VSL Concert D 1887 Review

jenpal It’s a bit disappointing to miss the 50% off on the Concert D 1887. I was travelling overseas at that time and only realised it after the single-day sale ended.

Yeah, that is a bummer, especially if you wanted it. I was so busy last year when this piano came out that I didn't give it much consideration. I really wasn't in a position to pay full price either. I'm grateful I was able to get it now. You're always welcome to come by and play it if you're ever in Oregon. I'll see if my wife is willing to make whatever your favorite vegetarian meal is. 🙂

God Bless,
David

Hehehe… thanks David B. I would love to visit your place in US! 😍

I don’t really like flying and only flew back to the Philippines due to a family emergency. My wife and teenage son love travelling overseas and have been trying to persuade me. Apart from Asian countries, they also love visiting London and Europe and plan to go back there when it is much safer to travel, but I might make an exception if they change their plans and come by in Oregon so I can play the VSL Concert D 1887 at your lovely home and enjoy some vegetarian food. 😂😂😂

David B as a vegetarian I find Italian cuisine one of the best for vegetarian dishes. Is your wife also with an Italian background as you? Does she prepare Italian dishes? My wife and I often cook pasta with either various tomato sauces, or just with pesto Genovese and we can never tire of it, our kid loves these simple pasta dishes. I purchased a Philips pasta machine that makes fresh pasta from durum wheat semolina, egg and water and can produce either fettuccine, penne or spaghetti.

CyberGene

🍝

Y'all are making me very hungry!

😋

HZ

Reading the messages is making me hungry too. I love spaghetti, and my wife sometimes cooks it, but not the fresh one. She uses Dolmio pasta sauce, which is still good, but fresh Italian spaghetti would be so much better. 😋🍝

At home, my wife does all the cooking except for simple ones that I can easily chuck into our Philips Airfryer. Other than that, I make a great cup of coffee using our coffee machine. 😂

CyberGene Is your wife also with an Italian background as you? Does she prepare Italian dishes?

Joy has some Italian in her. My wife is an amazing cook and prepares all types of cuisines. We've been married 27 years and I didn't like her cooking when we first got married. I didn't realize it at the time, but as a young man I had such a narrow palette and was only used to flavors and the style of my mother's cooking. Both of my parents were Italian, my grandparents on both sides, and we all lived in the same neighborhood around other family members, so I was heavily biased toward Italian cooking. If it wasn't smothered in marinara and parmesan, I didn't like it. ☺️ Also, I wasn't a vegetarian growing up so lots of meat, sausage, meatballs, etc.

Joy grew up as a vegetarian and over the years she has broadened my taste to so many wonderful flavors and dishes. Everyday is exciting to see what she is going to make next. Right now she is into Moroccan food and she is creating her own wonderful dishes. Here is a recent dish she made. It was delicious.

She cooks a lot from scratch and has many cooks books with great recipes she likes to experiment with. Here are a few more.

Yep, I feel very blessed because if I wasn't married to Joy, I'd probably weight 50 lbs more and have heart disease like so many other people in my family. 😳

God Bless,
David

Wow! That looks delicious and healthy. You’re truly blessed, David B. 🙂

I love vegetarian food, and I was vegetarian for a few years, but it’s difficult at home. My wife cooks food with meat most of the time, and I struggle to find enough protein without it. Now I can only order vegetarian food when I’m eating out, especially at work. However, most of the days I am working from home. 😔

God bless!

Thanks for the review, David! I always enjoy hearing your thoughts. This instrument really suits you and I think it is my favorite of your recent videos.

I got the 1887 during the flash sale as well, and then the CFX during piano month. So much for thinking my budget would recover this year lol. I am really liking them both, but probably liking the CFX more. Next might be the bosendorfer upright, but not this sale haha.

Although the VSL Concert D 1887 has a very nice vintage character that I like, I decided to get the Synchron Bosendorfer Imperial instead for now as it has a better discount and I like it better than my Studio Bosendorfer 280VC. I will just take the next opportunity when VSL has a much better deal.

When I tested the 1887 previously using the player surround to stereo preset (without customisation), I did not have a good velocity curve yet for N1X, but it is a very nice-sounding vintage piano. So it didn’t seem to provide good dynamics. However, I layered the piano with an Omnisphere synth pad.

jenpal Congrats on the Bosendorfer Imperial! It was my first VSL instrument and is still my favorite for dynamics. It can really explode, but the soft tones are nice too!

