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Just to mention: On January 2015 "Zenph" was bought by “Steinway & Sons” and thanks to Zenph's technology we have some incredible performances in "Steinway Spirio" library now!

Pieces played by:
George Gershwin
Duke Ellington
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
Claudio Arrau

Just to name a few.

I also think that VSL CFX is among the best samples piano. I say that many times. But sound can`t be compared to Emberton, who has much more realistic sound. But ok, I am glad that you love VSL CFX. After couple of years we finally have some new pianos to talk about and that`s good. I agree, lets all enjoy our choices and make music

Can’t wait to get my hands on that Embertone Walker update. Come to mama!

You’re doing it again. That’s your opinion about Embertone having a more realistic sound. My opinion is the opposite, I think the vsl cfx does.

With that said, I like to thank you for respecting other people’s preferences and choices, that’s the spirit. Thumbs up.

Let’s just agree that people express their opinion when posting in threads, while at the same time respecting others’ unless proven otherwise. It’s simpler that way.

Does anyone think otherwise?

Funny thing is that when you dig up older posts about the best piano vst around the www, we enter an alternative universe at times.
How some people rave about a certain vst and fully ignore it when their next ‘ultimate’ vst comes around. ( Ivory on top of everything)
I have done the same , therefor we should take any comment with a grain of salt at times.

Example .... i use an HX3 hammond clone, considered one of the best.
Over time it received many updates and thus ‘improvements’.
The initial product reviews were stellar even when the HX3 product was still called ‘HOAX’’.
After at least a dozen updates and the related forum comments, one would assume that the current product is at least in another league compared to the first one’s
I stopped updating after a while because it was a pain altogether and the extreme hype after each and every update was totally wasted on me..... iow i couldn’t care less about 10% more authentic percussion when you listened to it in isolation with €400,- + headphones.

Comparing a Steinway to a Yamaha is also impossible.....the differences in sound are large in my opinion.
I for one choose sound above playability and the behaviour of the total piano playing experience.
Of course it has to play at a certain level without latency, cracks or other huge distractions.
But i prefer a superb tone over acurate pedal behaviour and i get the feeling that some forum members feel the opposite.

Ps Kontakt ,out of nowhere , cannot find the Embertone since yesterday.
The routing path and everything seem accurate and Kontakt should have no reason to ‘Library content not found’ messages ..grrrrr......
Out of nowhere without running any updates whatsoever ( didn’t even played the Embertone yesterday) it can’t find the Embertone.

Totally irrelevant and has nothing to do with what you quoted the post above for, which is respecting people's opinions when it comes to tastes instead of claiming facts without adding the magic word afterwards which is: "in my opinion". That is all i was amicably saying to Slobajudge.

And regarding moving on to other vsts when new ones come out: So what? what's wrong with that? We're all in the pursuit of perfection in terms of piano sample libraries.

And if you're referring to me regarding Ivory American Grand, Yes i did say a while i go that it's the best piano vst at the moment but that was during the time when VSL CFX had tons of bugs and issues, so now the VSL CFX is my go-to piano. Sue me?

I have checked out the latest update for the VSL CFX and my first impression is that it runs a lot smoother than the initial release version. After spending some time doing edits to the individual note edit pages I could also (kind of) balance out the weaker upper octaves, and by making changes to those numerical setting things, those stupid release sounds have gotten bearable. It's actually pretty fun to play now. I have come to dislike the sound of it though. It sounds even colder and more lifeless than the Garritan CFX to me now, and the sound quality doesn't satisfy me anymore, although I find it hard to pinpoint why that is. I'm considering upgrading to the full version because apparently the additional mics greatly improve the sound. But then I am not sure if I want to sink more money into this, and also I still don't want to support this kind of customer treatment regarding drm and dongles.

I am really curious now though - if they ever sample their Steinway with this engine, and then refine it similarly to how they refined this one, then that could be one heck of a piano VST. Let's hope it doesn't take them another ten years to release that.

Ironically, the setting that i use in the VSL CFX relies on the standard version and it sounds full and vivid to me. I couldn't be happier. So go figure.

I can send you my preset if you like to try it.

And yes, i think the Synchron Steinway is coming i believe. They're in love with that stage. They just released a new Synchron strings library today.

Don't overreact please,...... i have no idea whatsoever what you wrote about Ivory piano's.... don't even know what you currently use apart from the VSL/CFX.

I like to read all over the web about vst's because it's fun and people's opinion change over time.
I have also claimed that the first years the Garritan CFX was my holy grail piano vst, but i don't really warm to the CFX sound at the moment.
And the CFX rendering from VSL sounds even more 'cold' than the Garritan that has still some warmth.
Good for you that you like it very much,..... please continue to enjoy your vst !

Ahhh i see. Fair enough then, my apologies.

And thank you very much. I will indeed continue to enjoy my lovely amazing VSL CFX.

Do to some 'Steinway' brand related issues i had to rename "Walker 1955 Steinway D.nicnt" to "Walker 1955 Concert D.nicnt" in the folder.

After launching native access and kontakt the Embertone is on full display again.
Pffff....luckily someone posted this over at the VI control forum.

Uh oh... WHY would they do that and choose this one name out of everything they could have chosen?? They'll run into trouble with Synthogy because of their "American Concert D" product name.

Also, tdwctdwc, thank you for your offer. Can you perhaps make a screenshot of your microphone mixing screen? I'm just using the default player perspective mixing. Have the room mics disabled because they add this very IMHO unpleasant room reverb to the sound. But perhaps you could make it work better?

My setting has the "Decca Tree player preset" mics untouched hence most of the work is done in the edit page and volume levels etc. Due to the graphic GUI nature of the edit page, it won't be any help to post a screenshot. That's why i offered to send you the preset file as it is. Feel free to pm me.

Nah, “concert” is a general (Steinway) denominator, like ProductionVoices Concert Grand.

I don't think so, read here:

https://www.garritan.com/products/cfx-concert-grand-virtual-piano/

CFX is a YAMAHA and they named it a Concert piano too...

The sound of this Embertone is gorgeous.
If they add the half pedal and if it works well, this could be my next purchase and a reference for the next 10 years.

Does anybody compared it to the Vintage D about playability (response to velocity, homogeneity and continuity of the tone with the increase of velocity played...)?

Thanks

SK

Which is what I meant to say, and why I put Steinway between brackets

Is there any news about the update? If not, then I suppose they will release it after October 1 - the release date of Kontakt 6.

The huge advantage of this library is that it's "Kontakt Player" compatible so Embertone can implement all new features in Kontakt 6 without any need to think about those who are on the previous paid versions and don't want upgrade now. "Production Voices" have to understand how important is it!

And what about your impressions now? Do you still feel the same excitement of this piano?