Best iOS piano

[hailduong]

Try TruePiano, or this free but pretty cool piano: http://www.realmusicmaker.com/rmm-sfz/keys-piano/

[Scott Murrell]

This works pretty well with soundfonts, and has just got an update to work in the background...

http://www.bismark.jp/bs-16i/

http://itunes.apple.com/app/bs-16i/id388149926?mt=8



grb.


+ I did buy Sampletank recently, and then found you have to spend more to actually use all the instruments listed in the app (you get 7 pianos, 2 of which are ok, the rest are extras)

I bought this app also and I personally think the GM soundfont soundsets are very good especially the acoustic pianos.

[polaris20]

A piano app isn't likely to have nearly as much polyphony as a laptop with a VST.

Do you have any proof of that, or is it just wild speculation?

[DrApostropheX]

A piano app isn't likely to have nearly as much polyphony as a laptop with a VST.

Do you have any proof of that, or is it just wild speculation?

I doubt it's just wild speculation. Considering that an iPad 3 has roughly 1/4 to 1/8 the RAM of a basic laptop PC (not to mention that a PC sampler can stream from disk), it's not WILD speculation to conclude that polyphony would vary between the two. I can't say for sure, but I believe SampleTank iOS's max polyphony is around 32 notes (and this number MAY be wild speculation on my part) which is pretty generous for an iOS instrument but it's nothing compared to Kontakt 5 which defaults to somewhere around 4x that, right?

[ObiWonder]

As iPads progress and technology gets better you could be looking at the same specs as a laptop on an iOS device in the next 3-4 generations.

As is, SampleTank iOS has GREAT multisampled pianos and even at 32 note polyphony (which depends entirely on the iOS device being used and apps running. i.e. iPhone 3g vs iPad 3 vs iPod Touch 3rd gen, all are different) that is more than enough for a piano sound.

[UltraJv]

A piano app isn't likely to have nearly as much polyphony as a laptop with a VST.

Do you have any proof of that, or is it just wild speculation?

Dont take it personally conundrum. Polaris gets angry when anyone suggests that his precious is anything other than perfect. From a devs mouth - laptop still beats it

[DrApostropheX]

As iPads progress and technology gets better you could be looking at the same specs as a laptop on an iOS device in the next 3-4 generations.

As is, SampleTank iOS has GREAT multisampled pianos and even at 32 note polyphony (which depends entirely on the iOS device being used and apps running. i.e. iPhone 3g vs iPad 3 vs iPod Touch 3rd gen, all are different) that is more than enough for a piano sound.

I agree! Until I grow another 23 fingers, 32 voices is plenty! And the sounds in SampleTank STILL blow me away. I don't know how you guys managed to compress that massive library down to around 700MB... The included MIDI loops are a blast, too (we had a blast playing the American folk loops with the Banjo sound... it sounds great!).

There's still a few days left to pick up the app + all the sounds for $30, right?, and with the planned upgrades in the future, it's a good deal.

[JorgV]

I agree! Until I grow another 23 fingers, 32 voices is plenty!...

I don't own sampletank (or an iPad...) so this is not about bashing sampletank, but this is really a misconception in general:

If sampletank uses layers in its sounds (and it probably does), you run through your voices pretty quick. This means that if you play one note, you might use more than 1 voice (velocity layers, maybe key on/off samples, crossing keylayers, etc) If you then also use your sustain pedal (which you probably do), 32 voices get eaten away pretty quick...

Say at a certain point 2 samples are layered (32/2=16 voices left):
it is not unthinkable that you play an arpeggio with pedal which uses more than 16 keys - your bottom notes will get cut off. Or a 4-voice chord + 2 voices left hand: press it twice with pedal down and your up to 12 sounding voices, get really close to that 16 voices limit.

My MotifXF has 128 voices and I can max them out with just playing(using layers), because it can use up to 8 voices per key on a single patch.

[polaris20]

A piano app isn't likely to have nearly as much polyphony as a laptop with a VST.

Do you have any proof of that, or is it just wild speculation?

I doubt it's just wild speculation. Considering that an iPad 3 has roughly 1/4 to 1/8 the RAM of a basic laptop PC (not to mention that a PC sampler can stream from disk), it's not WILD speculation to conclude that polyphony would vary between the two. I can't say for sure, but I believe SampleTank iOS's max polyphony is around 32 notes (and this number MAY be wild speculation on my part) which is pretty generous for an iOS instrument but it's nothing compared to Kontakt 5 which defaults to somewhere around 4x that, right?

That's why I posed the question; it's best to make claims based on actual numbers, and if that's the case, super. Also remember VSTi's have been running on hardware with less than the iPad's specs for years.

