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Every time I hear it I forgive them bugs but expecting from them to resolve that. The main problem for me is missing half pedal to control resonance. Compare to other pianos vst, this sound much more realistic and piano really need that half pedal. As I see notes sometimes disappearing only if I hold pedal longer, so this is not something that bothers me much, because I always try to use pedal only when is really necessary, but of course it need to be fixed. I hope that update will be address all of that. Other then this, piano is very playable.

It sounds great, but so quiet, I need to increase the volume on the earphones. It sounds always distant on the demos because they need to address the volume issue of this vst.

slobajudge
Can you please compare tone and playabillity of Walker Steinway D to VSL CFX Or Garritan CFX which I believe you own.

Thoughts of all owners are welcome.

Yes, I own all three and all three are the best pianos samples at the moment. Details and personal preferences choose one vs the other and without self testing my words doesn`t mean much. Now as I said that, for me Emberton has more realistic piano acoustic sound and more alive vs the other two pianos and the moment you start playing it is obvious. Power of his samples are in the next level despite the fact that you will play with one and maximum two mics. No reason for more but you can mix them all if you load them separately till update resolve multi patch. About playability, without update Emberton has bugs with pedal, multi patch and missing half pedal. As such it is not playable as other two pianos. They working perfect. VSL till now has lots of updates at least ten and Garritan has also one big update with half pedal. I also hope that Emberton will fix problems and update is a matter of days. Emberton is very playable in general but need that update to work in the level of other two. Yeah, I know, till you have it all you will torture yourself and after that your wallet will ask some questions

Back in Mid-June we heard:

And then in Early August:

Has Embertone released an update yet for their Walker 1955 Steinway D VSTi yet? It sounded like the update that was promised was pending a month ago... and this thread has gone quiet for almost three weeks now. Has anyone received it? I'm afraid that without such a half-pedaling/re-pedaling update, it's playability and use across the complete range of Classical music (pianissimo to fortissimo; Mozart to Liszt) will be limited. I am very happy with PianoTeq v6.2.2 playability and especially with the Steingraeber & Sohne model sound. I was just looking for one high quality sampled instrument to purchase as an alternative. Garritan CFX Full appears to be the most playable... but is actually starting to lag in sampled technology, Production Voices Concert Grand is more ready for prime-time... but I question the selection of the newer Steinway D "Road Warrior" instrument they actually sampled, and Embertone is the sweetest I've heard... but has some unacceptable deficiencies that would prevent me from purchasing it.

When it is ready, I would like to re-hear the Gluck-Sgambatti and Liszt MIDI recordings we evaluated on another "Steinway D Concert Grand" thread again on the Embertone Walker 1955 Steinway D, as an interesting comparison of how this instrument has progressed since initial release.

Update is close but not yet. This is Embertones message from yesterday in VI control forum:

``Hey gang,

I am monitoring this thread!! I would suggest those with performance issues reach out to us directly. Our tech support guru, Nick, is extremely detailed compiling everyone's issues, so we can probably identify what's going on pretty quickly.

Our half pedaling script-work is done! There is only one (extremely time consuming but) minor issue left, which you will notice (and probably chuckle about) when the update comes through.

Thanks and talk soon!``

At least guys are still in touch and following the dedicated thread. Nobody is perfect: Sometimes we overestimate our capabilities and underestimate the problem.
Let them do their work

Good luck Embertone!

Have you tried the VSL CFX? Much better instrument than the Road Warrior (LOL) Steinway D, much better sampled, and infinitely more playable. Not without its flaws, but the closest to playing an acoustic instrument of sampled instruments that I've experienced, with suitable configuration. Unfortunately, also substantially more expensive for the full version, but worth it if you want just one definitive instrument and you're not convinced by the Garritan CFX (which in my view is its only serious competitor at present). Also worth noting that they kept their promise of updates; they released about five or six updates in the first couple of months which substantially improved it.

If you compare VSL CFX to Emberton, at the moment without update technically yes, its working better. Much better sampled ? No. VSL doesn`t have that resonance and has weak upper register and I hate that. It has more realistic sound than Garritan though but Garritan has more even and pleasant sound.

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. The sampling of the VSL CFX was a lot more even than the Embertone from what I've heard, with better post-processing in my view. A lot better than the PV Concert Grand Steinway as well. With the surround mics, it has huge resonance; if anything, too much. Weak upper registers? Yes, that's true to an extent, though not nearly as weak as the PV Concert Grand, and the weakness can be fixed by simple per-note amplitude editing; takes less than 5 minutes and sounds fine afterwards.

VSL CFX with one mic sound awful. You must fire up at least four to make it sound like piano. Compare that to only one binaural mic in Embertone without surround and VSL failed.

Do you think the Lite version is worth it? Or is it Full or nothing in your opinion?

For 39 $ you will not find better, but I don`t know their policy for upgrade to full. Anyway you need more options for the sound, I recommend full version. People who like this piano have different opinions what mics they like and most of them combine two mics except binaural. It sounds fantastic solo with headphones and little bit distant. Main plus close mics are fantastic, for others wide plus hammer misc, etc. I suggest you to wait for update, it will resolve also multi mics patch.

LOL you and your love for Embertone. I will not get into details about the quirks i have with Embertone's Steinway but i will amicably say that you are absolutely wrong about what you said about VSL CFX.

First of all, VSL CFX to me is the closest experience you will get to playing a real vivid organic sounding piano. Those thousands of release samples per key pay off at the end and that's what makes it a step above any piano vst for me.

