yeah, it's reasonable 60Gb for only piano !

You can add Ocean drums or one other kontakt package, I can't remeber the name, to that

 

Best sounding piano ever recorded on samples: Galaxy Vintage D or the last Ivory American Grand. These pianos with some little tweaks will fit in any type of music. Their expression is also unmatched yet in overtones, releases and pedalling that models the static samples and creates a true response to your touch.

No way. Nocturnes sounds wonderful!

 

Just wanna say thanks to all you guys cause I really like this thread

Don't understand how I have missed to check out the Imperfect stuff...

 

Just snagged Addictive Keys Studio Bundle from XLN Audio (same folks as Addictive Drums). It has a "Studio Grand" (steinway D) and a "Modern Upright" (Yamaha U3) and it sounds NICE. The Upright is especially gorgeous and will kill in a lot of the pop type music I do. Lots of character, but not overly 'upright ticky tacky sound'.

The whole bundle is like 4-5 gigs. Very small and loads nearly INSTANTLY. There's a free demo of the Studio Grand on their site. Check it out and see if you like it.

I always used Ivory for years, and it sounds great, but big hard drive footprints and looooong load times bother me more than they used to lol....

 

Well, in my opinion it really depends on what you are doing.

When I am writing for a symphonic orchestra incl. a piano I always would use Orchestral Tools piano which gives a proper blending and "space".

I am using Ivory II for most solo pieces or chamber-stuff.

Ballads, Jazz and Rock...? Hmm, this depends on the sound of the songs. Sometimes Alicia's, sometimes piano in blue or black, or the NI-piano series.

But Ivory gives me the feeling sitting in front of a grand, IMO it is mindblowing....

my 2 cents....

 

Soundiron Emotional Piano is my goto. Especially great for scoring...

 

+1 for Emotional Piano. It's about 2.5GB and I prefer it to some of the 10GB+ libaries.

 

Just grabbed XLN Audio's Addictive Keys (bundle with a Concert D, Yamaha Upright, and a Rhodes) and I think it's pretty awesome. The interface is HIGHLY editable so there are really cool ways to get tons of different presets.

My favorite part: VERY hard drive friendly (can't find the specs, but it's WAY small compared to many libraries) and the instruments load practically instantly. I love not having to wait 30 seconds to start playing a sample library.

Plust it's only like $100.

 

Thank you for mentioning : Galaxy Steinway D.

I only use EZKeys and i'm impressed by the Galaxy Steinway D sound's.

 

LOL

Very nice sounding, I'm considering the Fazzioli from Imperfect Samples.

 

www.proaudiovault.com

Try to get Bluthner Piano kontakt library by Pro Audio Vault.
This one is a kontakt player library that sounds very good.
The size is about 6GB and the price is 199 dollars.
I think it's very good for jazz....

 

There is a new NI piano The Grandeur which sound promising indeed

 

Pianoteq 5.1 now it seems the most reasonable in terms of size and quality to me, less so for the price.

 

has been mentioned , but let me mention it again:

Galaxy Steinway D !

 

Check out that too

http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=VS_Upright_1&id=1890

Free but very cool

 

http://8dio.com/instrument-category/piano/#instrument/1969-steinway-piano/

I've tested both 8dio Steinway's 1928 and 1969 both very nice and tweakable instruments both fit into 5gb area.

 

Very interesting question...

Galaxy Vienna K4 is great if you are not a master pianist... for some unclear reason I find it very easy to play and very inspiring (great sound)

Grandeur is great for some Jazzy and Blues playing

Piano in Blue is perfect for some darker "atmosferic" tunes

...and I find the old Giant Piano stil very appealing to my ears


My Favorite is the Galaxy, `cause I love how easy it is to play, (and it has a very nice and practical GUI)... to bad it has a few bugs in the PAD area when You use the sustain pedal (the pads stops each time You release the pedal), but that is anyway some kind of add-on, so I will "excuse" them.
The Vienna has some kind of softness that I have not heard til now in any other Piano library.

ps.
I am not a master pianist, and this is a purely subjective short review.
Just to be honest, I find all the libaries over 2 Gb great... it is like with the guitar: it is all in the fingers of the player; they all can sound great if You know to play

 

I use EW pianos Diamond and usually go with the Steinway D . Works good for jazz , Classsical , blues , pop etc.. A lot of really good pianists I record like it quite a bit and I end up using it more than micing up the Yamaha baby grand in my studio. It is about 40 GB because of the mic positions , the gold version is less of a footprint, but ifs you want any kind of subtlety you need the extra samples .

 

Many great insights here! Which one do you prefer for fast tempo hard rock type of music?

 

E-instruments Session Keys Grand S