Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards VSL Steinway D-274 Light+Orchestra Demo/Sale

I realize this won't interest most people, but VSL is having a sale through the end of August and free 30 day demo on their orchestral starter editions. Volume 1 includes the Steinway D-274 Light version. The sale price for this package is showing as $236 or EU199.

https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Synchronized_Special_Edition_Bundle/Synchronized_Special_Edition_Vol1

The difference is the D-274 Light only includes the close condenser and room mix mics, and has 30 velocity layers. I demo'd the full version and I don't notice a difference with the same mic positions. It still includes all the player features and pedalling of the full version. The only negatives from me is that it has a percussive attack and is voiced on the bright side. There is also some ringing/buzzing around C6. This is the same as in the full version. I use the built in eq with a high shelf at 3-4 Khz cutting by 8-10 db to get rid of a lot of the brightness to smooth things out.

It also includes a full set of orchestral patches which runs in a separate player. There is a Bosendorfer patch amongst the orchestral stuff, but is quite bad with only 3 velocity layers and no advanced pedalling. I use the velocity xfade control to lock in on one of the velocity layers to at least make it somewhat playable. It does require the Vienna Key or Cubase Elicenser which is what I use.

If you have ever wanted a full set of orchestral patches along with a very good piano included, this is the best library and deal I have run across. The overall footprint is pretty small and can run on a laptop with a decent cpu. I will probably pick this up to use for backing tracks or light orchestral sketching.

Pretty interesting.

Anyone has opinions if the d-274 is worth it with only the close condenser and room-mix mics? (At least it would help with the "vst's have too many options" problem!)

I would also like to know if this d-274 is upgradable to a standard or full version.

D-274 is my favorite VST among all that I owned. I didn't like it in the beginning and also thought it's too bright. It takes some time for me to really appreciate the sound. I feel the default velocity curve is on the bright side and I need to tame it down a little bit. After that, the distinctive Steinway sound is just so unique and I like it so much better than other Bosendorfer and Yamaha VSTs. It has its own density and weight in it. BTW I have the full version and I do think it is worth it. Just that it takes a lot of time working on the config. The light version may be on the brighter side since there is no mid microphones. David Lai has a setting for the standard version that works pretty well also.

Thanks bsntn99 and good to see you back again.

That is a compelling package for those interested in exploring a home orchestra. Great tools of today's technology!

I am temped by this, as I am interetested in the d-274, and was looking for some orcehstra instruments to use for backing tracks as well.

But I first want to try the demo. For that I would unfortunately need an E-licenser. Does anyone know if there is any difference to buying a steinberg or vsl e-licenser? What's best?

They are the same product, just called a different name by Steinberg or VSL. I would just get whichever is cheapest depending on your location.

As far as the different mics, I tried the full version and only liked the close condenser and tube mics. I didn't care for the close ribbon or mid mics. The main, room, and surround mics are somewhat similar and I feel the room mix gives enough of the space to mix in with the close condenser mic. Here is youtube video on the light version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cofTI11u3Ak

You can check with VSL if it would be upgradable to the full version. They usually give some discount consideration with upgrades.

Thank you very much

i just download the demo.

It's perfectly fine. I have the full version and often use the same close position, with a touch of a distant pair. The room would substitute for this.

Thanks, that's all I need to know. I ordered an e-licenser so I can try the demo. I have also mailed vsl with the question about the possibility of upgrading.

Also Bsntn99 thanks for making this thread.

All these instruments this package come with, can they be used as a plugin in a DAW, anyone know this? (I'm not too familiar with these things yet.)

Same question here and I'm not too familiar yet, either.

Also... and I hate to ask it... "how is the D-274 compared to the BI?" I know Harpuia says he/she prefers the D-274 to the BI. I have the BI (Standard) and am wondering if this is worth it.

However, I am interested in the orchestra instruments. I briefly looked for a video showing a demo of the non-piano instruments included (?) with this volume/edition..? Perhaps I'm confused. Also looking to create backing tracks.

Thanks for your reply! Yes, I also love this Steinway. And, not to sound too selfish, but I was really proud of myself when I reached a great combination of the balance between the condenser and mid 1 microphones!
But seriously, it's a great instrument in sound and feel!
I wonder, do you do the velocity curve thing in the SynchronPiano player or do you run this as a VST in a daw?

Yes this runs as a plugin in your daw. What I do in Cubase is have an instance run on each track with just the instruments or articulations I want loaded for that track. Then I can program strings separately from brass, etc. You can set the player to only load the samples when you send midi to that track for the first time so it does not preload all of the samples.

Note there are two players in this package, the Synchron Pianos for the D-274 and the Synchron Player for the orchestral stuff. There is a lot to learn on the Synchron Player and I am still figuring stuff out. I suggest watching the walkthroughs of the different instruments on Youtube that VSL has and the tutorials on using the Synchron Player for the orchestral stuff. It is very deep on what you can do with it.

I just listened to some of the videos, and it is very deep indeed! I guess one piano is enough for my attention for the time being, but certainly the orchestra stuff sounds really cool!!!

Unfortunately the Synchron Piano software doesn’t not provide a touch curve functionality. The only thing that I can modify is a configuration called midi sensitivity which is not very effective. I’m hosting Synchron Pianos in MainStage as a DAW and I’m using macOS. MainStage provides a utility to alter the touch curve.

I see! Thanks for your reply. I guess I can live with the midi sensitivity at 0 at least for now.

That is quite surprising. It seems like one of the most basic and important function to implement in a piano vst. For me it's not a problem since I have a vpc-1 with it's own velocity curve settings, but quite surprising, for such a high level vst as this.

They'll probably implement it in the future.

I got a couple of questions answered by vsl so here's some new information:

1. There are currently no plans for seperately available light versions of the synchron piano's.

2. If you have the light version of the D-274 included in this package, you will get 12 EUR (about 14 dollar) discount if you get the standard version of the D-274 later on.

Not surprised they won't share anything on future plans. I suspect at some point they may add a light version of the cfx or bosendorfer to some other special edition package, but not sell it separately. They mainly support the composing community. Pianist are a secondary and smaller market for them. Support on vi control has been very good from them. Much better than any other company.

Disappointing on the upgrade that the do not give more of a discount. For the D-274 that comes with this package, the close mic is 16.5gb and the room mix 18gb. So these are a little more than half the size of the full version with the 30 velocity layers. This means the full version has about 55-60 velocity layers for the same mics.

I just installed the demo of this package, this is my first experience with vsl. At first I was annoyed because of having to use a e-licenser in the first place, and then i was even more annoyed finding out that thing is so thick it actually takes up 2 of my usb ports. But, after playing around with this package for a while, all i can say is: wow!

I am impressed. The steinway light as well as the orchestra instruments are absolutely stunning. The sound quality is just incredible, and unmatched by any other virtual piano I own. The playability is just great as well, as expected, having already learned that from this forum.

It even seems to be pretty easy on my system, something i didn't expect.

Well those are my first impressions, I'm buying this.

I can't seem to find the steinway in the synchron player but I see it in the content folder on desktop. Maybe I installed the wrong demo? MooganDavid