UVI Ravenscroft.... True staccato. Sympathetic resonance, can accept CC for both Sostenuto & sustain.. SUPER Dry up close mic position for Pop. Plus multiple other mic positions for orchestral & cinematic stuff....

 

Each vst has it's own character. I've used Acoustic Samples Academic Piano (Kontakt version) as my go to when playing live. It cuts through where many others can't, and it is very versatile. I was lucky enough to play the real piano AS sampled and was very impressed. In the studio, I tend to lean toward Keyscape, Pianoteq, and Ivory. There are possibly thousands of piano vsts out there, and though I've not tried them all, I am sure there are others I might like better. Piano preferences are similar to guitar tones. Everyone hears something different, and your individual ear determines what is pleasing to you, and what you are trying to achieve. Example; The Spitfire Mrs Mills piano is perfect for capturing that early Abbey Roads Studio sound, if that is what you are going for. Let your own ears determine your choice.

 

i post a freebie alert yesterday, i mean Novel piano at steinberg's free to download and works and all DAW just download freebie Halion to open pluguin. Not only in Cubase.

 

Best Sampled Quality stuff: (that I know of..)
Noire (15GB), Piano in Blue (10GB),
NI The Grandeur (5GB)

Small size Software stuff:
Pianoteq

Other small sized libraries:
EzKeys Grand (800Mb super featured)
NI NY Concert Grand (500Mb)
4Front
Pianissimo

Worth mentioning:
Alicia Keys (different)
Addictive keys (Versatile includes Upright, Epiano)
Pearl Concert Grand (a different take on Quality)
CFX Concert Grand (Garritan/Abbey Road also good Quality)
Kawai EX Pro
Nord Stage 2 Piano (unofficial)
Mini Grand (different)

Curious/Interesting:
Soundiron Emotional Piano
Strezov LIPP
Montclarion Hall Piano


I'm not a real Pianist, but I guess I love my pianos.. lol

My recommendation is always Noire and Piano in Blue,
but if Space is a must, then it must be EZ Keys.. or Pianoteq

I would love to try Keyscape, Ravencroft and Production Voices Grand..
but no luck yet


-Extra
Hall of Shame:
Waves Rhapsody (Fazioli but imperfect sound/dynamics, bad Miking)
LS Concert Grand (distant and dull, altho homogeneus, for that prefer CinePiano)
Hammersmith?, (massive and insatisfactory, should be Awesome but didn't work for me)

And a few other I just deleted/forgot straight away..

 

Last edited: Nov 1, 2021

Depends on your personal taste preference.
Grand (Yamaha, German... ) bright, upright honky-tonk......
Dark / soft / melodromatic, operatic...

 

Keyzone Classic.
If you’re looking for a sampled VST piano and electric piano instrument with a little more control, Keyzone Classic could be the one for you.

 

That's the one I keep coming back to. Still sounds great to this day and has a very dynamic velocity response.

 

Yeah, maybe it's not the Warmest/roomiest sound..

But I find the Kawai to be very Even/homogeneus across all keys, which is important,
and it kinda makes sense as they are all-time makers of real keyboards/pianos.

A very straightforward plug'n'play kinda piano,
always thought it could be good for Live use..


What styles do you use it in, or is just for practice?
(and with headphones or speakers?)

Because that's a whole topic in itself,
I use this libraries (or well, mostly Piano in Blue) for learning and Practicing,
and that has some requirements..

But for using it on an actual track it would be different,
each Piano has a really different sound/character, so what works for a Rock/Pop track wouldn't work for a Jazz track,
an Orchestral piece, a Ballad, or a solo Nocturne..


ED: Apparently this is the guy who made it..

 

Last edited: Oct 30, 2021

there is no such thing as the best plugin. it's all about subjective feeling . my personal top3 pieces
1. the hammersmith by soniccouture
2. noire by NI
3. ravencroft 275 by vi labs
modulated plugins like pianoteq are close, but they are still lacking little nuances to the top quality

 

Pianoteq for composition and occasional mixes
Keyscape [for Kontakt] mostly for mixes replacing the composition piano

 

It's free and maybe the best in its price categorie (second Preset is my favourite )

but,

 

Clip Clop Keys is by far the best piano in the industry and it's 100% free and pony proof https://sites.google.com/view/lorris-projects/clip-clop-keys

 

Last edited: Jul 23, 2022

Cymatics - KEYS Instrument v1.0 VSTi - https://cymatics.fm/collections/plugins/products/keys-plugin

 

What do you guys think of Studiologic Numa Player v1.0?
To me it sounds pretty good for the price of free.

 

I downloaded Numa Player yesterday. Since it clocks in at just a little over 200mb, I'm guessing its sounds are modelled as opposed to sample based? I haven't loaded it up yet, though. I did watch a YT video and the presets and effects sounded okay. I'd put it aside because I've been composing ambient music these days and the pads in Numa are very limited in how they can be tweaked. The piano sounded fine, though. As to your original question, my go to piano is Acoustica Pianissimo. It's modeled like Pianoteq so it doesn't take up much space. If I was doing serious work, though, I'd fire up the Ravenscroft or Modern U in Falcon.

 

My opinion:

High-quality allrounder: Spectrasonics Keyscape
Personal favorite of mine: Native Instruments Una Corda
Flexibility in setup and tuning: Modartt Pianoteq 6

 

i can't fucking believe that there's people that at this point they are still recommending that CRAP and also pianoteq wich is another piece of bad sounding crap!

to all that people: do me a favor, stop with the music and put your time in another thing, you have no ear for this

 

If you don't have much space for samples or you don't want a sample based piano, go for Pianoteq.
It's the only piano plugin I have and use, and it's very good.
Only around 250 MB if I remember correctly..

 

Matter of taste. But when its about hdspace i would prefer pianoteq enhanced with a saturator.but there is no serious alternative to samplebased