Acoustic Grand Piano libraries/emulations: An Overview (audio demos of some pianos added)

[Obsolete236871]

Nice! What about upright pianos? For some reason I prefer their sound over grand pianos.

[Ingonator]

From the available C7, which ones do you know well and is recommendable? (cheap, please).

I tried the PIano1, but don't like the sound.

http://www.productionvoices.com/product ... -piano-le/ is a C3, and is almost what I want, but there's something missing.

While i do not own it myself Acousticsamples C7 Grand seems to be good in terms of price, HD size and features (while it needs UVI workstation and iLok/Pace which bot hwould not be a big problem for me). Ar JRR shop it is around 107$ (around 98 €) witht the additional discount at checkout.

Impact Soundworks Pearl Concert Grand seems to have a reasonable price too (119$ at the official website).
Actually this seems to be quite intersting for me at the moment, also as the interface (Kontakt scripting) looks quite nice and powerful. Pearl Concert Grand seemed to be released last year so is one of the newer piano libraries. Reviews and audio demos + videos for this seem to look promising so far.

I admit i have only used a fraction of those Pianos in the list myself and from the C7 i only used the free Piano One.
Also got Alicia's Keys which is a C3 Neo (and i love taht piano library) but that sounds different to a C7.
Anyway owning a good sounding C7 would be nice and i also made the list for myself to see the available options. Spectrasonics Kescape would be a kind of "overkill" and too expesnive just to get the C7 (not so much interested in the other 35+ keys/pianos included there and there are enough other C7 options).

FWIW at the beginning of the OP i linked to a thread where i posted a list with my pianos including demos for comparison.
My favorites at the moment besides Alicia's Keys are NI The Grandeur (= Steinway Model D), Addictive Keys Studio Grand (= Steinway Model D) and i am also playing with douing my own piano in Arturia Pinao V (That i got with V-Collection 5).

So far i did not own any of the expensive libraries from e.g. Galaxy Instruments (while most NI pianos are from Galaxy too...), Synthogy, East West, VI Labs etc.

I also made this list for myself to see what options are available including rare stuff like the Ravenscroft 275.

[Ingonator]

Nice! What about upright pianos? For some reason I prefer their sound over grand pianos.

I already mentioned that i did not include them in the current list (as mentioned in the OP and also in the thread title) and that it would be an option to add them whiel it would take a while to do a complete list.

Personally io got two of them at the moment (as part of Komplete 10): NI The Giant and NI The Gentleman.
Arturia Piano V includes multiple Upright models too (this is fully modeled, no samples).

[fmr]

If I had the time, I'd really like to blow this list out to a table that includes features. So columns for common features like (beyond the piano type itself of course):

1. Library size
2. Sympathetic Resonance modelling Y/N?
3. Una Corda Y/N?
4. Half-Pedalling Y/N?
5. Pedal Noise Y/N?
6. Hammer Noise Y/N?
7. # of microphone positions

The first one may be merely an indication, since size isn't exactly directly related to quality, IMO

Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are the most important to me. A piano library that fails in including any of these is severaly compromised, IMO.

Nos 5 and 6. I know there are people heralding these as the non plus ultra of realism, but when I attend recitals, I hardly listen to pedal noises and hammer noises. Even when playing the piano at home, if these become more noticeable, it's a sign that something in the piano mechanics has to be fixed. So, not important, at least to me.

No. 7. I had many discussions with a sound engineer that records our most famous pianist: Maria João Pires. He always place the mics the same way, more or less, and that always works. So, I dare to say the the # of microphone positions may be a good thing from an engineer POV, but not essential from a musician POV. Sure, if a library has them, good. But of it has them sacrificing nos. 2, 3 and 4, then, that's a no go for me. That's where size of library enters. A library can grow quite a bit by having several mic positions, but that doesn't mean it is better than one that only has one mic position, but has all the important details, like sympathetic resonance.

There are pieces that are a really "tour de force" for a piano to be tested. I already mentioned in another thread the Etude op.10 # 12 from Chopin (Revolutionary). I heard a passage of it as one of the pieces included in the video of the new instrument from Spectrasonics, and I already said it didn't impress me. Basically any good piano library can play those blues licks and jazz licks well, yet very few excel when defied by pieces like that Etude. That's where a virtual piano really shows if it's up to the task.

