Best piano VSTi's aside from Keyscape?

Discussion in 'Software' started by flguy, May 13, 2022.

  1. flguy

    flguy Ultrasonic

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    I recently did a fresh install and I'm looking to try different VSTs for dark pianos. My go to for many years was Keyscape, but for it's large size I really only used a few patches.

    What are some of your favorite VSTs for realistic sounding pianos both dark and light sounding?

    I'm trying to branch out of using the same two or three VSTi's.
     
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  3. Trurl

    Trurl Audiosexual

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    I like Noire for Kontakt a lot. Pianoteq is a love/hate situation, works extremely well for some things not so well for others people have very strong feelings about it but I would definitely recommend checking it out. When you get right down to it I don't think I've ever found any single virtual piano that truly satisfies me as a solo instrument but lots of them will go into a mix just fine.
     
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  4. birdboi

    birdboi Producer

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    I mostly use Pianoteq, I really like how it's more of a more versatile piano while not being like 60 GBs.
     
  5. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    You should try UVI Falcon. It is the best Swiss Army Knife plugin. If you want highest quality, then kontakt of course. But for less demanding option, Falcon is killer. :)
     
  6. Havana

    Havana Platinum Record

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    Have you tried Steinberg Verve that comes with Cubase Pro 12? Pretty awesome!!!
     
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  7. DDHARD

    DDHARD Ultrasonic

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    The ULTIMATE STAGE PIANOS and ULTIMATE STAGE PIANOS HD
    For NI Kontakt, are pretty nice! it has a variety of piano sounds! Pretty light for HDD space as well

    And Ascend Modern Grand is nice it's also for NI Kontakt but 3 times bigger than ULTIMATE STAGE PIANOS, But it has some nice Piano sounds :)
     
  8. Ariel Gonzalez

    Ariel Gonzalez Platinum Record

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    +1 to pianoteq. incredible for it's size
     
  9. Legotron

    Legotron Audiosexual

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    With little tweaking, Pianoteq is my go-to piano vst always
     
  10. BlackHaze1986

    BlackHaze1986 Rock Star

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    Try
    ADSR Dark Silence Dark Grand Piano and tweak it with reverb and effects to your needs. Also the Falcon Ravenscroft Piano Sound is Very nice. Also there is the Keyscape 12 Kontakt Libary which is compact in size against the real Keyscape.
     
  11. vexd

    vexd Producer

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    +1 for Noire, also Hammersmith, SSS Signature Grand, Ravenscroft 275, Piano In Blue and the Embertone stuff.
     
  12. droplet

    droplet Rock Star

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    there is also Airmusic Tech's Grand piano
     
  13. Strat4ever

    Strat4ever Rock Star

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    Personally I like and use Modartt Pianoteq for acoustic piano sounds and Applied Acoustics Systems Lounge Lizard EP-4 for Fender Rhodes type sounds I've been using them for several years, they are small in size and not heavy on PC resources and sound great.
     
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  14. pizzafresser

    pizzafresser Producer

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    Kawai Ex Pro for Kontakt is still one of my favorites. Has a very nice neutral but high quality sound that works in all kinds of genres and a very seamless velocity response.
     
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  15. Billy Boils

    Billy Boils Kapellmeister

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    Pianoteq has been my favourite for a while, especially for playing live. That may change soon as I just installed the latest Arturia Piano V. I have never really liked Arturia's pianos, but this latest one seems to be very promising. I spent an hour playing the grands after installation, due to the great sounds and different pianos that it has.
     
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  16. marciohas

    marciohas Noisemaker

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    Due to its size and sound quality, the Pianoteq is without a doubt the best option. The Falcon also fits well in this issue of size x timbre quality. Too bad it hasn't been cracked for macOS yet, because we would have a lot to test in relation to acoustic piano sounds.
     
  17. marciohas

    marciohas Noisemaker

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    Arturia Piano V3's pianos are killer too, following the same pianoteq concept of physical modeling rather than sampling.
     
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  18. DonCaballero

    DonCaballero Producer

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    I like Pianoteq for customization and playability but often prefer more character type pianos.
    The free soft piano in Spitfire LABS is quite good for the size.
     
  19. Xeraser

    Xeraser Producer

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    See if K-Sounds' Signature Piano/Epic Grand are your thing. Both of them combined are like less than 4.5GB
    I use Signature on my Motif and it's my favorite piano to just load up and play. But if you want to tweak everything Pianoteq is still your best bet.

    Addictive Keys is also really good for its size.
     
  20. Stevie Dude

    Stevie Dude Audiosexual

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    Some of my favourites, and I heavily use for the past few months:

    1) Falcon's Augmented Piano - pop music, in your face type of piano, variety of preparation. Go-to these days because it has everything.
    2) Soundiron Emotional Piano - mellow piano based song, pop songs, it sounds kinda pop minor to me. Romantic.
    3) Soundiron Monteclarion Hall grand - same as above but when the Emotional Piano, too emotional, I change to this one
    4) NI Color Piano + Una Corda - layering, pad-like piano sound, background, dark cinematic, tack, experimental sound. Not for main piano.
    5) Cinesamples Abbey Road Classic Upright Pianos - mellow song, it has unique tuning and kinda dark, I like it.
    6) Cinesamples Piano In Blue - Classical, jazzy type piano, too detuned for my liking sometimes.
    7) NI Noire - big piano sound, love the Particle Engine and Swarm. Background sound mostly when the song isn't really piano driven. Noisy and Dark.
    8) Pianoteq, NI Hybrid keys, Addictive Keys - to layer out idea before changing it to other library because of its lightweight, sometimes they stay. neutral sounding IMO.
     
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  21. vuldegger

    vuldegger Producer

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    the new arturia piano is pretty smashing
     
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