VSL Concert D 1887 Review

johanibraaten I still struggle a little to dial in the velocity curve as I feel it’s more challenging to know how such instrument should feel in reel life compared to a modern grand. The shift in timbre can feel a little jumpy but I have a feeling that the voicing of this instrument behaves like that to a certain degree.

The timbre variation is one of the strong points of this instrument for me. Try using the midi record/playback feature to hear what you're playing and that will help you dial in your velocity curve. The new midi update is such a useful feature for evaluation of sound and final recording. Just grab the last performance that sounds the best and render it. No need to keep hitting the start and stop record button in a DAW. Pretty cool.

God Bless,
David

David B @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?

Sorry David, I didn't see this post. I'd be quite happy with what I have (CFX, Steinway D, B. Imperial, and Blüthner). I do a lot of practise without the pedal, but Vienna Imperial is necessary for when I need it. Vienna Imperial is a perfect implementation for me with the 2013 pedal update -apart from the tuning issues. I'm sure they fixed the tuning in the Synchron version, but then the pedalling isn't good enough. I would love to get the 1887 with the old V.Imperial engine.

David B The timbre variation is one of the strong points of this instrument for me.

I agree, and I think a distinkt variation in timbre through the dynamics is one thing that make a piano transfer well to a visual one, especially in playing feeling. About the jumpy feeling, what I meant is that pianos from this era have much less felt on the hammers so the transition between different tonal character through the dynamics can feel "steppy" and less smooth compared to a modern piano and I experience that in this VI too. Thanks for the tip with the midi player, that's probably a good idea.

I recorded one of the songs we played at our church gig this weekend using David B’s custom preset and exported the audio directly from VSL Synchron Player. However, I mastered the audio using iZotope Ozone 11 with the acoustic preset.

I am a week late in typing this, but sounded great! Thanks for sharing your recording.

Also, I haven't commented on this in previous videos, but I like that you are rocking the Omega Seamaster too. 😎 It makes the piano sound better, right?

Tozen
Hahaha! Thanks Tozen. 😂
My wife bought this watch for me. 🥰

She did great. Good taste! 👍

I have to admit that I am now using 1887 exclusively 😍 . I had to change the volume of certain notes (like David did) and I like it so much.

When coming from Modern D, you need a few days of adaptation and then it's difficult to go back. The treble notes are so pleasing. The weakness for me remains the low medium which are too round and boomy.

The 499€ price is exagerated. I will wait for Black Friday to purchase my license (except if someone here is ready to sell it to me).

Best,

Florian75 The weakness for me remains the low medium which are too round and boomy.

I noticed the same boomy sound. David B shared a Sphere mic preset above, and I find it less boomy.

Florian75 The 499€ price is exagerated.

I got my Concert D 1887 for a 50% discount plus €20 off, which is quite a bargain. Hopefully, they’ll offer the same deal on Black Friday.

I thought I'd add a comment here as I had a pleasant (and as yet unacted upon) surprise when I logged into my VSL account.

It's bundle month at the moment which gives (I think) 40% off bundles/bundle completions. However, you may find that you have a bunch of the new "Vienna points" sitting in your account. In my case, I have about 7000 of the buggers. You can redeem them towards the cost of a product - 75% for Studio line, 50% for Synchron.

Anyway, there are two pianos in the Studio line I don't own: The Faz 212 and the 1887 Steinway. My discounted bundle completion to add standard versions of those is 297 Euros. But with my 75% discount from Vienna points, I could buy the two for a whopping 74 Euros.

I believe the Vienna points expire at the end of the year.

CraigNZ However, you may find that you have a bunch of the new "Vienna points" sitting in your account.

Thanks for the tip! I had no idea these even existed, but I just checked my account and it turns out I have 1,400 points accumulated, which can be cashed in for up to 140 Euros in credit. Not bad!

I own all four Synchron Pianos (full versions) and three Studio Pianos (full versions), but unfortunately I don’t have any Vienna Points when I checked my account. 🙁

jenpal similar here, 9 pianos and zero points. I sent yesterday a question to VSL support for an explanation.

And here you have their answer:
Vienna points only count for discontinued products - e.g Vienna Instruments libraries. If you don't have any discontinued products, you should have zero points.

Oh, I see. Thanks for the info, Jose EB5AGV.

Cheers!

I have discontinued product (Vienna Imperial), but 0 points. May be, because I already upgraded it to Studio Bösendorfer Imperial. Anyway, there is no VSL lib I might want to buy at this point.

That makes sense. I also have the old discontinued Vienna Imperial, but never upgraded to the Studio version so the points got applied to my account.

Between the current sale and the Vienna points, I could actually complete the studio bundle and get both the Fazioli F212 (standard) and the Studio Imperial for about €100.

While neither are my favorite VSL pianos, it's hard to pass up at that price.