[Fleer]

Thanks for the list, Ingo.
There's a Steinway Model B in EastWest's Symphonic Orchestra Gold. Aria Sounds sell a Fazioli called Silk Grand but it's not great or silky at all. Cinematique Instruments have a nice Steinway A, named Grand 3P. More importantly, Wavesfactory launches Freddie Mercury's Fazioli next month, and the demo sounds promising.

[Ingonator]

Thanks for the list, Ingo.
There's a Steinway Model B in EastWest's Symphonic Orchestra Gold. Aria Sounds sell a Fazioli called Silk Grand but it's not great or silky at all. Cinematique Instruments have a nice Steinway A, named Grand 3P. More importantly,

Silk Grand and Grand 3P are added now but I could not find the Piano current versions of Symphnic Orchestra so far.

[Ingonator]

I already linked to another thread but for those interested here is a list of the pianos i currently own myself (first 3 are my "go to" pianos at the moment):

- XLN Addictive Keys Studio Grand (= Steinway Model D):
https://www.xlnaudio.com/products/instr ... udio_grand
- NI The Grandeur (=Steinway Model D)):
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... -grandeur/
- NI Alicia’s Keys (= Yamaha C3 Neo):
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... cias-keys/
- NI The Maverick (= Bechstein Grand):
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... -maverick/
- Arturia Piano V (pure modeling, no samples):
https://www.arturia.com/piano-v/overview
- 4Front TruePianos v1.9.5 (5 Piano models, modeling + samples):
http://www.truepianos.com/
- Garritan authorized Steinway Basic (discontinued)
- Sound Magic Piano One (freeware, Yamaha C7):
http://www.supremepiano.com/product/piano1.html

Those from NI and Arturia are part of Komplete 10 (+ Alicia'S Keys bought second hand for around 37€) and Arturia V-Collection 5. From Adictive Keys i got the Studio Grand and Electric Grand (= CP-80).


In this one i am currently interested and it looks/sounds very nice:
- Impact Soundworks Pearl Concert Grand (= Yamaha C7):
https://impactsoundworks.com/product/pe ... ert-grand/

[Ingonator]

I added Production Voices Studio Grand Piano LE which seems to be based on a Yamaha C3.

Currently seems to be on sale for 24$ (normal price 39.99$):
http://www.productionvoices.com/product ... -piano-le/

Studio Grand LE and Estate Piano LE (= Kawai GS) also sem to be available as a bundle for currently 39$ (normal price 70$):
http://www.productionvoices.com/product ... le-bundle/

[Fleer]

IIRC the Garritan Steinway is now part of GPO 5.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Cinesamples has a free library of 2 Steinway Grands:
https://cinesamples.com/product/jerry-s-pianos

It's more of an FX type library to capture the sound of dual pianos used by things like John Williams on the AT-AT score, but there are options to tighten and loosen up the performance. Could be useful to some out there, particularly for "march" type scenarios.

I know we're not included Uprights but they also have a library of the Mrs. Mills and Challen Upright (including with and without the "jangle piano" tacks) that I just had to jump on. Not sure how that's been out for over a year and I didn't know about it being a huge fan of The Beatles and upright pianos in general. Downloading that now...

[Ingonator]

I got a hint that i forgot e-instruments Session Keys Studio Grand S (= Steinway Model D) and e-instruments Session Keys Grand Y (= Yamaha CFIIIS). I inded was not aware of those so far and added those to the list now.

here are the links for those 2 pianos:
http://www.e-instruments.com/instrument ... s-grand-s/
http://www.e-instruments.com/instrument ... s-grand-y/

[PALU]

Interesting read. I'm on a constant lookout for a piano library that will suit my needs. I'm using piano drenched in shimmer reverb - more for the atmosphere that the real playing. I know, I know - you can say that any piano will work for that (and it's maybe true;), but most of the libraries I've tested and I've bought are not really 100% there for me.

I use NI Alicia’s Keys the most, but I like two pianos from East West Goliath (which I hate for any other use) - the Bosendorfer 280 and Fazioli F308.

[chris-mm]

I'm missing Sonivox 88 Ensamble in the list. It's a Steinway CD 327.
It's a standalone VST. So no Kontakt needed.
Thats a big plus for me!

And: There's a dirt cheap deal at Pluginboutique at the moment (88% off - so it's about 18$).
I really really like it. It's sure worth a look.

[flugel45]

I posted earlier with an omission, but forgot to say --

Thank, Ingonator!

[Ingonator]

I'm missing Sonivox 88 Ensamble in the list. It's a Steinway CD 327.
It's a standalone VST. So no Kontakt needed.
Thats a big plus for me!

I added this to the list now.