Primarily grand pianos and EP's? Using Kontakt 2, so it can handle most formats.
Or if not free, some very affordable libraries.
What would be some good sources for free pianos?
-
- KVRer
- 17 posts since 15 Jan, 2007
-
- KVRAF
- 16154 posts since 2 Dec, 2003 from Nashville, TN
Well, the group buy for this company is over, but they have the best pianos around, and many are $50 or less. Some are more, if you want more.
I have three of their pianos. Between the three, there are about 15GB of samples, and they are all the $50 ones. You may want to check them out:
http://www.sampletekk.com/index.php?PARTNER=garden
Just go there and look around. I'm confident that you will love them. They are worth every single penny, and are THE best pianos around. In the marketplace forum there is a long thread about the group buy that just ended, in case you're looking for more testimonials.
Good luck!
Brent
I have three of their pianos. Between the three, there are about 15GB of samples, and they are all the $50 ones. You may want to check them out:
http://www.sampletekk.com/index.php?PARTNER=garden
Just go there and look around. I'm confident that you will love them. They are worth every single penny, and are THE best pianos around. In the marketplace forum there is a long thread about the group buy that just ended, in case you're looking for more testimonials.
Good luck!
Brent
My host is better than your host
-
- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 17 posts since 15 Jan, 2007
Thanks for the tip. That may do in a pinch!
-
- Tunesmith
- 2889 posts since 12 Mar, 2002 from Toronto
the Piano Collection is a classic too for $40
http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=234
not kontakt 2 though but it comes with sampletank LE to play them
http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=234
not kontakt 2 though but it comes with sampletank LE to play them
-
- KVRAF
- 3476 posts since 9 Apr, 2003 from NE Ohio, USA
I have both SR Piano Collection and four Sampletekk pianos (along with Baroque organ, ren flutes, etc).
I like SR Piano collection, it's a lot of bang for the buck including various EP's as well as nice Steinways and a good C7. You can't go wrong with this, esp if you're starting out and/or not looking to use it as a performing solo pianist.
But for high quality, I second Koolkeys' recommendation on Sampletekk - I have Rain Piano ("upright with character"), Old Lady (vintage Steinway), Emperor (Bosendorfer) and 7CGjr (Yamaha C7). Any one of them (or other choices) is $50 or less, regular price. You WILL need to use Kontakt2 streaming unless you have bunches of RAM for these pianos.
Doug
I like SR Piano collection, it's a lot of bang for the buck including various EP's as well as nice Steinways and a good C7. You can't go wrong with this, esp if you're starting out and/or not looking to use it as a performing solo pianist.
But for high quality, I second Koolkeys' recommendation on Sampletekk - I have Rain Piano ("upright with character"), Old Lady (vintage Steinway), Emperor (Bosendorfer) and 7CGjr (Yamaha C7). Any one of them (or other choices) is $50 or less, regular price. You WILL need to use Kontakt2 streaming unless you have bunches of RAM for these pianos.
Doug
Logic is a pretty flower that smells bad - Spock, in "I, Mudd"
For a good time click http://www.belindabedekovic.com/video_fl_en.htm
For a good time click http://www.belindabedekovic.com/video_fl_en.htm
-
- KVRAF
- 2824 posts since 22 Mar, 2006 from cornwall
+1 for Sampletekk.
It is possible to buy some of the pianos from Sonic Reality Piano Collection from www.esoundz.com but the Sampletekk ones are awesome. I bought Black Grand Close and White Grand and these will rival Akoustik Piano and Ivory but cost me £42 in total!!! I was planning on buying Akoustik Piano but won't bother now!
There is a new piano out called Quantum Leap Pianos and one coming out from Garritan. These do look VERY interesting!!!!!
It is possible to buy some of the pianos from Sonic Reality Piano Collection from www.esoundz.com but the Sampletekk ones are awesome. I bought Black Grand Close and White Grand and these will rival Akoustik Piano and Ivory but cost me £42 in total!!! I was planning on buying Akoustik Piano but won't bother now!
There is a new piano out called Quantum Leap Pianos and one coming out from Garritan. These do look VERY interesting!!!!!
-
- KVRist
- 261 posts since 19 Jan, 2005
For electric pianos, try the jRhodes soundfont, Mr. Ray SeventyThree (NOT Mr. Ray 2.2; they're different plugins), and Mr. Tramp. The last two are a physically modeled Rhodes and Wurlitzer respectively, and they have earned great praise from people much more familiar with how the real instruments sound than I am.
There are actually good free acoustic grand pianos. They don't really measure up to the Sampletekk and PMI pianos, but they're okay if you're not trying to fool a pianist. The Maestro Concert Grand, for instance, is a free ~900 MB Gigastudio 2 file (widely compatible). The 72 MB version of the Akai Splendid Grand is still free, as far as I know. There are also several soundfonts that can be had on sf2midi.com and hammersound and around the Net. There's one on sf2midi that was sampled from a Casio Celviano hardware piano, and aside from some subtle issues with the decay programming I find it among the best (too bad it's not even remotely A440). Pianissimum is tiny, but it has a nice tone. The steinbow_mg soundfont (sampled from an old Steinway C) is really good for a mono piano; it has character and it's small enough to use in a mix without worrying about RAM. Just watch out for the version somebody modified; I think there were some stereo samples added in, which sounds silly...
If you want a harpsichord, don't bother paying; just get MyOrgan (freeware) and the Hauptwerk version of the Blanchet 1720 (also freeware). But I suppose I'm getting off topic...
There are actually good free acoustic grand pianos. They don't really measure up to the Sampletekk and PMI pianos, but they're okay if you're not trying to fool a pianist. The Maestro Concert Grand, for instance, is a free ~900 MB Gigastudio 2 file (widely compatible). The 72 MB version of the Akai Splendid Grand is still free, as far as I know. There are also several soundfonts that can be had on sf2midi.com and hammersound and around the Net. There's one on sf2midi that was sampled from a Casio Celviano hardware piano, and aside from some subtle issues with the decay programming I find it among the best (too bad it's not even remotely A440). Pianissimum is tiny, but it has a nice tone. The steinbow_mg soundfont (sampled from an old Steinway C) is really good for a mono piano; it has character and it's small enough to use in a mix without worrying about RAM. Just watch out for the version somebody modified; I think there were some stereo samples added in, which sounds silly...
If you want a harpsichord, don't bother paying; just get MyOrgan (freeware) and the Hauptwerk version of the Blanchet 1720 (also freeware). But I suppose I'm getting off topic...
-
- KVRer
- Topic Starter
- 17 posts since 15 Jan, 2007
I had tried a couple times to get the Maestro Grand, but kept getting dead links. After some searching, I found one that works, and am downloading it now.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks for the suggestion!
