VSL Synchron Bösendorfer Imperial

jdg78 Resurrecting this thread as I recently purchased the VSL Synchron Bosendorfer Imperial, and wanted to give my impressions.

Cool! Thanks for sharing. Having owned all of the Synchron Pianos myself, the BI is my favorite of the bunch.

jdg78 I would not exactly call it an intimate experience - you really feel like you are in front of a large, powerful, concert instrument, so if you are trying to recreate the sense of playing in small jazz club late at night, this probably isn't going to do it for you. However, it is capable of an impressive degree of warmth and delicacy if you dial in the settings.

You could get close to that late night jazz club sound by adjusting the velocity curve to limit the higher volumes. Start with one of the intimate presets and then bring your velocity curve down and you'll get that smaller grand sound.

jdg78 Speaking of settings, as far as I'm concerned the Synchron piano player is a model of excellent UI design,

Agreed! It was lacking an appropriate velocity curve editor, but once that was resolved the Synchron Piano Player now stands head and shoulders above anything else I've used.

jdg78 So all in all, I couldn't be happier with this. I think the only downside is that I fear I'm eventually going to have to try out all the VSL Synchron pianos, and probably upgrade to the full version of the Imperial at some point,

Every preset I've ever used has some variation of the full version in it. I don't think I could be satisfied with the just standard version. Here is my most recent preset.

Congrats on the purchase and enjoy. Don't be shy about sharing a recording once you get the sound you like dialed in. I love trying different presets.

God Bless,
David

David B

Thanks for sharing your settings. For the time being, I’m happy enough with the sound I’m getting from the standard version, but I could see myself upgrading to the full version at some point in the future.

Actually, I’m really only interested in the ribbon and tube mics from the full version, not so much the other ones. It would be nice if VSL sold additional mic positions a la carte, the way Embertone does with the Walker!

jdg78 The tube mic brings out the bass more and the ribbon adds some nice diffusion to the attack without the added reverb the other room mics produce.

God Bless,
David

Here is a short recording I did today with my current presets. This is such a beautiful warm sounding piano. Playability is the best compared to my other VSTs. The settings for this excerpt are the same as in the screenshots above.

God Bless,
David

Hi everyone, I use the vsl bosendorfer imperial and I love it, so responsive. It is on my YouTube videos for anyone who wants to hear it x

HelenClarkePianist you already posted this on other threads. I’ll leave it only here.

David B

David, How did you get over 5 Gb on that piano selection? When I try your settings I’m at 508MB. I have the full Bosendorfer/CFX/Steinway programs and trying to tweak them. Sorry if my question is amateurish but I’m very new to this. I have been using the Garritan CFX which I really like but wanted to expand upon my virtual pianos. Thanks for your time ns consideration in this matter.

Ken

Kbrod1 David, How did you get over 5 Gb on that piano selection? When I try your settings I’m at 508MB.

My preload size is 16384. Larger preload = more memory used.

God Bless,
David

David B Hey i wanted to ask about the Bosendorfer Imperial and 280.. still demoing imp. i like the sound on your vid also.

I saw you did have both plugins and prefer the Imperial.. feels perfect to play btw . Do you think the 280 plays better or worse or just different?

Also is it really that much drier? Some demos don’t sound that way to me. The Imperial can be pretty intimate too.  Just curious.

ps also the way it plays is it similar to this recent modern D? just playing not the sound. Thank You

vvf I saw you did have both plugins and prefer the Imperial.. feels perfect to play btw . Do you think the 280 plays better or worse or just different?

Also is it really that much drier? Some demos don’t sound that way to me. The Imperial can be pretty intimate too.  Just curious.

ps also the way it plays is it similar to this recent modern D? just playing not the sound.

Hi @vvf I recognize you tagged @David B on your questions above, though I thought I'd chime in here as well. Feel free to ignore though!

For background, I have all the VSL full versions as well, have played several acoustic Imperials in real life, and currently own a (relatively) new 280VC.

As far as VSL version of these instruments:
To me, the 280VC has more of a "present" sound and "3D" sound compared to the Imperial. The Imperial meanwhile has a "sweet-sweet" sound that I adore. As far as action/playability goes, I'd say the Imperial is easier to play on VSL compared to 280VC, because its stereo imaging of being in the Synchron Stage A, versus the smaller Stage B (i.e., where the 280VC is recorded). I find myself having more velocity issues with the 280VC than the Imperial.

