This might be a stupid question, but hopefully someone can help me out...

I see that Sampletekk has a 50% off sale on their pianos, so I'm thinking about ordering one.  Problem is, I don't quite understand what I need to have in order to use it. 

I have Sonar Home Studio 6 (yes, I'm a bit behind the times), and I have Kontakt Player 5.  Will that work?  The SampleTekk site says I need "Kontakt 24-bit Full Version"-- is that the same as Kontakt Player 5? (which I got as a free download from Native Instruments), or is "Kontakt 24-bit Full" some bigger version of Kontakt Player, which I'd need to buy separately?  

(I guess I could have asked this at the Sampletekk site or the Native Instruments site, but you guys usually respond more quickly.)

Also, on a related topic-- any suggestions as to which piano I should get from Sampletekk?  They've got a quite a lot to choose from.  I'm only considering the ones that cost about $50 (or $25 with the summer sale pricing.)

Thanks!

no, you have to have the full version of Kontakt to use the sampltekk pianos.

Thanks for the reply.  Oh well, guess I won't taking advantage of the sale after all.  

Sampletekk usually has a 50% off sale about twice a year, so you might be able to catch it on the next one. 
A good option might be to get Kontakt's full version which will open a lot of doors to very good quality sounds from 3rd party vendors. You maybe able to get Kontakt 4 for a fairly good price from someone at the KVR forum (I've got some really good deals over there). 
Although Kontakt 5 is the latest version, it won't have as many 3rd party vendors as K4 would.    

The new one, SampleTekk Black, is available as a Kontakt library and runs beautifully in the Kontakt 5 Player.

I love this piano. I completely agree with a recent reviewer who commented that they felt it was the most playable virtual piano out of the box that they had experienced.

Two big thumbs up from me.


It's above your price range but worthy of consideration in my opinion.

Just curious dwcaldwell...how would rate it against Ivory II? I don't play but have Ivory II which what I have for pianists in my studio.

pdlstl


...how would rate it against Ivory II? I don't play but have Ivory II which what I have for pianists in my studio.

Unfortunately I've never had the pleasure of playing Ivory II but I've heard that it is superb. The sampled pianos that I have collected are:


AcousticsampleS Kawai-EX Pro
AcousticsampleS Old Black Grand
Native Instruments Akoustik Piano
Native Instruments Alicia's Keys
Imperfect Samples White Baby Grand
Imperfect Samples Braunschweig Upright
SampleTekk Black
SampleTekk Old Lady
SampleTekk Rain Piano
SampleTekk The Emperor
SampleTekk White Grand
SampleTekk White Sister

I was able to get the SampleTekk Black for under 40$ dollars with a previous customer discount during one of Per's pre-sales.

Ivory is significantly more expensive if I recall correctly so it might be expected to excel sonically but I would be very impressed if it significantly exceeded the playability of the Black which I think also sounds terrific. I love all of my other SampleTekk pianos too but I have to tweak them more to get a similar easy feeling playability that the Black has out of the box, untweaked. The only other piano I have that compares feel-wise and in ease of use is the Kawai-EX which I also adore. But being the dirty, dirty piano slut that I am, I will probably succumb to temptation and keep adding to the collection until I own every piano VSTi out there. Does Ivory II ever go on sale? 

As far as going on sale, I don't think so. Ivory II does sound wonderful when recorded. However, after my last post I dug around and found I own Sampletekk Black Grand The Concert Piano. I bought it years ago before I got into Ivory. The box indicates it plays in Kontakt. I have the free Kontakt 5 Player so I may take it to the studio tomorrow and see if it work. Who knows? Might as well try. Thanks, Earl

If you already have Ivory, you're already set for grand pianos, IMO. Adding the Sampletekk pianos would just get you more subtle colors, which you only need if you often feature pianos prominently. Most of the great studios made do with a single piano in the days before samplers, and used them in many genres and styles.

You might, however, do well to pick up one of Sampletekk's upright pianos such as the Rain, Vertikal Pop or Vertikal Jazz.

Pianos are like crisps, you can't eat just one....
Anyway, we are having our annual wintersale now at www.sampletekk.com , so now you can get instruments at 50% discoun