Virtual Pianos; a comparison for the heck of it!

[Fred S]

I'm sort of a virtual piano nut. But I've stopped buying. I'm pianodone

Anyway, I found this little prelude that covers the keyboard pretty well, so I put together a comparison of most of the pianos I have and thought I would share it in case your interested. May not be the perfect comparison as most are a little tweaked to preference and I used the same pattern for all, and some pianos require a little different touch. I also added the midi file at the bottom in case you want to add your own personal favorite for comparison. Oh lastly, if you hate poorly played piano, run for your life and don't look back   

EW Bosendorfer 290. Actually my favorite and its cheap!
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/EWBosen290.mp3

Ivory Bosendorfer
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/IvoryBosendorfer.mp3

Ivory C7
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/IvoryC7.mp3

Ivory Steinway
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/IvorySteinway.mp3

Kontakt 2 Steinway with Convolution
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/K2SteinwayConvolution.mp3

Sampletekk's Black Grand #3 (I like this one)
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/SampletekkBG-3.mp3

Sampletekk's Black Grand #7
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/SampletekkBG-7.mp3

Sampletekk's Black Grand #9 (this one I think is hampered by the pattern a little - better I think with a better touch)
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/SampletekkBG-9.mp3

Sampletekk's White Grand (if you listen to the chords at the end you'll probably hear the annoying twang I've mentioned before)
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/SampletekkWhiteGrand.mp3

True Piano's Diamond - Rock (sounds pretty good for what it is! Easy on the ram, hard on the cpu)
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/TPDiamondRock.mp3

True Piano's Emerald - Blues
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/TPEmeraldBlues.mp3

True Piano's Emerald - Classic
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/TPEmeraldClassic.mp3

Virtual Grand (sounds better than I remember. Just never liked the bass note hammer sound)
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/Virtual%20Grand.mp3

Midi pattern (BPM = 135)
http://www.graybeardmusic.com/PianoPrelude/PreludeMidi.mid

[Laguna Rising]

  wooww ! a great work, to make, record and upload all these samples I'll listen to it later...
I'll be useful to many people here 

Cheers

[kara]

Excelent resource Fred
Thanks a lot for the effort you put in this one !

k

[Fred S]

Welcome!

[spirulence]

I know I'll be back to this thread when I start looking for a good piano soundset. I actually don't like the EW as much as the others-it sounds sanitised a little to me.

[Fred S]

I know I'll be back to this thread when I start looking for a good piano soundset. I actually don't like the EW as much as the others-it sounds sanitised a little to me.

Yeah, its a lot about personal taste (and playability). Actually, I'm starting to like the Black Grand a lot lately.

[Martin E]

Hey Fred. You've got them all on display now, haven't you 

Well I'm a Truepianos fan. So nothing will change that. The comparison is maybe a bit unfair cos I think Truepianos is more suited for Rock, Pop and Blues playing rather than Classic.

Just my thoughts. But what do I know; I'm a guitar player.

See ya

[Fred S]

Yeah, I do like the Truepianos as well, especially in a rock mix. Your right however, there's a lot of unfairness in the comparison all around. But then I figured, what the heck, maybe it will help someone a little when they get ready to buy something.

But what do I know; I'm a guitar player.

Yeah, try to remember that, will ya? 

[shekk]

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=4556

 *im not sure when its coming out, but Gypsy looks really nice. hehe not exactly piano but i felt like posting that video. btw i use mdaPiano and mdaEPiano to this day. im sure some of those gigantic VSTi that sample grand pianos is much better, but screw it my computer sucks too bad anyways.

[kara]

Interesting video

I agree that mdaPiano is quit good in certain mixes. If you just need a piano for some backing track in the mix which is not to upfront, it's perfect and very easy to place it in the mix.

k