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I have quite a lot of vst’s , some i really like (Garritan CFX, CinePiano, Embertone Walker 1955), others just don’t seem to work no matter how hard i tried messing up with all available parameters. (Hammersmith, Ravenscroft, )
And some are okay i guess, but are surpassed by others why i don’t play them much.

Tonight i loaded up the Art Vista Supergrand i found a bit uninspiring in preset mote.
However i took the time to adjust the available parameters and mix between the Malmsjö and SteinwayB ( the Supergrand is a mix between those two).

And voilà ,.... all of a sudden it just seems to work for me.
I like it, i really do !
I couldn’t find much about it on forums other than some remarks about insufficiant playability in older Art Vista renderings.
I think the hybrid approach (pure sampling + pure modelling) is ticking a lot of boxes.

Bottom line, i should do this more often instead of simply loading what i’ve classified as best.
This one is going to stay for sure, it’s a little gem that surely has some calculating under the hood.
It’s the first vst i see going over 60% CPU usage.
But no cracks or anything popping thus far.....

So now i can stop wanting for another piano vst for now....

But is the Supergrand a combination of modelling & sampling? Reading the product description, it seems to be just a blend of two sampled instruments.

Greg

I've heard of their VSTs before (wasn't it propianist who brought it up somewhere here?), but never played any of them. Gotta love the branding with that typical 60s or 70s advertisement and font. Made me smile. The sound of the demos is gorgeous. Beautiful resonance, reminds me of the Embertone a little bit.
Does this have pedal down samples?
Thanks for the post, gonna keep an eye out for this. I wonder if they ever so sales.

Yes sorry..... i did a quick fact checking and you are absolutely right.... my mistake !

I think i assumed the Steinway was modelled, but it's clearly sampled after inspection.
I think i based it on the fact that the dynamic range was smooth as butter.

I directly compared with the Embertone Walker 1955 with it's 36 layers active and it plays better under my hands that is......
There are similarities in sound,.... both have this organic character of a bit detuned but characterfull grand piano.

I think it uses modelling because it says : scalable intelligent sustain pedal/damper sounds.
But it does sound good.... the sound becomes richer and full when pressing the right pedal.
Not simply some sustain but increase of harmonics due to increased resonances.

Some vst's have pedal down samples that are spot on, others are behaving like the sound is flipped abruptly to pedal down samples.
Most modelled pedal behaviour are a bit lacking compared to their sampled counterparts i think,....... but really no complaints here.

Thank you for the info, sounds great. I agree, a lot of the times when sustain resonance is modelled, it doesn't sound convincing. Again, the demos sound beautiful. Will definitely keep this one in my mind.

It's inherently a sampled instrument, not to be compared in any way whatsoever to something like Pianoteq, in terms of how much modelling is used to create the sound. IMHO.

Greg.

I corrected that in an earlier reply to you !

So, my sampled piano secret is out! I've been a fan of ArtVista pianos for a few years now, and the 'Supergrand' is a real gem. One of the very few sampled/virtual pianos I have (my last count was 60+) that I can load up and get absolutely lost in the experience of playing & improvising. Beautiful natural resonance - you can really sense the wood, felt & wire in the sound.

Hans Adamson at ArtVista really has some skill when it comes to capturing the 'mojo' or soul of an instrument (The Swedish made Malmsjo piano used together with the Hamburg Steinway B in 'Supergrand' is the personal piano of Hans, and dates from the late 1890's from memory).

I don't know what it is, but i am more inspired by those vst's providing ( like you described) felt&wire and a natural resonance lately.
Those vst's with a clear, clean and even character are sounding dull to my ears more and more.

Yesterday evening i played with the internal piano sounds of my Kawai MP11SE
and my overall impression is mediocre.( i love the board as a whole though !!)
Very even and playable but also dull without a soul.
My Garritan CFX has an even tone and great playability too, but more alive and organic by comparison.
The Supergrand , the Walker 1955 and my piano ( fluffy audio ) have this supreme 'realness' element all hardware digitals seem to avoid like the plague (except some Nord upright piano's which aren't a match compared to the one's i mentioned)
Everytime i let someone listen to such an organic piano vst they say : " now that sounds real".

When strolling around a piano store it is always the same (Roland, Yamaha, Kawai, Casio)
Very even and playable sounding renderings of a concert grand, but to lifeless for my taste and lacking in so many little details that i end up feeling totally underwhelmed.

But i used to like those even and clean sounds very much in the past, but something obviously did change in my personal observations.

pianistje have you tried the Pearl Concert Grand by Impact Soundworks? I'm impressed by this demo from 2015! The pearl is the #1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQm3a8mXg6U

+1 and I add to this list Ezkeys upright and Whole sounds Baldwin and you have real acoustic "hardware" in DP (sound at least)

+1 for the character piano VSTs. About My Piano from FluffyAudio, I like that one too. It is a bit of a warning sign still, to me, that they loop the end of the sustain decays.

That's something that should be against the law, in these days of cheap memory! Indeed, if it eases up on the computer requirements, without affecting the playability too much, it is a positive thing.

My Piano is actually 50% off right now, and at $34, it may well be worth getting. If it's no good, all you've lost is $34/€34. Don't forget, it requires full Kontakt 5.

https://fluffyaudio.com/shop/mypiano/

About the Pearl Concert Grand, yes lovely sounding, but according to this video, it has some bad playability issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5l-BYlkfGI

If you don't have time to watch the whole video, fast forward to 18:00 and watch a few minutes from there, where the author explains how an important note in Moonlight Sonata doesn't ring out, like it should.

As a disclaimer, the Pearl had an update not so long ago, where these issues may (or may not) have been fixed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQz9f7ggTYM

The Pearl Concert Grand also has a Christmas discount, one third off, so now is a good chance to get it.

https://impactsoundworks.com/product/pearl-concert-grand/

I was tempted to buy it when the Pearl grand 2.0 was released.
But i have made some changes to my drives and i have a Samsung 860 pro 512 GB ssd dedicated to piano vst's.
I have limited myself to this drive for piano vst's and i have some 40GB empty space left as breathing space.
I have deleted some piano vst's to make space, but this is it for me.
What's on this SSD is what i am using and if i want another piano i simply have to delete a piano.
For now it works fine to put some limitations to my 'piano' gas.
It urges me to dig deeper in what i have allready and learn to appreciate it more....just as recently happened with the Supergrand and my re- newed encounter with it.