Some people who already have Ivory 2 have also purchased the American Concert D and I'm wondering what the differences are between the two.

Can't seem to find anybody who has had experience using both, but I'm hopeful that somebody will chime in with an answer.

Ivory 2 is a suite of 3 pianos - a Bosendorfer, a German Steinway, and a Yamaha. in addition to the basic Ivory 2 program and its 3 pianos, there are several other sampled pianos you can purchase separately, either as an add-on to Ivory 2 (they will just show up as an additional piano in the library) or they can be purchased as stand-alone pianos if you don't want Ivory 2 as the base platform. Those are the Italian Grand (a Fazioli), the American Concert D (a New York made Steinway) and a suite of several upright pianos. now having said that- i know the American Concert D can be stand-alone, i'm not completely sure of others. I'm sure its easily determined on synthogy's website.

Most comparisons you see on the forum are between the German D and the American D. I have both and frankly i couldn't tell you which i like better. it just depend on the mood i'm in, the type music i'm playing, and how my ears respond on any given day. As someone else once described it - The German has a "silvery" sound- its a new piano, has a more metallic ring to it. The American has a "golden" tone, it is an older piano and has that broken in sound and has a "woodier" timbre to it. The American is a larger program and has longer samples and 18 velocity levels vs 16 for the German- for some people that is a big deal, for the type stuff i like to play it doesn't mean that much to me.

I tend to really like the American through my speaker setup with very little reverb added. I let the actual room i'm playing in add the reverb. I much prefer the German through my headset- i feel i can control it better. All -in-all - for what i play i would pick the German if you put a gun to my head. But from a value perspective- i would say buy the American first- particularly if you like the Steinway sound. I don't care much for the Bos nor the Yamaha in Ivory 2- mainly because i just like the steinway sound better - so i've wound up paying a lot more for the use of the German Grand piano vs the American. The American D as a stand alone is a terrific value. So try it first- if you love it- you're done! I would certainly recommend it. If you really want multiple pianos, well the Ivory 2 program gives you three and they are all very usable.

I think Synthogy does a great job with their pianos.

I have both Ivory 2 and American D. I love both products and am in general agreement with bfb.

I also agree that the Yamaha and Bosendorfer in Ivory 2 are sub-standard. They really don't hold up against the German-D and I never use them.

So - if it comes down to money, just get the American D and be happy. It is very nice.

I wonder what are sonic differences between the Ivory 2 pianos and the Ivory 1 (v1.5). I've had the latter for several years, which includes the German Steinway, the Bosie, the Yamaha, and the add-on Fazioli.

Do their Ivory 2 counterparts sound much different?

AZ_Astro: I wouldn't call the Bosie and Yamaha substandard. They're just different piano sounds.

The Yamaha is much brighter than the others ... that's Yamaha's sound. It's too bright for me, but it's hardly substandard.

And the Bosie sound is unique among pianos. It's not substandard. It's just very different. I find it better for Chopin than the Ivory German Steinway or the Galaxy Vintage D. It doesn't have the resonance of many modern pianos, nor the bell-like quality of a Steinway. But it's just perfect for some music.

I agree. Seems to work well with just a touch of reverb added, to fill out and warm up the sound. A gorgeous sounding piano with superior playability.

Hi MacMacMac,

The Ivory II Grand Pianos has almost twice the amount of samples per note in comparison to Ivory 1.5. This will be the most obvious difference simply because, there are quite a bit more softer dynamic levels and some louder dynamics that were not in 1.5 giving you more expression and variety when playing.

There are other major features as well from the Ivory II Engine which is available for all Ivory II products. More information on these features can be found here: http://www.ilio.com/products/synthogy-instruments/ivoryIImore

On the Ivory II. I can't agree with the Bosie and Yam being sub standard with the German Steinway being good. I judge just the opposite. Bear in mind that I'm not great at adjusting. There are plenty of presets already.
I find the German Steinway when played lightly/softly....it sounds muffled. Center octave isn't swift. When I bang on it, sounds much better.
Bosendorfer and Yamaha I prefer. Yet they can get too bright. Have to be choosy.

Thanks for the reply. Have you used both Ivory 1 and Ivory 2?

Hi MacMacMac,

Yes I have. I personally am a big fan of Steinway so I like using the German D in Ivory Grand Pianos II and I also am a big fan of the Steinway in the American Concert D. The Yamaha and Bosendorfer has it's purposes as well though and brings variety.

It sounds very tempting. It's a shame that Ivory 2 requires an Ilok.

i know its a pain, but its not really that bad to live with it. and i wouldn't let it keep me from experiencing a wonderful VST, particularly if you like using software pianos. i think there is great value in Synthogy's product. you can buy the American D online at $179 US. that really is a great purchase, ilok or no ilok.
in my review above i didn't mention how smoothly the Ivory II works in Cantabile. at 256 samples buffer it runs great with no perceived latency (but then again my fingers ain't very fast) and i'm sure somebody with skills could make it run at a smaller buffer pretty easily. it never crashes on me.

I'm still looking hopefully for the day (that is coming as implied by the TrueKeys guy) that iLok will convert into a free-as-in-beer software solution. I can live with some amount of DRM but I'm not going to shell out for a device that does it, that sticks out of my USB port, and that, if lost or broken, makes it difficult or impossible to get my licenses back.

If and when that happens I'll probably buy Ivory and TrueKeys as well.

I hear you, gv. The recent fiasco with Ilok changed my view from "put off" to "no way". I was just wondering how much better the Ivory 2 pianos are compared to my Ivory 1. I'm hearing that there's some increase in the number of sampling levels, but that's not enough to get me to buy it just now.

y'all are hard crowd.

I've had no issue using Ilok. What has been your experience?