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slobajudge,

I heard back from VI Labs.

this is what they said:

"Ravenscroft's latest version is actually 1.0, there has been no update since the soundbank's release."

slobajudge,

I just emailed VI Labs again.
dire tonic said there was an update.

so, I am asking VI Labs again.

That`s strange indeed, but if Ravenscroft said that, then its probably true. Maybe they will tell us something more about possible update in a second attempt. Thank you anyway for your effort Minstrelman.

you're welcome Slobajudge.

I agree, it's a bit puzzling. Here's something to add a little colour to the confusion. After becoming hung-up enough about my dead-note bug to make contact with VIlabs, I got this from Lance at support on 25th Jan 2017, three years after buying the RC:-

"...There were only a couple of small changes as well as moving to the FLAC format, so you probably have the correct version. We made only a small change later to improve performance with triple-sensor controllers such as the VPC1. If you have not downloaded since your purchase in 2014, you may want to go to your account and download the latest library installer. You can delete your existing Ravenscroft275.ufs file especially if it's the 35 GB file. The new FLAC version uses a bit less than 6 GB but the library is exactly the same... "

So it's exactly the same but there are small changes. At that time, the bug persisted and I gave up. Revisiting the problem prior to getting the Modern-U (I needed to be certain this wasn't a generalized VIlabs or UVI bug) I went through the whole shebang from scratch with the download date showing July 13 2018. It's still described as v1.0 so I'm bemused but untroubled since it now works properly for me!

Back to the Modern-U - really enjoying it at the moment. Evenly sampled, highly playable and responsive dynamics. Recommended for those who want an upright in their collection.

Plenty of software is updated but version numbers remain the same. Just sloppy naming convention.

One might recommend downloading the latest v1.0 of Ravenscroft 275 (maybe keeping the old v1.0 just in case). You might post that alert in a new post for Ravenscroft 275 owners to noodle on.

thank you both for your posts.

glad you like Modern U dire tonic.

I've had if for about a month now and I can't stop using it.

I cycled through all my VSTs tonight (just for the fun of it) and i couldn't wait to get back to the Modern U.

The only thing I wish is that it had a little more power in the bass. It's not weak, but it doesn't have the 9' grand power either. It's more like a 5 - 7 footer.

God Bless,
David

Stop it! you are making me re-think my initial judgements of this library, which is not good from an economical standpoint.

Maybe a silly question, but can't you just EQ a little more power into the bass end? Or does that result in a boomy or otherwise unnatural bass end?

I've added a few db's of gain to some of the lower frequencies, but you're right, it doesn't have the same effect as a sample from a larger piano.

God Bless,
David

Does it support half-pedaling and re-pedaling well? What stops me from using so many libraries is the missing pedaling behavior...

I haven't tried VSTs from VI Labs from looks like the Modern U and Ravenscroft 275 are getting good reviews.

There are some VSTs which sound good but has some flaws (Embertone Walker 1955, Ivory II ACD, Galaxy Vintage D, Pianoteq). However, I didn't see people talking weak points on Ravenscroft, Garritan CFX and VSL pianos. Obviously there must be people don't like the tone but there doesn't seem to be defects from the software implementation. The Modern U must be a good one, I just don't know if the tone is versatile enough to play classical pieces.

I think the actual sampled ravenscroft piano has a tone that's quite.. different. I would advise to really listen well to examples before buying, to make sure you like it. While initially really liking it, because of the quality of the vst, (playability, feel of realism etc.) in the end it turned out to not be my cup of tea, that's why I sold it, but if you do like the tone of the piano, yes, it is an awesome vst.

Sure does. It seems like most modern VTS's support those options. At least the ones I have do.

They've also included what they call a sampled "sordino pedal" option on the modern U which includes it's own release samples as well. It adds a beautiful dynamic which is more pronounced than the regular soft pedal. I found that the regular soft pedal on the Modern U is very minimal. Almost imperceptible (kind of like the soft pedal on my N1X). Therefore, I switched it (CC67) with the sordino pedal. The sordino pedal offers a much more noticeable shift in the volume. It's seems a bit more than what a soft pedal on an acoustic would do, but it's not so quiet that it becomes impracticable. It's a nice option to have.

God Bless,
David

I would really like to see more classical demos for Modern U. Looks like all official demos are all modern pieces.

By listening to VI Labs demos and looking at their website, I think they basically did two things right:

1. Really limit the disk space and hardware requirements while keeping the amount of samples big enough

2. Sympathetic resonance is the best one among all sampled VSTs (maybe some sampled VSTs are better but I haven't heard any). They are declaring sample based sympathetic resonance and mapping different resonance based on some algorithms. I don't know about technical details but there are some bad ones (Ivory II ACD) and good ones (modelling).

That's my finding without trying those VSTs by myself though.

+1 !!!

Thanks. There are actually some really good classical playings for Ravenscroft like this channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Darkalus/videos. Yes it sounds differently but also good to me. I don't know how it feels when I play it though.

I bought the Modern U and really like the behavior of the Sordino pedal and it introduces something I don’t have with my other libraries. Their EQ also allows for finer control of the highs when using the Sordino.
Compared to Ivory Modern Upright it sounds clearer and more balanced with better resonance. Ivory has soft samples as well and it’s not too bad either. I would buy Modern U now instead of Ivory Uprights.
I agree that the bass isn’t very strong but that’s what I recognize from playing uprights in real life as well. I would like a sub option like in Noire to give it some punch in the low end.

How would you create a sub bass to extend the low end of the Modern U like Noire features?
Blend with a sub synth? Anyone tried this?