As far as dryness of playing, the Imperial in Player preset feels/sounds drier to me than the 280VC (even though it's recorded in Stage B). But when Imperial is in Concert Surround, it sounds perfect to me.

Compared to Modern D (action/playability only):
Both of them (not because of the inherent acoustic recorded, but the software itself), to me are very difficult playability compared to Modern D. Based on VI Labs' own website about Modern D, they appear to have full dynamic range for every mic. Or whatever it's called, so it feels so easy to play.

I 1000% feel that playing my acoustic 280VC feels way easier than the VSL version. I can't say the same about the Modern D. I feel like playing Modern D is just as (playability-wise) satisfying as when I'm playing an acoustic Model D.

Hence, even though I am not the top fan of Steinway pianos (usually), I prefer using Modern D almost any day versus VSL. However, I play VSL whenever I want to "hear the best pianos" (including their Hamburg D, which sounds amazing-- to me. just not conducive for my playability purposes).

HeartKeys thanks for the super clear and detailed answer ). I agree Imperial sounds kinda dry like it was recorded in a smaller studio or something..i like it.. im suprised a bit that modern D is actually better for playability than Imperial. i thought it would be pretty much close call..very interesting... Appreciate the response HeartKeys.

vvf Hey i wanted to ask about the Bosendorfer Imperial and 280.. still demoing imp. i like the sound on your vid also.

I saw you did have both plugins and prefer the Imperial.. feels perfect to play btw . Do you think the 280 plays better or worse or just different?

Also is it really that much drier? Some demos don’t sound that way to me. The Imperial can be pretty intimate too.  Just curious.

ps also the way it plays is it similar to this recent modern D? just playing not the sound. Thank You

The settings in this thread are the current for my BI. I prefer the BI to the 280VC. I like the warmer, richer tone. The 280VC is more bright and sparkly. It records nice. However, for just everyday playing I'd choose the BI.

I don't notice a difference in the playability between the Modern D and BI. I think the Modern D has a fuller dynamic range and more truism with the sympathetic resonance and una corda samples. If I had to choose between the two, I'd go with the Modern D for the reasons I mentioned above. However, the BI and F308 remain my favorite VSL pianos.

God Bless,
David

David B

Thank you very much for your insight David B. Btw i just discovered your videos and I really like them. all the best sir ))

as much as i love the bosie imperial by vsl (both sound and playability), i mean it's my favorite vsl piano alongside the legendary vsl cfx, and even though i don't like to break things to people i'd still say that i have a little issue with the imperial that made me not wanting to spend money on it, the sustain pedal lowest samples are pretty loud, it's not just a dynamic level issue, they also sound brighter then the typical ppp range, i mean noticeably… so whenever you depress the sus pedal, you'd lose a great deal in the softer dynamics.

-i only say this because we're in an objective forum and should inform each other about such short comings (me personally, i had a lot of bad purchases because most people are just positive talkers and they always telling you the pros about these products and never the cons), i also say that it's a deal braker TO ME, maybe you don't care about such things in your playing and it's not an issue for you,

anyway my heart was broken when i found out about this because non of other vsl pianos ever convinced me the way their imperial did (both in sound and playability)

and then when i reached out to them they said the typical nonsense : the piano itself sounds like that.

yea sure, a well maintained $500K concert grand loses half of its dynamic range when its sustain pedal is depressed, i believe you, but i also believe in marvel movies so don't mind me 🙂

pianow

Thanks pianow. After checking it and playing for like an hour to make sure in the context of what Im playing, it is no deal breaker for me..it doesn’t bother me. But when i focus on it on its own, yeah you can definitely hear it’s a bit louder. I still get the dynamics I need though. . cheers for the honesty )

pianow Hey btw may I ask what you think of the Ravel grand by UAD playing wise?

testing the Fazioli F308 now, started around 4 in the morning.my usual wakeupTime…european time Feels pretty great so far.

pianow i believe you, but i also believe in marvel movies so don't mind me 🙂

😄

HZ

vvf

unfortunately i never tried it, but have heard it's nice

not vsl-vilabs-modartt nice, but nice haha

vvf

Interesting you mention the F308. It was never my favorite tone, but I played it again and am starting to enjoy the playability.

I think it was voiced pretty soft so perhaps it just masks my issues with technique 🙂

The opposite spectrum of that for me is the D-274 and 280VC. On VSL they both sound so present and substantial… but unfortunately the velocity challenges become more evident to me.

In short—I used to complain about the F308, but one thing I like is that it feels smoother for some reason.