duplicate post-sorry

yes, it is personal taste. The Motif XS is very different than a Tyros or arranger keyboard. They are the sounds many/most of us use as hired guns in various studios and what you hear on the radio on many records. Will be happy to send you a sample, but I digress. You are looking for ways to make Ivory ii sound better. I put my pianos through a multiband like Waves C4 and just pull at the eq bar until I get close to the sound I am looking for. But they are all digital.

The Yamaha digital pianos have a good timbre in a live band setting, full without being muddy and bright without being thin. I also like the dynamics when playing them from their own keyboard.

But I would never consider them anywhere close to the realism Ivory II (or similar libraries) provide. My Korg Kronos is much closer there (using unlooped samples) but timbre is of course a matter of taste.

This is great. Makes me want to go play around with Ivory again. But, I've done so many a/b comparisons and jus can't t make myself like it. Just seems to lack warmth and like its recoded at a low bit rate almost. But you nailed it-its a matter of taste. (but I am going to load it up and try it tomorrow morning.)

Play a few longer notes.

This is interesting but surprising since, to me, Ivory sounds so real I can smell the wood.
 
That said, not every real piano sounds good to me. In fact, most don't. So there you go.

+1 for MOTIF XS Piano (and other sounds).  I have almost 2 TB of excellent sample libraries (Rapture Pro, Komplete Ultimate, EW Cloud Composer Plus, and just about all the Bolder, Embertone and SonicCouture stuff), but when I can't find the sound I'm looking for, I often turn to that sweet Yamaha keyboard.  In addition to some versatile pianos, it's got some great Rhodes and Bass presets, a killer soft legato alto sax, some nice nylon-string guitars, and others. 
 
But you have to look at your waveform after you record and advance the track a few ticks since, at least with my setup, there is a little lag between the MIDI timing and the audio return.

I don't mean to offend anyone but I know Yamaha boards quite well and their sounds aren't even close to realistic compared to most large sample libraries. What they are, and what many sample libraries are not, is very playable from a keyboard. That's because they're designed to be used in a live setting, whereas e.g. most ComposerCloud stuff requires lots of programming to sound realistic - but when you put in the time it sounds WAY more realistic than any keyboard.

Now, I'm not judging methods and a good sound is a good sound and highly subjective. But it sounds to me like Konradh is looking to get a better mixable piano sound and in my opinion he would be wasting his time trying to find a Motif or Clavinova to check out the piano.

Konradh, I haven't used Ivory in a while but is it just solo pianos that you don't like or is it that you can't get them to "shine" in a mix? Are you a pianist originally?

I'm going to load up Ivory again and give it a go. I just loaded up Quantum Leap Platinum using the room and player mics messing around with the lid and stereo width and I am enjoying it - right now. We'll see when it comes to record. I will try Ivory again. Glad you started the thread and hope you find an eq to suit. I have also tried Waves RBass to fatten them up and that's nice if done subtly and tastefully.
 
I still like the S90es and Motif XS rack pianos - even holding out long notes. I guess it's the warmth I like.
 
 

Piano sounds are very subjective but the style and density of the mix changes what sound we are looking for.
   A solo classical piece  will be much different than  a full band pop song. I also have used a cheap Yamaha
keyboard and it fit the mix great. Bit's post on eq is how I approach this as well . Finding a patch that is close
to what you are looking for speeds this process up , I do tend do use pianoteq mostly but there is always a 
song you look for something else.