Sampled Pianos NOT up to par for playability AND sound in one package

[maestro2be]

I would like to see a list of other individuals user experience with other Sampled Pianos and their take on "playability". By playability, I mean specifically the ability to play ppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff, and fff. Something that is as close to the real thing as possible. I am not talking just about the "sound" of the samples.

I have already purchased a sample library that has "great sounding samples" but yet yields useless to me because of it's lack of "layers and playability". If you're a true classical pianist or a ballad player who can go from one complete extreme to the other within the same song what have you found works for you? Here is what I have found does not work for dymnamic playing.

1. Bardstown Bosendorfer (great sound, terrible limitations due to only 4 layers).
2. VSL Bosendorfer. Just plain sounds bad and plays just as bad.
3. The Steinway D within Garritan Personal Orchestra (actually works the best of all the ones I have at the moment and is by far the cheapest. It still falls short though).
4. All the pianos that come with LOGIC and EXS24. Very good playability but terrible sounding.
5. PMI Bosendorfer 290 - Sounds good, plays pretty good too but Gigastudio is dead and so I am screwed there too.

So thats my contribution. Would love to hear from people who play Chopin, love songs, extremely dynamic literature (extreme loud to slow soft endings etc within seconds) etc.

I am still looking for the right piano sample for me so I can play live and do recordings at home and actually for a change, be happy with it. As well as not throw my money away.

Thanks

[Glenn NK]

Well you won't get any disagreement from me. I've downloaded numerous demo songs from the websites and listened to them and compared them, and I didn't hear anything from the sample libraries that I would consider buying.

Last night I downloaded the trial version of Pianissimo and tried it out - my initial comments are on the thread entitled Another New Piano.

If nothing else, it was reasonably playable, and for the price it's surprisingly good.

Glenn

[Iplayjazz]

Well, my 2 favorites are Garritan Steinway and Galaxy II pianos. Nothing has totally reached the playability of the real thing, but a lot has to do with your controller and getting the right customized velocity curves for each setup.

Hope this helps

[Per Lichtman]

Well, I'll be talking more about that this month at WusikSoundMagazine.com but I would like to point out the PMI model you mentioned is availble for Kontakt as well (with a bundled player if you prefer) so you don't have to reach for a new library if you really liked that one.

[electone2007]

The most playable VSTi pianos I have are Ivory and Garritan Authorized Steinway.

But since the topic is on sampled pianos, I'd have to say that I find Sampletekk's The Small One (TSO) to be very playable as you defined it.

TSO has a big brother (The Big One) but I find myself going back to TSO very often as I find the programming of the velocity layers in it more biased towards the softer velocity layers which I like a lot.

[electone2007]

I am still looking for the right piano sample for me so I can play live and do recordings at home and actually for a change, be happy with it. As well as not throw my money away.

Thanks

I see you have the Bardstown Bosendorfer. Does that mean you have Kontakt?

For only $49 you won't go wrong to try Sampletekk's TSO, since you may have Kontakt already.

[kensuguro]

for now, sampletekk TBO works for me, although it's a little on the inconsistent side. I also use bluthner digital model one, but to me it sounds like it has more layers biased towards the soft end, though it has a wide range overall. TBO has a great range.. it may be hard to find a controller with enough accuracy to make use of all the layers. MIDI velocity is 0-128, but manufacturing inconsistency and inaccurate parts will actually give you a lot less (usable) resolution.

[electone2007]

for now, sampletekk TBO works for me, although it's a little on the inconsistent side. I also use bluthner digital model one, but to me it sounds like it has more layers biased towards the soft end, though it has a wide range overall. TBO has a great range.. it may be hard to find a controller with enough accuracy to make use of all the layers. MIDI velocity is 0-128, but manufacturing inconsistency and inaccurate parts will actually give you a lot less (usable) resolution.

That's why I use TSO more often than TBO.

I find TSO's 8 layers to be sufficient and TBO's 31 layers sort of overkill.

Additionally, TSO's 8 layers are mapped such that the softer layers have more coverage and the loud and bright layers are sort of squeezed at the top. This works well with my Yamaha Clavinova plus Trombettworks MIDI Velocity Changer combo as controller.

[kensuguro]

heh, and it's $49? that's a killer deal! TSO is probably built from TBO samples right? That's pretty cool.

For me, I fine tune my velocity with a simple custom Jesussonic script I wrote in Reaper. It's just a nonlinear scalar so it's the usual exponential curve, just that I can dial it in with extreme precision.

[electone2007]

TSO is probably built from TBO samples right? That's pretty cool.

In fact, it is.