If you can look past the rough playing (this was the first piece I ever performed), here was a recording I did with it that I enjoyed putting together:

Tozen
That’s a beautiful piece, and your performance was great. It’s impressive that it was your first. 👍

I love the tone of the VSL Imperial, and it sounds quite powerful. I’m already excited to play more with this instrument. Thank you for sharing. 😃

jenpal Although the VSL Concert D 1887 has a very nice vintage character that I like, I decided to get the Synchron Bosendorfer Imperial instead for now

I played the Bosendorfer Imperial for a few years after it was first released and then I switched to the F308 after it came out. I eventually sold all my VSL Synchron pianos (5 full libraries) to someone here on the forum. The 1887 is my foray back into the VSL fold.

I appreciate that their libraries are much smaller, i.e., 50GB rather than 250. I really like the midi record/playback feature in latest Synchron Piano update. It's such a useful tool. Hopefully, they'll add proper pedal and sympathetic resonances because that's the only thing lacking right now. You can hear a lot of recordings of the actual Steinway D 1887 on the Clavierhaus YouTube channel and it sounds better than the VSL version because you can clearly hear much more string resonance. It's very lovely.

God Bless,
David

David B
Thanks for providing some insights with VSL. I hope I will enjoy most of the instruments I bought. It is good to know that they have reduced their library significantly. I have a dedicated 2TB drive for VSTs (apart from the OS drive, which is also a 2TB size), so hopefully this will last for a while.

I really like the MIDI record/playback too, and indeed it is very useful. With the sympathetic resonance, I am hopeful that Pianoteq could potentially enhance that area where VSL instruments may be lacking. Perhaps, the pedalling could also be improved too (I am thinking of OlivierW’s recent work). 🤔

I might visit Clavierhaus’ YouTube channel to hear more about the sound of the 1887 when I get the chance. I just have another demo licence for the VSL 1887, and I think this will last for another 30 days. 🙂

God bless!

jenpal just use my D274 gigperformer or mainstage and load in VSL this VSL1887 and save the new patch.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/0i2wton7fgcf90461k1dt/h?rlkey=ry3iuzwbwvy6bog832f1k8z7p&st=tsvl15ua&dl=0

Thanks, OlivierW. I downloaded all your gigperformer files. I will try it with VSL 1887, and I think I may need to remove (i.e. set to inf) the Sympathetic, Pedal Noise, and Key Rel Noise. 🤔

jenpal , yes, and never use Sympathetic Resonance in VSL player : it's totally fake and unreal, in actual => V1.3.1801 or less

David B Right now she is into Moroccan food and she is creating her own wonderful dishes. Here is a recent dish she made. It was delicious.

Wow, those dishes look amazing. I am getting hungry myself. Moroccan food is one of my absolute favorites (actually any Middle Eastern food) so you are very lucky. Compliments to the chef!

Cooking is also one of my passions, and I love trying out a new recipe on a weekend. I'm also very fortunate to live in one of the most diverse areas of the world (Queens, NY) which is something of a food lover's paradise in that I have access to cuisine from almost the entire world just a few steps from my door, as well as specialty grocery markets selling ingredients for almost any type of international food you can imagine.

jdg78 Cooking is also one of my passions, and I love trying out a new recipe on a weekend.

When my wife was still a teenager in anticipation of getting married someday, she purchased expensive pots and pans and Cutco knives. She didn't use them until after we were married. 😀 I was always impressed with that.

God Bless,
David

David B

That’s what you call “playing the long game.” 😄

So we've talked about cuisines, vegetarianism, pasta makers, and other virtual pianos, but I'm curious what the general consensus is on the sound of this 1887. My preset is very close to the factory preset, so what you're hearing in my video is the pure tone of the 1887. You don't have to critique my playing, but would this piano fit into your repertoires?

@CyberGene You once said that this could be a VSL piano you'd consider buying. Do you still feel the same way?
@Pete14 Is this too many layers for you, 😉 or does this vintage Steinway inspire some appreciation?
@QuasiUnaFantasia You seem to have a refined taste and are knowledgeable on a broad range of subjects, does this 1887 appeal to you?
@David Lai Could you see the 1887 fitting into your virtuoso experience or do you need feedback from something like the Modern D to help you prepare for whatever is on your agenda?
@jdg78 I know you got a great deal on this piano, even better than my +50% off. How often do you play it now?
@Johnstaf I know you appreciate the pedal resonance feature like on the Vienna Imperial. If VSL offered that feature on all their Synchron pianos, would the 1887 be something you'd go for or would one of the other Synchron pianos interest you more?

What say y'all?