Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards best piano VST, ever?

I tried the demo for PianoTeq many years ago. I hope they can make it available on the iPadOS and then it will have major value. After trying PianoTeq I went with the Synthogy Ivory II American Concert D. It was able to achieve a pretty great sound but it took a lot of effort to get there. It was still lacking something....

I'm now a longtime user of Garritan CFX so that's my vote. The Garritan solved the issues of the ACD and is a consistently satisfying experience to play. It's fairly easy to try all kinds of different settings and find something that sounds good. It can always get better but it's actually difficult to make it sound bad (I did this a lot with the ACD). It's fairly easy to install, license, transport, and use. It's not a bad value either.

I would like to try the VSL but not ready to go there yet. The price of the VSL (would be Steinway for me) is what pushed me to look into upgrading my DP.

+1

Garritan CFX in close mic player performer setting. EQ to taste.

Regarding the CFX, how should I try setting the EQ to give it a more mellow, rounded tone?I just can't get Garritan to sound the way I would like it. It is just so bright. I have been looking at the Ravenscroft 275. Hayden, from PianoGroove uses it for lessons and it sounds just beautiful. His playing talent compared to mine may have something to do with it.

Threads likes this make me wish I had the time, ears and means to test out other VSTs. I just like the one I have, and there aren't a lot of good ways to test many others. I just figure it's a deep rabbit hole, and I should just be happy and play what I have, since I'm quite happy with it.

I don't have the answer to this question but I tried really hard to get that kind of sound. I'm not sure that it's in the nature of the sampled instrument to sound like that so you will have a hard time getting it to do that. I must have grown to accept the brighter sound at some point.

What I used to do is to reduce the Timbre setting as one way to soften the attack. There were probably some other settings as well but I don't remember anything else. On it's own, the timbre setting anywhere to the left of 12 o'clock can start to get some very interesting results. And I don't think you can reasonably go further than 11 if I remember correctly. I think what happens is that you are somewhat dulling the overall sound so it becomes a kind of blood sacrifice to get that sound.

You can also try changing the tuning and see if that helps. Changing it to Germany/China or International and see what that gets you. Besides that, you can get some distance or more ambient sound profile. But all of these options, except maybe the tuning, will remove some of the close and immediate attack that so much defines the character of the instrument. After a long journey I think I came full circle. This is probably, I'm guessing, one of the main reasons for choosing one VST over another.

What I found most helpful is to try some settings that others are using and then tweak from there. My latest settings are a combination of suggestions I found on here. I tried for example:

rach3master:
https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthre...tan-cfx-concert-grand-full-settings.html

But now my settings are quite different from that with no EQ. I hope someone else can help you with an EQ solution because I don't have much knowledge on that side.

Thank you for the reply. I tried her settings, for me they don't work. I do not play classical. Couldn't if I tried. Ballads, etc. So the bright sound is irritating to me. I have Garritan CFX, Walker 1955, PTQ, Baldwin Parlor Grand. I will probably uninstall Garritan and Pianoteq, keep the other two just for the option to play them, and get the Ravenscroft. Yep, Gom. It's a rabbit hole.

Ravenscroft is brighter than Garritan to begin with. Try EQ and
Player mode. boost the bass and mids

Thanks for sharing, dude! Very nice channel and very useful stuff.

I’ll try that. Thanks.

Does anybody know if any of these work with Windows 7. Everything talks about Windows 8 or better

Ron

I think the following members had Garritan CFX running on Windows 7:

Newbert, Alex C, MooganDavid, Digitalguy

Windows 7 or above was requirement for Garritan CFX up until at least 2016. There haven't been many changes in the software since.

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2601603/1.html

I am really struggling between the Garritan CFX and the Ravenscroft 275
Also looking a lot at the Synthogy Ivory II American Concert D

Basically, I want to replace the internal sound of my CA79.
There is just something I dislike about it and that's ok cause I knew that when I bought it.

Pianotec did nothing for me, except make me like the Kawai sound a little more.

So I need something that is mainly just to play in a standard size living room.

If you tell me the sound of the others is no better then pianotec, I may as well just give up now, but I find that hard to believe.

Ron

Why limit your choices to Garritan CFX and Ravenscroft? There are many others.

BTW, if you like the Kawai sound you might like the Kawai EX Pro from Acoustic Samples.

My favorite, though, is the Galaxy Vintage D, a Steinway.

Those are just the ones that seem the most interesting so far.

Ron

I really like the sound of the Ravenscroft. I just bought it, but I'm experiencing a problem with the install. Suddenly my pass work doesn't work. And I can't get them to send the reset password. This infuriates me. Why does the only password I used when I signed up not work after I bought the VST?

I worked with the 1955 Walker today and tweaked it to where I really liked it. Watched a video plus input from Embertone support. I’m blessed with an awesome top notch acoustic, but was actually pretty happy doing a long practice session with the Walker today.

I use NI Noire on original tracks - has it’s own sound (that I really like) and very playable. But I wouldn’t think of recording classical music using Noire as a substitute for my acoustic. However I might try the Walker for that...have a couple pieces I’d like to put on YouTube and might do them VI instead of acoustic. You experts could tell it’s not a Steinway but most folks probably couldn’t.

I’ve never used other premium piano vsts (unless Grandeur and stuff in Komplete is considered premium).

If your using that windows 7 for VSTs alone, offline music production (not accessing the net) that's fine. It will provide you stability on your current set up since Windows 7 won't be receiving constant "updates". But if you wish to use the latest version of your DAWs, VSTs, and maximize their potential, an upgrade is necessary, generally speaking...

Hello,


I run VI Labs Modern U (using the standalone UVI player that is included with it) on 64-bit Windows 7. It runs just fine.

I'd reckon that works just as well for their Ravenscroft 275 in that same UVI player.

Cheers and happy playing,

HZ

Hello,


As I was on the brink of purchasing the (very nice) American D (but in the end chose Modern U instead), I asked Synthogy about Windows 7.

They were very helpful in their replies. They told me that they didn't support Windows 7 anymore because of Microsoft's ended support, but as long as my PC would run a properly updated version of W7, then Ivory II American D would run fine. This conversation was somewhere in the last quarter of 2020.

Cheers and happy decision making,

HZ