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curious why no one here has mentioned the ONLY virtual piano PG sales, VI Labs Labs Ravenscroft?
While not inexpensive, it is a REALLY good and responsive (IMHO - I'm not piano player) piano and at similar price points to ones mentioned so far
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SO..... kinda curious
What piano sample is everyone's favorite and why?
My favorite is Addictive Keys Studio Grand. It sounds most realistic and fullest to me. Maybe I'm partial to it because I have used it on several songs. And it has some incredible variations of the grand, uprights and electrics too! For my money it is best sounding and most versatile! Most of them are dang good but I didn't care for Dimension Pro or Sanmpletank at all as they both sounded kinda shallow and tinny to me. I have them both but never use them.
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My favorite is the one that works best for me in the mix. Sometimes that great sounding solo piano just overshadows the other instruments and I need to find a different one.
With the various sound modules, however, you really can have the best of all worlds. Unfortunately, unlike guitarists, for live playing you can't bring eight or ten acoustic pianos to a gig.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA BB2025/UMC404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/MixBus/Notion/Finale/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com
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For the non-piano player, as best I can tell only one of the packages provides the midi content and the ability to write piano backings with the piano sound. EZKeys - Studio Grand for me. Now where is the no-brainer sale when you need it?
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Many of them seem "serviceable". Especially if "in a mix" with a few other instruments. I have done several songs that are essentially piano/vocal (with subtle "flavoring" by some other instrument) ... those really require a decent piano sound. For me that is the 4Front TruePiano (I have increased the volume on the sample since it was low compared to the others). There are 4 different pianos in the package - each with good presets for different settings - but all the settings are available if you want to go crazy.... at the current sale price of $80 - it is well worth it (I think). The only ones in the list that I would shy away from are the CSC ones that Herb provided. They sound "cheap" to me - like small size samples. All the rest sound decent. I would not use the Dimension Pro piano in a stark piano arrangement, but for the $14.99 the whole package cost it's not bad (and it has a BUNCH of other instruments) - would sound okay in a big mix... The Hi-Q piano that comes with BIAB is a decent choice, too... though I can't get mine to work at the moment... it (meaning SampleTank) is so dang finicky - touch it at all and it wonks out - currently I'm getting the strings when I try to use a piano - even the default for the MIDI Supertracks... http://floydjane.com/Songs/Piano.htmcurious why no one here has mentioned the ONLY virtual piano PG sales, VI Labs Labs Ravenscroft?
While not inexpensive, it is a REALLY good and responsive (IMHO - I'm not piano player) piano and at similar price points to ones mentioned so far
Larry - do you have it? if so, you could provide us with a sample to add - I haven't heard anyone talk about it... so perhaps no one else has purchased it... $139 on sale - going broke saving money??? 
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This goes to Matt Finley's question of a couple pages back about standalone versions: You can usually host ANY VSTi as a sort of 'standalone' using Hermann Seib's SAVIHOST freebie VSTi hosting program. http://www.hermannseib.com/english/savihost.htmSeveral years ago, I used Savihost for rehearsals where I wanted a nice B3 and electric piano, but didn't have access to a Rhodes or Hammond or Nord emulation. I have some really decent VSTi of these and SAVIHost worked great for the rehearsals where I brought my laptop and interface. For the gig, our bass player let me use his Nord Electro 2.
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I'm in the camp of "use what sounds best for the situation" and since I don't have a lot of money.... heck, I hated to spend the $20 for the Steinburg pianos..... and since that's the one I have, I like it.
Comparing the piano's in the shootout, they all have varying tonal characteristics which give some a warm sound and others are much colder.
GPO sounded warm and full. (I've got GPO so I'll need to check this one out in my DAW)
Kontakt also sounded nice and warm.
Pianotek sounded good but had a slightly heavier mid bump. (easy EQ fix)
Studio one also sounded nice. Warm and full.
That's my take on the ones I liked the best. I can't say that any particular one was head and shoulders above the rest. Each one had pluses and minuses to it's sound. And they all would work in the right circumstance.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Jim Fogle has provided 6 more samples... Several, everyone should have as part of their BIAB installs... Soundblaster Audigy soundcard Roland TTS-1 (dry, chorus and reverb turned off) Coyote WT BiaB Hi-Q acoustic BiaB Hi-Q mellow BiaB Hi-Q bright Thanks, Jim. http://floydjane.com/Songs/Piano.htm
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I have Kontakt pianos, I think they were called "Klassik" pianos or something like that. there are 4 sampled pianos, 3 grands and an upright with several variations on each piano. I have been very satisfied with them until recently when I have had trouble getting any of them to sound "right" in a mix on a song we just did.
I already have the electric pianos from EZ Keys and the Electric pianos from pianoteq. I have several others as well, but I really like the pianoteq rhodes.
so i've been considering getting a pianoteq or EZ keys Studio Grand. the Studio grand is on sale right now.
I'm just torn on what to get. I might just be having a bad case of GAS, tho and don't really need any of it...
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the Studio grand is on sale right now.
WHERE?
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the Studio grand is on sale right now.
WHERE? $179 if you are a first time buyer, but if you have a version of ez keys already (like the electric pianos) then the sound expansion for the studio grand is $89. sorry - I guess that's the regular price, not sale.
Last edited by Beagle; 12/23/15 07:06 AM.
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Ya, and $10 cheaper at Sweetwater. Still looking for that "no-brainer" sale price.
BIAB – 2025, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, 1TB WD Black NVMe SSD, 2TB WDC Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue, 2 TB SK NVMe, 6 TB External, Motu Audio Express 6x6
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Stumbled upon this "OLD" thread this morning. Eight years later and this topic is still enjoyable to me. By the way, I did eventually find a sale price on the EZKeys Studio Grand and have used it all these years, along with new favorites. Big thanks to FJ for maintaining the archive of these sounds!  http://floydjane.com/Songs/Piano.htm
BIAB – 2025, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, 1TB WD Black NVMe SSD, 2TB WDC Blue SSD, 1TB WD Blue, 2 TB SK NVMe, 6 TB External, Motu Audio Express 6x6
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Man that's a blast from the past.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Wow! Thanks for this link to Floyd's piano tests. I must have missed this but what a great review. Would be cool to have a test like this for el and acoustic guitars.
Jeff
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