I had been hearing good things about this one for awhile:  
 
http://www.acoustica.com/pianissimo/index.htm
 
(BTW, the YouTube example they have is bathed in reverb - NOT the way it sounds with the default presets).
Found it on sale for $34, so figured what the heck...
 
I've since removed Truepianos (full version) and all four of the Sampletekk pianos I'd been using.
 
To my ears, Pianissimo is just warm and lovely - sits beautifully in the mix or as a solo instrument.  For the cost, I wouldn't have believed it, but it is my "Go to" piano.
 
(I also rely on Acoustisamples Kawai EX Pro, which is just as lovely, but with a more "in your face" sound).
 
 

digitalboy

Beagle



I still hate tascam for what they did with GS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yes Sir...I was also a big fan of GS3...That was a fantastic program with an excellent mix enviroment ...
 
We all invested in the libraries and were happy souls until Tascam put the knife in....
 
I haven't bought another Tascam product since and never will....

I have made the same vow!!!  I felt vioated that I had to buy Kontakt just to keep future functionality for the libraries I HAD ALREADY PAID FOR! 

         Starise


         Digital boy- It would appear that I still need an NI product to buy the new meat :(  
   
   
   
 
   
                                                                                                                                                                                                   
 
That's right...

Even though technically,some of the "new meat" is actually re-packaged "old meat" you always need the shiny new version of their software to get around that small technicality  
  
  
  
  
  
 

Monkey23

JonD


I had been hearing good things about this one for awhile:  

http://www.acoustica.com/pianissimo/index.htm

(BTW, the YouTube example they have is bathed in reverb - NOT the way it sounds with the default presets).
Found it on sale for $34, so figured what the heck...

I've since removed Truepianos (full version) and all four of the Sampletekk pianos I'd been using.

To my ears, Pianissimo is just warm and lovely - sits beautifully in the mix or as a solo instrument.  For the cost, I wouldn't have believed it, but it is my "Go to" piano.

(I also rely on Acoustisamples Kawai EX Pro, which is just as lovely, but with a more "in your face" sound).

Totally agree. I would absolutely take Pianissimo over Truepianos. It's not just "good for $35", it's just good.

Wow, that one sounds good indeed... And cheap, compared to the others. And hardly takes up any precious SSD space...! Interesting. it's almost a shame I have three NI piano's on dvd for 'free'...

bapu

Starise


I'm not really sure if I need a sample player to run Ivory 2 or does it run in Sonar X1 independently? 

It's an independent VST.


Listen to THIS SONG by Janet, Rik, Danny and I. It's the Ivory II Italian Grand with some tweaks by Izotope's Alloy.

  This song is great Bapu! Maybe it is an adjustment in Ivory, but to my ears it sounded more like a rock piano than a grand. The tines really cut in that mix(which they needed to do). Still a nice piano sound indeed. The Acoustica Steinway is surprisingly nice as well....I think that what happens after the sound is in the box has a big overall effect on things. I can imagine some creative eq went into the ivory sound here to make it fit in the mix better and since it wasn't always a solo instrument the fullgrand sound wasn't necessary.
  Monitors are a real biggie too as is room acoustics in how we might percieve a piano sound IMO.

"I talked myself out of Ivory for now because it is such a one trick pony"

This is a very unusual statement !

An acoustic piano is essentially a one trick pony in the broader sense,so it comes down to the software - the player - to bring the instrument to life...

The piano is also one of the grandest of western musical instruments...The range of the whole orchestra is right there before you...

The Italian Grand has a great deal of versatlity - much more than an actual acoustic piano - and the price is a joke in relation to the quality and the flexibilty...

Not to mention the fact that it never needs tuning and you don't have to move around 690 KG  !

But at the end of the day,if you are happy with your decision and it works for you - that's great...

I've tried them all and my money is still on the Italian,Alicia and the Sonivox Eighty Eight...

BTW...The v1.3 UD for AK/Kontakt 5 is very good and Sonivox have just released an x64 version of the 88 for PC...It's nice to know that the mechanics were listening to us  
 
Here's a link to some different music played on the Italian Bazooka...A bit of Lyle and a little Chopin... 
 
http://114.64.255.85/www.synthogy.com/demo/v2/Ohio.mp3
 
http://www.synthogy.com/demos/play/d2011-01-26.html

I am a keyboard player so maybe my opinion would be different than someone just trying to fit a sound in. I own the Sonar X1E included piano (Amber) and it is unuseable. I have Kontakt Komplete 8 and got the three different grand pianos with it. Of those, the New York Philharmonic is the only one I would consider using but I had to play with it a LOT to make it sound decent. The default setting puts it in a cathedral! Just awful amounts of reverb.

I also own Ivory II Grand Pianos. The difference between that package and the others is night and day especially if you are used to hearing a REAL piano every day like me. I own a Yamaha grand which has been worked on a lot for playability and tone. You get used to the subtle nuances a real piano has. The newest version of Ivory has control over inter-string resonance which is one of the subtle things that makes a big difference in sound and it is tuneable. There is a LOT of dynamics control and tone control in Ivory II. Most of the controls are pretty intuitive especially if you are a keyboard player. I tried for a LONG time to get a decent mic'ed sound out of my real piano and just got completely frustrated. My room acoustics and equipment are just not going to allow me to realize a decent sound out of it. Ivory II was a great solution for me.

