A good low-cost piano collection out there?

[Cyrosis]

The ArtVista Virtual Grand Piano is beautiful for softer type of material. It's a Kompakt player instrument so you don't need a sampler, and it's a great value at $120. www.artvista.net.

IMHO this is the library to beat if your looking for the sound of a live piano (sitting in a room with the real thing) however, you mention bright, pop/rock, so I would think this isn't really what your looking for, but still worth a look

[Gregjazz]

I noticed that SampleTekk is having a 3-day 50% off sale:

http://www.sampletekk.com

You gotta check out their pianos. They're pretty hefty size-wise, but it's an amazing deal.

[poonna]

Thank you for all your inputs so far.

I've listened to ArtVista demo, and while it's great, it's not really the kind of piano I'm looking for. I have a Casio Privia electric piano, which sounds like a mellower Steinway. I've also got a few other piano soundfonts. MrRay 73, MrTramp, and Lounge Lizard Session would do the Rhodes/Wurly things for me. So what I'm looking for specifically are more on the likes of the brighter Yamaha C7, Yamaha CP70/80, and Hohner D6 things.

BTW, I have no samplers that could play SampleTekk, PMI, and those few others, and I'm not yet ready to invest that much. Kontakt/Halion/Giga + these samples would cost me quite a lot.

[Bradster]

If you have Reason, check out the Piano Refill. For $99 you get a Yammy C7, Steiny Grand, and Steiny Upright. And lots of mic possibilities and room ambiences.

[poonna]

Sadly I have no Reason either. I'm more of a Tracktion + eXT guy.

[Bradster]

Sadly I have no Reason either. I'm more of a Tracktion + eXT guy.

I hear you. I often have no Reason myself.

Traction comes with a version of SampleTank, right? LE? That should play the SR expansion tank pianos that were mentioned here.

[poonna]

Actually, one of the reason I have no Reason is that I probably have no reason to use Reason.

My Tracktion is still at version 1 that I got for free as an NFR give-away, so no SampleTank attached. However, SR Piano Collection at around $70 already includes SampleTank LE. So I think that's the way to go.

[dougsyo]

I noticed that SampleTekk is having a 3-day 50% off sale:

http://www.sampletekk.com

You gotta check out their pianos. They're pretty hefty size-wise, but it's an amazing deal.

Yup - now through 10/27. Requires Kontakt or Giga though, which the OP doesn't have

Last 50% off sale I picked up 7CGjr (Yamaha C7) and Rain Piano (upright) for under US$50 (total). There's also White Grand Jr, Tubed Rhodes Jr, TSO, and Tubed Wurly, each for under US$30 (that's the 50% off price) and also a solo brass collection (US$49 with 50% off).

Doug

[Wine]

What about the pianos available for Wusik? All seem very good to me for cheap pianos!

Michael

[dougsyo]

My Tracktion is still at version 1 that I got for free as an NFR give-away, so no SampleTank attached. However, SR Piano Collection at around $70 already includes SampleTank LE. So I think that's the way to go.

For a one-stop purchase, that's probably got the most bang-for-the-buck. Even though I have 7CGjr and Rain Piano, the SR piano collection and/or DimPro pianos (depending on mood etc) still tends to be my first stop - perhaps because they're not so "heavy". But then I'm hardly a piano player anyhow, I'm not really sure what the bigger pianos will ever get me.

Doug

[twolegstoneworks]

If you dont have a sampler this amazing plug will be all you need: http://www.truepianos.com/

Available soonish...