Some opinions on the best piano samples out there.

Thank you in advance.

i'm not sure if it's "the best", but i am happy with steinbergs the grand.

There are some decent 10-30Mb soundfonts out there, but figured that by the time I buy Giga sampler and some good sample sets I could buy a nice studio piano for slightly more. I know that I get tired of several things in most sample sets:

1) most of the sample sets have terrible aliasing on soft sf2 players
2) there was always 1-2 notes that would drive me crazy because they were slightly different from the rest of the set
3) giga samples were way too much money IMHO. I purchased my studio piano and 2 cheap condensers for slightly more money with infinitely better results..

Pough thanks for the heads up.

No problem. As topics come up again and again, people who have important information lose interest in repeating themselves. Of course, since the last "best piano" thread, there may be some new ones...

I use ProSamples Vol 18 Steinway Grand (256MB). Usually around $40 online. My music publisher approves, which is good enough for me

There's also "Maestro Concert Grand" in Giga format. You can find it here (free BTW): http://exce.ath.cx/~route909/download.html


gugusse

If you have a look at the latest Music Tech Magazine it has a free cd with 500M Grand Piano.

Its split into Halion,Giga,EXS24 and Kontack (About 125M per instrument), the wave files are also included so it can be used with any sampler.

It sounds quite good also.

Cheers
Paul

I know this was years ago, but when GigaSampler came out, it came with a multi-gigabyte piano, I was pretty sure at the time it was the best around. Guess it ain't no more...

later
Mike

If you can go to a sample CD shop in your town, I really advise you to test the various offers there. There 's a huge range of products but select first the ones you can afford and then try to listen to each or at least most of them. These sample Cds offer so many different piano sounds that it could be really necessary for you to try by yourself to find the one that suits your actual needs.

If you don't have such stores in your hood, you should go to the editors' webpages and pay a listen to the various demos.

jackson wrote:

I know this was years ago, but when GigaSampler came out, it came with a multi-gigabyte piano, I was pretty sure at the time it was the best around. Guess it ain't no more... later Mike

It was about 750 megs (or was it 900 megs), but it wasn't multi gigabytes, and it blows chunks compared to what's out there now. I deleted that piano off my hard drive a LONG time ago.

Devon

The best sampled grand piano is s the The Bösendorfer Imperial Grand 290 from bardstownaudio.com.
They have some mp3-files there or you can listen to the allegro con brio from LVB which I made recently on http://www.thommen.com (soon on www.nano.cc.)
I used the Grand (Steinberg) before but its basses are too loud and unbalanced.

There is no best (however I can think of the worst)
try to play, or at least hear a good quality demo.
and keep in mind the style of music you play.

Absolutely true, there is no 'best', there is only 'what you like'. In general, the 1gig plus sized sample libraries are the best. I've yet to hear a piano under 750 megs or so that I'm pleased with. I've played the Steinway B, I own the Steinway D, and a Kawai. Yes, I have the Gigapiano, but it's long been since deleted. I would like to have a nice Yamaha C7 as well someday, but don't feel like shelling out $200 for one right now either. Look for the tonal characteristics you want and get that.

Devon

Many people end up with several pianos, each best for different songs and settings. I like the Vintaudio Upright pianos, which are inexpensive but very good.

I also like the Maestro Grand. From the same site, you might try the Maestro Malmsjo. Some of the bass and low treble notes are a little too brief, but if you loop about ten of the samples (use Seamless Looper), and extend the decay and release a bit, you'll have a very beautiful piano.

Many people also like the PMI Grandioso Steinway. I don't own this, but I've heard good demos.

Go to the Samples forum and do a search for "piano." You'll find many, many posts.

I meant to say "Go to the Samples forum at NorthernSounds.com..."

As far as sound fonts, I have tried many of the smaller(<50 mb) and usually wind up using the mda piano vst instead. I've not tried the larger ones.

I use the 76 meg "Splendid Grand" piano from Akia. I've converted it to several formats. It sounds great regardless.

Laurence Kingston

Ikingstone:

I have the Splendid Grand, too, but have problems with it that are probably related to the way I have it set up: it seems quiet, without much presence. Any suggestions about what filters and cutoffs you use in Kontakt or VSampler?

do not try this one!

http://www.yohng.com/piano.html

if you will try it, bluedad and DevonB will come to your place and hunt you down.

i have bought a solid gun already for the day when they will come.

Hi - I'm new to the whole VST thing, and needing a good replication of a pinao for classical playing, am considering buying Steinberg The Grand.

However, i've seen a lot of discusion in this topic about soundfonts and samples. If i took this route, how much money am I looking to be spending on a sampler, and can I still play the sounds using a MIDI keyboard like it was a real piano, as is the case with VST instruments like The Grand, mda piano, sampletank piano, 4Front piano module, etc?

Thanks!

Hi Drencrom. In answer to your question it depends on how serious you want to be about it. If you want as realistic sound as possible you need to buy a sampler that streams the samples from your hard drive. This is because there are so many samples in these instruments that they won't all fit into RAM. The best streaming samplers IMHO are Kontakt, Halion and Gigasampler. And yes you can use your midi keyboard in the normal way. The Grand is the same thing but with its own dedicated user interface. It still streams samples from disk.