The large number of sample layers in Ivory make a BIG difference in tone when you have a broad spectrum of dynamics in your playing. If you are playing something like "Feeling Alright" where you really are just banging away and rocking out this does not make as much of a difference. If you are playing something with a lot of dynamic range like a classical piece you WILL notice the difference. Obviously, your mileage will vary hugely depending on your keyboard controller since it has to be velocity sensitive and of high enough quality that you can play with the dynamics.

The Cantabile player that comes with Ivory II is sort of useless to me. I just run it as a VST inside of Sonar and am very happy with it. I was scared of the iLok 2 but took the plunge and have had zero problems at all with it. 

I am not a big fan of the Boesendorfer in the package cause it is a very dark sounding piano to me. That is strictly a taste judgement though cause the realization of it in the VST is great. The Yamaha C7 sounds great to me cause that is what I am used to and a bit of my keyboard preference. I am really warming up to the Steinway in this package though. It really stands up nicely with other instruments.

mabry


The thing about PianoTeq is that you have, in essence, 127 velocity layers. I do not have Ivory so I can't say how well those 127 layers stack up to Ivory's 16 layers (or however many they have) and whatever other things Ivory uses to get it's sound. But, even though I don't think individually sounded notes from any of the PianoTeq modelled pianos are likely to sound as nice and as realistic as those of Ivory, I do find that it's hard for me to switch away from PianoTeq's 127 to other products like the NI Berlin Concert Grand (whose individual notes also sound a bit more realistic than PianoTeq's) which has fewer than 16 layers. When I switch from PianoTeq to the Berlin, I feel like half of my piano has been taken away. Still, I am thinking of getting Ivory. None of these products really get you to a real grand, of course, so its nice to have options. 

There is no way any human can play 127 different velocity layers accurately or differentiate them with your ears, especially with a midi controller instead of a real piano keyboard. I think that is just interesting marketing but ultimately ridiculous to me. Even Vladimir Horowitz in his prime was not THAT accurate. He also got to play on his personal Steinway. 


Beyond Ivory II's 16 layers there are three different lid positions (open, half open, and closed) as well as audience sound perspective vs player perspective. Add to that the adjustments for pedal and damper noise and string resonance and you just have a great package. 


As far as NI's pianos, I have the three that came with Kontakt Komplete as I previously had written. New York Philharmonic is the only one I could use and after using Ivory II it will never come out again. I am going to save up for the Ivory II Upright piano set also. I tried the Sampletekk Rain keyboard and was really disappointed.

Music Miscreant


The NI pianos, especially the New York grand, work OK for me.

But I'm still curious as to why no company has managed to capture, or indeed seeks to attempt to capture, the sound of the most popular studio piano (certainly in the UK) for the past 30 years. This being the Bosendorfer Imperial grand. 

Having played this piano on countless occasions, in many different studios, I can assure you the last thing it is... is 'dark' - as inaheartbeat pointed to the Eastwest version being, which most assuredly is. 

I'd pay a thousand bucks to have either of these two in my PC & at my finger tips... 

http://www.rockfieldmusicgroup.com/default.asp?contentID=559

http://www.sarmstudios.com/studio1.htm

They both sound unbelievable.  

The Bosendorfer Imperial 290 Grand IS in Ivory II Grand pianos. It is great if you like that sound. I personally find the Yamaha and Steinway pianos more to my taste but I did not mean to imply that there was anything wrong with the quality of the provided instrument. I certainly love it when Oscar Peterson is playing it. I happen to really like the Yamaha sound. That is me. I will say if you want to lay down a left hand bass line it just is like fine chocolate.


I cannot recommend Ivory II enough if you are a keyboard player used to how a grand should sound.

digitalboy

inaheartbeat

The Bosendorfer Imperial 290 Grand IS in Ivory II Grand pianos. It is great if you like that sound. I personally find the Yamaha and Steinway pianos more to my taste but I did not mean to imply that there was anything wrong with the quality of the provided instrument. I certainly love it when Oscar Peterson is playing it. I happen to really like the Yamaha sound. That is me. I will say if you want to lay down a left hand bass line it just is like fine chocolate.


I cannot recommend Ivory II enough if you are a keyboard player used to how a grand should sound.

Oscar could make anything sound great !   He was a grand master and a master of the grand for sure...
 
I would put the Ivory Italian Grand at the very top of the sampled piano tree....
 
It's extremely versatile,it sounds impressive and it really shines...
 
I think that's what Oscar's playing now in virtual piano heaven 

My only issue with the Ivory Italian Grand (which I do not own) is that it is an expensive piece of kit for just a single piano when compared with the suite you get with the Ivory Grand package. That said, I wish I had the opportunity to demo it to see if it is really worth it. It is just that, for me, I would get the Ivory Upright pianos before the Italian Grand because I own one of the Ivory Grand Piano packages already.

If Oscar is playing the Italian Grand in heaven his angelic Bosendorfer sponsors are going to be mad :-)

 Update- I received Pianissimo about three weeks ago and have been playing with it. I have to say that with a little tweaking it has this very sweet tone that sits well in my mixes. Like Pianoteq it is a modeling piano,so cpu use and large streaming files are not needed.

 I see this as being my go to vsti for piano input to my daw.(at least for now) To my ears it is a very sweet and convincing piano tone.