Dont take it personally conundrum. Polaris gets angry when anyone suggests that his precious is anything other than perfect. From a devs mouth - laptop still beats it

It was a valid question, quit trolling.

And I never claimed iOS is perfect, but if that fluffs up your perception of your own clever wit to say as such, be my guest. At least I don't involve myself in threads that don't pertain to my interests, as you do constantly.

As for "from the dev's mouth", they also said what the iOS version of ST provides is more than enough for a piano sound. But of course you ignore that.

[DrApostropheX]

That's why I posed the question; it's best to make claims based on actual numbers, and if that's the case, super. Also remember VSTi's have been running on hardware with less than the iPad's specs for years.

Actually, your comment made me think back to my 700Mhz desktop Windows XP machine with 768MB of RAM and the piano sounds I could get out of that were pretty much equivalent to the piano sounds I get out of my iPad today (though the desktop with monitor weighed probably 100x what an iPad does). The kicker: in both cases I use/used SampleTank for all my piano sounds as they were the most realistic for the smallest footprint.

If SampleTank is too rich for your blood, though, you can consider this entry from Beep Street, who make the exceptional Sunrizer synth and iSequence apps:

http://beepstreet.com/prokeys

It's only $0.99 in the AppStore and might be worth a shot for decent piano sounds.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pro-keys/id364419812

It supports CoreMIDI and Virtual MIDI, background audio... heck, I might even pick this up.

[polaris20]

That's why I posed the question; it's best to make claims based on actual numbers, and if that's the case, super. Also remember VSTi's have been running on hardware with less than the iPad's specs for years.

Actually, your comment made me think back to my 700Mhz desktop Windows XP machine with 768MB of RAM and the piano sounds I could get out of that were pretty much equivalent to the piano sounds I get out of my iPad today (though the desktop with monitor weighed probably 100x what an iPad does). The kicker: in both cases I use/used SampleTank for all my piano sounds as they were the most realistic for the smallest footprint.

If SampleTank is too rich for your blood, though, you can consider this entry from Beep Street, who make the exceptional Sunrizer synth and iSequence apps:

http://beepstreet.com/prokeys

It's only $0.99 in the AppStore and might be worth a shot for decent piano sounds.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pro-keys/id364419812

It supports CoreMIDI and Virtual MIDI, background audio... heck, I might even pick this up.

SampleTank isn't cheap, but in terms of sound quality it is pretty damn good. And really, we're still talking far less than $100 for a good sampler on iOS. I don't think that's unreasonable.

iOS devices (or mobile devices in general) aren't as powerful as computers are today. That's obvious. The question is whether or not they suit their purpose, when weighing the size/weight vs. power/capability. It's up to the user.

[ObiWonder]

As iPads progress and technology gets better you could be looking at the same specs as a laptop on an iOS device in the next 3-4 generations.

As is, SampleTank iOS has GREAT multisampled pianos and even at 32 note polyphony (which depends entirely on the iOS device being used and apps running. i.e. iPhone 3g vs iPad 3 vs iPod Touch 3rd gen, all are different) that is more than enough for a piano sound.

I agree! Until I grow another 23 fingers, 32 voices is plenty! And the sounds in SampleTank STILL blow me away. I don't know how you guys managed to compress that massive library down to around 700MB... The included MIDI loops are a blast, too (we had a blast playing the American folk loops with the Banjo sound... it sounds great!).

There's still a few days left to pick up the app + all the sounds for $30, right?, and with the planned upgrades in the future, it's a good deal.

Yup, ends April 30 for both the app and the "All Sounds" pack.

With SampleTank iOS you can use layers, but our pianos are good enough to stand on their own. Some of the pianos in SampleTank iOS are from the upcoming SampleTank 3. The quality sounds are there, everything else depends on how you play and use them.

[iPlogger]

I wrote something up last night, but then never posted it. Now that JorgV mentioned some things, I will point out what I was going to say.

I do really like the Rock Piano sound in SampleTank, but as I have mentioned elsewhere, I have not yet found ST to be ready for live performance. It's been terrific as a practicing tool when I don't want to setup all of my equipment or I want to practice at work. The piano polyphony struck home just this last week. We were playing a song that starts all piano. The song is in 6/8 and the last chord of the pattern is an F. I end the phrase holding an F octave in my left (two notes) and playing GCF with my right. My right hand plays on each 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 for two measures. At some point, I lose my held left hand notes. I do think I hold the sustain pedal the whole time. It is not the most ideal choice of which notes to drop out. Something I cannot have happen live.

In the end I used my new Yamaha Motif-XS Rack to handle it which worked GREAT!