I was going through my collection of piano sample libraries to find the right piano sound for a project I was working on the other day and realized I have way too many to individually demo each time I want to find a particular sound. Thus I decided to record a small snippet of a midi file through each of the libraries so I can just listen to those recordings instead of loading up all the patches. Hopefully this helps some of you get a good idea of what the various sample libraries out there sound like playing the same material.

When I think of piano sounds, putting aside the matters of microphone placement and where the instrument was recorded, there are really two distinct types of sound I typically imagine. These are the smooth and mellow sound that I feel encapsulates the Steinway Model D piano, and the harsher bright percussive sound that one associates with a Yamaha C7. This is why most sample library producers sample one of these two pianos. Most other grand pianos are just a slight variation of one of those two IMHO.

That being said for this thread I chose to demo 19 different companies take on the Steinway Model D. The different sample libraries are listed in the poll. I also made a demo for each of the microphone perspectives. To my surprise the sound of these libraries ranged from quite bright and harsh (like one would expect from a Yamaha C7) all the way to the smooth and mellow sound one would expect from a Steinway.

I did try to upload all of these to SoundCloud so you all wouldn't need to download anything however for some reason they were flagged for a copyright violation and I didn't want to re-record everything or try to get them restored. I uploaded a zip file to mega and 4shared which should provide fast download speeds though.

I have 12 Yamaha C7 libraries that I may create a similar thread for in the future if I can ever find the motivation.

Download

Code:

https://mega.nz/#!a7BWTaTY!8tEEDqs6PvyGVlBTnFcTkfMA0y3Xdo93v-CHZRJoV5c
https://www.4shared.com/get/irSxWQbCgm/Steinway.html

 

I vote for "all at once".

https://www74.zippyshare.com/v/Slykw7DR/file.html

The phasing effects here are amazing. Like in a Grand Hony Tonk.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to record these audio examples!!
It's a great help when looking for a specific piano sound.
I didn't vote because I have five go-to pianos: Galaxy Vintage D, 8Dio 1969, Hammersmith, Keyscape Yamaha Grand, Braunschweig Upright.

Would you mind uploading the MIDI file as well?
Thanx...

 

Wow, what an almighty sound

 

@RealBananas lol that is an interesting piano sound, one that I could actually find myself using.

@fiction Sorry I didn't think of keeping the midi file after I recorded these. I guess that would have been helpful if someone had a sample library I don't.

I am a bit surprised so many people seem to like The Hammersmith Pro. I just can't get myself to appreciate the harsh sound of their samples. I guess when you have a 50gb piano you almost have to assume it sounds good to justify the hard drive space.

 

That is what makes a "go-to" instrument.
I always go to it, but never use it in the end....

 

Yes, I would have compared to the libraries not listed here.

The Hammersmith sounds bright but I don't consider it "harsh". For some instrumentations it's a good fit, although a bit of tonal tweaking, including EQ, goes with it.
I don't believe that there's one "best" piano library, at least not for everyone and for every musical style.

 

Piece of cake, it's just zillion-triple-tracked... like Deftones guitars...