Second of all, the mic-ing concept in VSL CFX is totally different than Embertone. The mics in the VSL CFX were purposely positioned to work together and complete each other, unlike Embertone which were placed in traditional perspective positions that we're used to with every piano vst and its cousin.

As Karvala mentioned, the thin upper registers can easily be pumped in 30 seconds in the edit page. It's the same feature Pianoteq Pro has and it's even better scripted than Pianoteq.

Glad you love Embertone piano. For you it's the best. For me, it's not as i find the VSL CFX vastly superior.

The bottom line is let's all enjoy our choices and make music:)

Thanks for the info on VSL CFX... I had not tried or considered it. Wow - I guess it wasn't until today that I realized that this is the same "Synchon Stage Vienna" crew that produced the famous analog "compare" of their Hamburg Steinway D, Bosendorfer CEUS 290 Imperial and Yamaha CFX Enspire Concert Grands, featuring pianist Stefan Mendl. Very nice set of pianos to record and sample; each offering some benefits that the others do not. It looks like they may have made use of the Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Enspire's system to develop so many and different types of samples, similar to what I recently discovered what Embertone did in using the "Live Performance LX" Walker 1955 Steinway D - which is the same "RePerformance" piano used by Zenph to reproduce legendary recordings of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Glenn Gould and Oscar Peterson.

The VSL CFX is a nice sounding instrument from the demos, but a bit expensive for even the Standard Library... also makes me wonder if they will ever sample their Hamburg Steinway D or re-sample the Bosendorfer Imperial? For the money though, if Embertone gets the half-pedaling/re-pedaling right on their "Walker 1955 Steinway D Full version", this virtual instrument may yet end up being a bargain for what it offers...

Synchron Stage Vienna Concert Grand comparison: (includes the new Yamaha CFX Enspire instrument used to produce the "VSL Synchron CFX")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2GYYV8JSqM

Dr. John Walker's Zenph Studios RePerformance of Rachmaninoff: (utilizes the instrument used to produce the "Embertone Walker 1955 Steinway D")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRZ01GhrJss&list=PLrRdDOgKd0iVHqZuQqBpyWUtI0lBKY1Hq


P.S. Although value priced, my opinion is that the "Lite" version gives up too much with reduced number of max velocity levels (36 --> 12) and no una-corda pedal support.... kind of like the Ravenscroft 275 iOS version I purchased for my iPhone.

May I claim the diplomatic middle ground and say that they both suck lol

Seriously though, with the updates that the VSL CFX has been getting I should probably give it another chance. The release samples that you mentioned ended up ruining it for me actually, because I would get weird sound effects in the release samples frequently, and only related to certain notes. Ruined the immersion for me. I will say though that it feels very alive, and the dynamic range blew my mind every time I played it. I'm very curious whether Embertone will fix the issues of the Walker, because as far as tone goes, I'd prefer it over any CFX any day. When I can actually enjoy it for more than five seconds without getting pops and crackles and being disturbed by out of tune or too sharp notes, then it sounds like candy. Sweet like sugar.

Wow how diplomatic. Hats off.

They added a knob with the latest update to tone down the volume of the release samples and it completely solved the weird artifacts that everyone was complaining about.

Ironically, i was one of the people who gave up on it before the updates started rolling. I even deleted it fron my SSD. And trust me, i wouldn't be showering my bouquets of praises now if i didn't think the updates made it near perfection for me. And i'm one of the pickiest you'll see on here.

Pops and crackles...umm..well...SSD is actually listed as a requirement on the VSL CFX spec sheet. I run it with no problems on my system.

I think I didn't see the knob yet, but I know there's a numerical setting that you can do in one of the deeper hidden menues somewhere. Someone, can't remember who it was, advised me on the settings in the VSL CFX thread, but I must admit I barely remember anything about it. But it's there's an actual knob now, then I should check it out. Even though, if that means you have to turn down all release samples just so the faulty ones aren't bothersome anymore, then that is not an elegant solution if you ask me. It's similar to the issues that the Grandeur has and that can be "fixed" by turning off sympathetic resonance or release samples (thankfully there was another solution later on).

I do have the Embertone installed on an SSD. I tested it again and it looks like I have to crank up my sample size settings in the ASIO driver. Then it drastically improved, but introduced more lag and there was still some crackles left. Looking forward to what the update brings to the table.

I take back the "knob" word, it's not a knob but as you said, it's a numeric value that you can control with your mouse, that's correct.

It's not hidden anywhere, it's actually on the "edit" page, which is the first thing you see on top of the main GUI when you open it and you can get there by clicking on the "edit" word.

It does not turn down the release samples all the way, unless you want it to (that would be a value of -80). I set to -6 and it's game over, problem solved. I wouldn't be happy playing with no release samples anyway (i'm picky, remember?).

The edit page on the VSL CFX is far deeper than what's available on the Grandeur. I would say that the closest thing to it in terms of tweakability is the one in Pianoteq Pro.

I can not comment on the Embertone because I have not tried it, but the VST CFX is the best piano vst right now. My piano teacher, who was the pianist of the Symphony where I live, - previously no piano vst convinced her -, then last Friday she came to my house and I put the Vsl CFX in Cubase with the patch made and published by Karvala -modifying the RS LEVEL in -5 to not have the commented problem of the Release Samples-, midi velocity curve modified by midiflow in the Yamaha NU1 and Sonarworks to balance the acoustics of my room ... she played several pieces among which are the Bach's partitas and she said that without problem could study with that piano!!.So, the VSL CFX works for me and I'm very happy about this!!!.Comment that she is a teacher at the Conservatory and is playing piano acoustic all day and at home has a Yamaha Grand G2 5'7''