David B I am a very big fan of Garritan , and I acquired Noire 2 weeks ago. I was blown away by the sound quality of Noire and after going back to Garritan felt indeed like you said that the sound seemed a bit thin. I have spent a few hours yesterday playing with the various parameters of Garritan to see if I could reproduce/approach the sound of Noire. I think the key is the EQ, you need to have the 2x 3 bands EQs in Garritan active, boost the LO EQ's 3/4+ + MID 2/3+ + HI mid point in the studio section , and the piano section increase with synpathetic & sustain resonances and add a bit of saturation . This should take you closer to Noire Darker and Profound Sound ( I am referring to the pure standard preset)
Regarding pedals , although my first impression was that I could get away with it, and substitute sustenato with half pedalling, but unfortunately, the half pedalling is not really good enough to allow that. So , some pieces are simply not playable at all. Best example would be the Rachamninoff prelude in C Sharp Minor , where you need both Sustenato and half pedalling, and in some bars re-pedalling, and you can render it with perfection on Garritan while it is at best approximative and hazardous on Noire. Debussy Clair de Lune, is another example . In fact , no sustenato is acceptable in a VST, but that supposes that all sustain pedal techniques can be used , essentially true half pedalling and multiple repedalling points, other wise that stops you of performing a lot of pieces in the repertoire from the Mid Beethoven Period to 20th Century Classical .
Although I find after side by side comparison that Garritan playability is extraordinary , way better than Noire and even better than Pianoteq, specially in the high register with very fast arpeggios . There is perfect continuity and the VST reacts like a true acoustic. I don't how they did it, but it is quite incredible. My benchmark for that are the very fast and delicate ( p or pp) arpeggios of the Rachmaninoff Vocalise ( Kockis transcription) of the cadenzas. They are quite tricky and so far , Garritan was the only VST i had tried that allowed a similar experience than on an acoustic. Pianoteq was close but still inferior. I wish Garritan was still in the business of producing other VSTs'. Cheers
