I really like the Yannleo VSTi. I use it a lot...good in a mix, and you might be able to get away with it alone, with some compression.

My fave free piano is definitely Balthor Grand - for a rich and bright grand piano tone. But 2nd choice is MDA - which is easy on CPU and has useful controls. There are some good soundfonts available too. I recently tried True Piano, but was suprised in a side-by-side test how dull it was overall, compared to Balthor for example (in lower registers). But its velocity levels were a treat compared to the freebies and soundfonts! Good luck!

SciFiArtMan

Tascam CVpiano maybe, too?

+1


Did Balthor ever get Velocity? No velocity was a showstopper for me. The infinite sustain was/is a bug too.

you beat me to it, 1000 presets here(including pianos)

just installed this, what on earth is it, just one sound demo or what, seemed odd, what is this vst, didn't understand it or is the freeware version just a demo to payware with more sounds?

Yes, just before he left for parts unknown (many at KVR were ragging on him about something) he made a version with complete and adjustable velocity that works very well. Not sure what you mean about "infinite sustain" but the version I use has a fully functional ADSR, along with many other nice controls, and there is no weird infinite sustain bug that I've ever experienced. Come to think of it I may be one of the few to have this particular version as the dev was pretty bummed by the response to his VSTi after the DC. But it IS a very fine (sample based) freeware grand piano plug-in, and sounds best of the bunch, for what I do.


SciFiArtMan

CVpiano has only one sound

There is no payware version.

What were all the empty channels for then, is it a sample player too?

It's derived from Gigasampler, that's all I know. I dunno if it can load other instruments.

Try Homegrown Piano demo (demo has lo-fi samples).
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/3481.html

I don't want to offend other 'cool friends' but MDA has always been nothing more to me than a karaoke general midi sounding type piano to my ears.

If you are looking for a piano that sounds like an acoustic grand piano - my criteria, then I would steer you away from MDA and towards even simple soundfonts.

Warren Trachtman's freebie steinway sf2 is pretty good for a piano that sounds sampled a bit at a distance from the piano - it doesn't have very wide stereo separation - which is nice for a piano to sit in a mix.

The Splendid soundfont is a nicely done close-sampled piano with wide stereo separation.

Links: http://www.pianosounds.com/freesoundfont.htm

http://www.soundcreationsinc.com/tech/splendid/splendid.html

+1 on Splendid Piano. Although for my own tastes, I hunted down the 256 mb set, massaged the samples a bit, and made some difficult mapping decisions, including deleting the highest velocity layer and the black keys. This gave me the warmth and authority of the original, but with a much more even response (and a much smaller size).

I also rather like the Trachtman set, and those based on it. My favorite is the "harmo 6" set that Phillipe Guillaume tweaked the free into -- full of warmth, authority, and clarity, and nicely consistent. (Hmm, I notice a theme in my preferences.)

I find the mda piano to be quite agreeably neutral, and well-suited to many mixes.

This is a matter of taste, but I don't like Mats Helgesson's Maestro or Tascam's Continuous Velocity Pianos as much as I should. I find them beautiful, the results of many wise and loving labors, but their character just doesn't appeal to me -- too perfect, too tame, too engineered.

I like 4Front's piano; it may be somewhat synthy, somewhat cheesy, and over-produced, but its flavor is fun and usable.

OK this isn't a vst but I'll still mention this:
I recently downloaded DSK's free "Top Keys volume 1"
http://www.dskmusic.com/blog/ (just under synthopia 2)
Although the acoustic pianos are far from realistic, most of them has that rather nasal sound popular in early 90s house (when they didn't use the M1, that is ) - a rather cool piano/strings combo is included too.
There are sampletank, kontakt, Halion and soundfont versions there....something for everyone I suppose.

The version I have was downloaded from the 2006 DC challenge page here. It has no velocity and the sustain doesn't work - rings out forever when key is held and sustain is at min. level