ive used garritan, noir, walker, etc. What do you think one of the best/favorite sampled pianos is?

garrison cfx and surprisingly addictive keys are my favorites . Any sleepers?

 

Noire... and shockingly, Arturia Piano V. I've been using it a lot recently.

 

If you haven't tried Pianoteq you should DEFINETLY go try it. It's not that big of a size either and is very versatile

 

The best ones I've used/use are: Synthogy Ivory ; Noire and Sampletank 4(C7)

 

I really like Native Instruments Una Corda. It has a specific tone that won't fit everything but it has a certain intimate versatility to it.

 

Just like @birdboi says. Pianoteq is up there with the best of them. Make sure you go to the settings and select 256 note polyphonic though. especially if you play a lot of classical stuff.

 

Addictive Keys is ok, it's not the greatest but it's a workhorse.

I think something like Spectrasonics Keyscape is most versatile

 

Spectrasonics Keyscape for E-Piano rhode and all AC-Piano. Very nice sound.

 

People who listen to your music don't care what vst/sample library Piano did you use. Pick one you like and use it.

 

Ehh depends on what you make. If you're making some super emotional ballad you wouldn't wanna use something like MicroPiano lmfao

 

Ravenscroft 275, Pianoteq, labs soft piano/Olafur Arnolds felt piano are all great. Really like Ravenscroft 275 recently and its only like 5gbs.

 

Keyscape has a wonderful sound too but it has limitations. The best you can hope for is 64 note polyphonic and If you play Hungarian Rhapsody for example, it will falter towards the end

 

Rachmaninov likes these comments

 

I use to think the 'Rach 3' (pronounced rack 3) was a series of shelves you put together from your local hardware store.


Update:-

I wanna point out something....seriously for a sec.. I know I know.. very unlike me... When you put Pianotec into 64 note polyphony and play that piece it falters.. as it requires about 140/160 notes. When I compared Keyscape on 64 notes it faltered BUT and this is the important bit. I don't know if Keyscape handles polyphony different to Pianoteq in that 64 note polyphony caused my computer's processor to max out OR 64 note on Keyscape really wasn't enough..

Someone would need to verify that for me before I put Keyscape down.. I can only go by the results I found.

 

Almost everything that requires a piano I start with Edirol Superquartet pianos...
but then...it's necessary to pick the right sound for particular track/song etc...
I have 7-10 sampled libs and this is a damn job to find/set that only sound because
it depends on genre/style and at last the whole mix, where piano should be on its place...
there is a paradox: poor sounding piano could sound better in the mix than megagiga library.
Classical piano doesn't fit a house style (for example) and vice versa, that's it

 

Acoustica Pianissimo for, basically (for me) the best quality/resources rate I've seen. I just use it for every piano part. It's light and sounds amazing. Also has nice UI.
Spectrasonics Keyscape if size and resources are not a problem and you want the top notch in the industry.

 

Pianoteq is by far my preferred piano, with all the models it can embeds (2 by defaults (included in the paid VST) plus a dozen of free pianos, pianofortes, harpsichords, bells, etc. plus about 20 other models of acoustic and electric pianos to add that you can choose for not expensive in comparison to their quality). All are awesome. And Pianoteq building the sound instead of using samples it comes with 256 layers of velocity, a 3 piano-pedalboard emulation, and many features, even in the cheap Stage Edition. And it features lots of built-in effects. You can totally transform the sound if you want to make modern things with a piano. You can detune it to create presets of old detuned pianobar instruments with altered sounds, etc.

But sometimes I also use... a free piano which is Grand Piano XXL Free from Audiolatry. With excellent sounds, not less than 16 layers of velocity, key release samples, etc. The samples are from a Yamaha C5 6’7″ Grand Piano. The GUI is very poor... but the sound is really great! And for free!

 

I tried almost every piano library out there. Nothing beats Production Voices libraries, especially their CFX. They play very well, sound great and have a flexible mic selection. VI Labs libraries play as great but aren't as versatile imo, the room in which they recorded in is just too dead. Another good one is Embertone's Walker. It's slightly detuned, giving it a great subtle vintage sound, but there's a weird bug with the sustain pedal that makes it a pain to play.

I don't understand the love with Pianoteq. It's just a good sketching tool imo. It's light, has a ton of features and plays great, but it sounds like absolute garbage compared to a properly sampled library.