Personally I would go for Kontakt or Halion as Gigasampler can't be used as a virtual instrument in a sequencer. I've got Kontakt and own the Bardstown Bosendorfer which you can find at www.bardstownaudio.com The 24bit Kontakt version is 2.4GB of samples on 4 CDs.

It's a fantastic piano for pop, jazz and some classical, but if you're after a pure classical sound you may be better off with a Steinway. Go to www.postpiano.com

Obviously you can use a sampler for loads of different instruments. Go to
www.scarbee.com for a fantastic sounding Rhodes and Wurlitzer.

Almost forgot to say - Kontakt will set you back about £220 and the Bose samples cost about £150. Well worth it as you can obviously use the sampler for absolutely anything. It's got lots of sound mangling capabilities, effects, modulation etc. The Grand is not as flexible IMHO. I would definitely for the sampler route.

Hope this helps.
P

Just my 2 cents, but if you're looking for a decent piano that sits well in a mix, the Sonic Reality piano erom is just great (there are quite a few different ones on there), and has a great price. If you should need any more oompf (solo pieces) I'd have to agree with the Bardstown Bosendorfer. This is all incredibly subjective though, but I'm satisfied with the SR pianos for what I do.

Cheers...

rrtdj wrote:

do not try this one! http://www.yohng.com/piano.html if you will try it, bluedad and DevonB will come to your place and hunt you down. i have bought a solid gun already for the day when they will come.

Only because it's out of tune.

Devon

CynicalSmile wrote:

Just my 2 cents, but if you're looking for a decent piano that sits well in a mix, the Sonic Reality piano erom is just great (there are quite a few different ones on there), and has a great price. If you should need any more oompf (solo pieces) I'd have to agree with the Bardstown Bosendorfer. This is all incredibly subjective though, but I'm satisfied with the SR pianos for what I do. Cheers...

Ugh. Those pianos are so thin though, at least the ones from Sonic Synth are that I can speak of for sure. Again, small pianos never seem to cut it. If you're a piano player, or if you're used to the larger libaries, the smaller ones are hard on the ears, IMHO.

Devon

OK then why not get a real Grand Piano and stop whinging?

Seriously they do mix well with other instruments. If you want to play Rachmananof, well they will show their deficiencies. But come on the VFM here me is very high. IMSO

Gordon

This URL is quite interesting:

http://www.purgatorycreek.com/pianocompare.html

A must for someone looking for pianos information.

Beardedone wrote:

OK then why not get a real Grand Piano and stop whinging? Seriously they do mix well with other instruments. If you want to play Rachmananof, well they will show their deficiencies. But come on the VFM here me is very high. IMSO Gordon

VFM is only good if it's something you'd actually use though.

Devon

DevonB wrote:

VFM is only good if it's something you'd actually use though.

Devon, what exactly DO you use your piano samples for? You have such strong opinions on the quality of sampled pianos, but I have this sneaking suspicion that your use of sampled piano sounds is radically different than most of the other musicians here who want a piano sound. Which would mean that your opinions are very valid for you, but not necessarily so helpful for the rest of us!

Quote:

VFM is only good if it's something you'd actually use though.

My wife and kids actually do play our upright piano and if we had a grand, I think they would play it too.

Cheers,
Gordon

See Vintaudio.com

Listen to the samples of the Boston. Both samples sets (the Clinton and the Boston) are bundled together for $100. You will also need Kontakt or Giga or VSampler.

What's VFM anyway?

pough wrote:

DevonB wrote: VFM is only good if it's something you'd actually use though. Devon, what exactly DO you use your piano samples for? You have such strong opinions on the quality of sampled pianos, but I have this sneaking suspicion that your use of sampled piano sounds is radically different than most of the other musicians here who want a piano sound. Which would mean that your opinions are very valid for you, but not necessarily so helpful for the rest of us!

What are they used for? Mostly for classical type pieces. If you're using them for pop, then it be kinda silly. I guess it really depends on your standards for your sound. If something sounds horrible to your ears, then it's not very inspiring. My tastes have changed over the years. The piano in my Yamaha keyboard I used to think sounded good, whereas my best friend at the time played piano all her life and didn't think they sounded so good. Then I though the Roland sounded good. Then a 64 meg sample libary for my EMu E64 sounded good. Then Giga Piano sounded good. Now it's the Steinways for Giga. Each 'upgrade' I did, the newer one sounded good, and I could see the flaws with the older ones, slowly getting closer to sounding like the real thing. Nothing beats taking a seat on a REAL grand piano though. Just these other ones I can hear that something just doesn't sound 'right'. The majority of the Giga pianos out there now I do like in one respect or another, but not necessarily for my use. I still love a Yamaha C7, but one wasn't available when I got the Steinway D. Oh well.

Devon

Kajiki wrote:

What's VFM anyway?

Value For Money.

Devon

Oh, and I have noticed that people who are buying the Giga pianos are much more opinionated on piano sounds too, from the amount of posts I've read of others. Quite common, yes.

Devon

I hear Devon. I wish I could run Gigi on my Win XP machine. That is not feasible I understand. My wife wants to get a Grand someday so maybe we can compromise and I'll get VSL too