a wide variety of sound effects to any trigger input. If you select the una corda pedal as the trigger and then assign "Velicity Bias" as the effect and set it at around -30% or so, you get an extremely convincing emulation of a muted una corda sound. It actually sounds more realistic than many other VSTs natively programmed una corda simulations (ahem, VSL).
The biggest drawback in my view is that there isn't a built-in velocity curve adjuster. There is a "key touch" knob, but it doesn't really seem to do much as far as I can tell, and for some reason my usual 3rd party velocity curve app (Velpro) doesn't seem to work with my DAW, so I'm still looking for a workaround. But the playability in stock form is still so good that it doesn't bother me all that much.
All in all, I can't remember the last time I've enjoyed a piano plugin as much as this. Even if doesn't quite match the all-around polish and realism of Modern D, it makes up for it in certain other areas, and the fun factor is off the charts as far as I'm concerned.
