Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards VSL Steinway D - released

I didn't expect that new Synchron Piano to be released so soon. They're offering a introductory price, and a 3+1 Voucher event at the same time.
The following is the product link.

Product Link

December 6 th , 2018
Synchron Pianos 1.1.1103
• Added: Support for Steinway D
• Improved: Performance when releasing sustain pedal
• Improved: Rare crashes when closing sessions

Key Features
Over 4,000 samples per key for maximum authenticity, liveliness, and feel.
Recorded in the natural ambience of one of the best recording halls in the world, Synchron Stage Vienna
Utmost realism, capturing all of the instrument’s nuances with our proprietary precision sampling technology
Hyper-realistic playing feel
Multiple microphone positions – for a multitude of timbral variations
Intuitive, customized Synchron Pianos software with high-performance playback engine
Six pre-configured presets: “Concert”, “Intimate”, “Player”, “Pop”, “Ambience”, “Mighty”
Soft (una corda), sostenuto, sustain pedals
Half-pedalling and re-pedalling
Sympathetic resonance
Body resonance
Dedicated release samples, depending on played release velocity
Detailed pedal sounds for soft and sustain pedals, depending on pedal speed

Promo price is about 15% off list price. I guess it wouldn't hurt to buy it now instead of waiting for one of their sales. Their sales usually aren't more than 25% off, right?

Curious to hear what people think about this compared to Embertone's Steinway D and Production Voices' Concert Grand.

On their web site I see these prices:

Are those the right prices?

I have a bad case of G.A.S. ... but I can't see spending that much.
Even with a 15%-off sale ($250 for the standard library), that's still $100 more than my most expensive virtual instrument.

The demos sound pretty good. Has anyone tried this yet?

They're offering a voucher event now. (3+1, 6+2, etc)
If you purchase this piano, I think you have to use this coupon. It can give you additional savings.

Can one try/demo first?

I didn't think this would be released so soon after the CFX. I can pay for three vouchers, giving me four, and then use two of them plus 45 euro, and have 200 euro vouchers left for the Synchron Imperial when that comes out. That's great value for VSL.

I thought of something similar to you! I hope that Synchron Imperial will also be released soon.

Full library - EUR 360 (~$409)
Standard library - EUR 245 (~$278)

BUT not 100% sure as the December pricing is a bit confusing. This assumes you only want one VSL library so can only optimise the Vienna Voucher scheme for Full library as shown below.

Quick and strategic timing for VSL Steinway release. The demos sound great; the recording sounds clear and the room ambience is nice.

As far as I can tell, it "seems" the full version provides additional mics pairs (principally two additional close & some surround). Full version requires 266.2 GB and and standard version requires 117.9 GB.
___

EUR 360 Full library cash price (using voucher scheme)

EUR 540 Full library list price
EUR 460 Full library December sale price

EUR 300 3 Vienna Vouchers
EUR 100 1 Vienna Voucher free
EUR 400 Subtotal Vouches CREDIT
EUR 60 Cash required additional
____
EUR 245 Standard library cash price

EUR 285 Standard library list price
EUR 245 Standard library December sale price

Voucher scheme here
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/News

There is a Vienna key required for EUR20. They offer some 2 year protection plan for EUR70. HDD available for those who don't want to download files.

FX rate estimated by VSL approx. 1.135 EUR/USD and will vary.

I think that implies a 33% discount on Full and 15% discount on Standard for December.

Of course those prices include 20% VAT applicable to Austrian customers. Non-EU customers may be entitled to a refund of VAT; not sure how VSL or current Austrian regulations would address that.

Goodness, I wasn't expecting this. That does give me a dilemma. I don't like the price, I don't really need another instrument, but I do like Steinway D and the VSL CFX was so good and so well supported that it's hard to pass it up. Definitely worth some thought.

This is quite hard to resist as the Steinways are my favorite sounding pianos. Even if I don't pick it up in the intro I'll probably wind up getting it someday when there's another sale.

If you really need a Steinway, get the Vintage D. It's much cheaper, and it's quite good.

The price is OK only if half-pedaling is implemented properly. Too many sample based pianos have half-baked solutions.

Hot damn, I didn't expect this so soon. The timing sucks, where am I going to get the money from to buy this now? My purse is roasted from Black Friday, and Christmas sails are singing to me to crash against their rocks.

This is it though - I feel like, if this VST is not going to please me, no other VST in the foreseeable future will. The Garritan CFX is still my favorite overall, but it's a CFX, and I would love a Steinway. That's why I want the same crew at Garritan to make a Steinway in the same manner, but it looks like this is not going to happen.

It is so interesting to read so many different opinions by people in this forum. To be honest, I found that only playing a VST myself allows me to form an opinion. I've had it so often that people praise something enthusiastically, and then I buy it, and then I found that I didn't enjoy it at all. Then people will dislike something that I ended up liking. And so on. The Embertone, for example. I find it unacceptable, for others it is the greatest VST they have ever played. As for the Vintage D, it is very dated now, even though it still has great playability, but it doesn't have pedal down samples. This one is certainly going to blow it out of the water, but we will see.

The big question for this VST for me personally is, are there going to be out of tune notes as well as notes that stand out in an unpleasant way again? They were unacceptable in the Vienna Imperial, and just barely acceptable in their CFX.

Also to be honest I am not sure whether I want to spend another three digits on a company that uses this kind of DRM with dongles. Even though they have a new protection plan, but still.

Damn it. This is the VST I have been waiting for for the last few years. At the same time, I'm not happy about its release at all. Someone please buy it and tell me it sucks?

My goodness, the demos sound astounding. That's a thunderous bass if I ever heard one. Does someone know which demos feature the Normal version and which ones have the additional mics from the Full version?

Wrong end Grazilerimba, so many dilemmas, but you can do it, you are so close from decision, just imagine, new Steinway, this is something you`ve been waiting for .Help us everybody, hehe

Listening to these demos closely, I am very impressed with the sound here, especially the bass. However, a few notes seem a little strange to me. In the Op. 10 No. 1, for instance, at the top of the rolling arpeggios, some of the higher notes seem have some hint of an audio artifact. I can't describe it very well, or it could be my headphones. I also hear it in the Debussy right at 00.58, with the rising E-flats.

Me in the past few years:

https://i.imgur.com/pVPBMxx.png

I want it to stop