I tried Nexus, Truepianos, a lot of them... even FL Keys(complete shit). I just installed Sampletank 3 Free and the piano in it was GREAT! It has such a sexy sound to it. I am thinking of sampling it to a directwave bank since it uses almost 2GB RAM. Any opinions on how much velocity layers I should make?? I think 10 should be it.

EDIT: It is not getting rendered idk why

 

Last edited: Dec 18, 2019

still like https://www.acousticsamples.net/Keys/kawai-ex-pro best, check the bundles https://www.acousticsamples.net/bundles/as-piano-collection

https://www.acousticsamples.net/Keys/ircam-prepared-piano bit more expensive but also has very good sound

 

Last edited: Dec 18, 2019

my Fav is KEYSCAPE

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 18, 2019

Arturia Piano V2 all the way.

 

Ofc keyscape and addictive keys is the best but it is huge. Sampletank's was so good when compared to those ultra bright Truepianos and it was only 400mb

 

Imperfect Samples' EBONY Concert Grand is still one of my favorites here: http://www.imperfectsamples.com/website/samples/fazioliconcertgrand/index.php. And flash back to Kompakt ...I still love the East/West Bosendorfer 290 to this day, even though it's dated.

 

http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?id=2848

And this is in my opinion the best freeware (Steinway not the first Preset)

 

Its almost the price of Omnisphere

 

How can you create 10 velocity layers if the source is only 2GB?
How many velocity layers does the source have?

Btw. If you think this is "the best piano", or even a good piano, you really haven't looked hard enough.

 

Idk if it is gain but there are layers per note for sure. The library size is 0.55 gb how is it using 2gb ram?

Isn't that too high. Even omnisphere uses less.

 

How can you create 10 velocity layers if the source is only 550mb?
And how many layers does the library have?

 

No idea if they are really 10 layers, but directwave made a 430mb file when i chose 10 layers per note at 32bit float (wav).

 

Nooo! I don't like it! Even for stage. But even more so for recording. ugh.

 

Mate, chill out... that was just a suggestion. No need for you to go haywire on me.

 

Last edited: Dec 19, 2019

It might be OK in a mix but certainly not alone. Not really in the league of Pianoteq.

 

@Skull
Sorry! I am chilled.
It's my trade, so I feel really strongly about what I use; and it's just mock disgust, because it's funny to have a (supposed) 'First World' problem of it even mattering what I use, when it's obviously amazing to have all this stuff and to have got this far with the tech since the advent of MIDI.
So it really is a great time to be alive!

But still: it's whatever tools work for the project and user, eh?
After so many years, there are certain things I look for in a piano plugin; be it sampled or modeled, or both sometimes.
And those things are always down to how it feels to me; whether or not I can truly express myself with it; whether or not it instills inspiration when playing it (that can often be down to the sound rather than the response via MIDI); do I like the sound in relation to the physical response. All sorts of things.

 

all the above sound like shit on their own, but if you couple 2 or 3 different pianos and with the wisely use of an EQ you might get something. Never found a piano that sounds good on its own. My latest combo : CS Piano in blue v2 + Pianoteq6 + AIR mini grand . You have to align them well in order to sound full.

 

In my opinion that’s not a Piano anymore.
More, a strange unison monstrosity

But I tried this too and Yes it can sound pretty interesting. But like I said not a real Piano anymore.

 

its not if you align and eq them in a certain way

 

Interesting. My fav piano is The Grand 2. I agree many piano plugins do sound like shit.