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I want THIS Steinway sound

creativeforge said:
I did not know Valhalla had updated Room, now with a low cut. :) I'll have to get that update.

Now I'm trying to decide, before the sale ends today:
CFX Lite (24.5 GB - Aria? - $109 CAD) vs PF2 (22 GB - Kontakt Full - $85 CAD).

How do you find Aria as a player?
Click to expand...
Aria Player and Aria Engine are developed by Plogue Audio from Canada who have many precise chipsynths emulating NES, SNES, etc. Garritan CFX and Garritan Steinway use customed Aria player. If you load Full presets and want to play aggressive classical pieces and avoid dropouts, better load 16GB samples into RAM. Kontakt pianos like Embertone Walker, Production Voices Grand 2 and Spitfire Hans Zimmer Piano doesn't require a lot of memory like Aria. For pop music and most gentle pieces, loading 4GB samples is ok.
 
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And so it is that on this day I made the mistake of listening to the Spotlight Piano while trying to make a higher-end (to me) piano library investment. And then CinePiano shows up in the same video (that's me blaming @ChrisSiuMusic).

Love that Spotlight (Boxing Day wishlist, though) so now it's CinePiano vs CFX Lite, both at the same price point for now.

Anything you know could move one up or down?
 
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creativeforge said:
And so it is that on this day I made the mistake of listening to the Spotlight Piano while trying to make a higher-end (to me) piano library investment. And then CinePiano shows up in the same video (that's me blaming @ChrisSiuMusic).

Love that Spotlight (Boxing Day wishlist, though) so now it's CinePiano vs CFX Lite, both at the same price point for now. Anything you know could move one up or down?
Click to expand...
Spotlight Piano sounds really nice in demos and I've considered picking it up on a few occasions, but I believe it has a fairly limited number of dynamic layers, which always gives me pause in terms of what the playability would be like. Kinda of like the BBSO piano.

There's also the Sonuscore Chroma which is along a similar vein as the Spotlight, but has (I think) 23 dynamic layers, which seems more respectable to me. Haven't tried it myself, but I've heard good things.
 
jim1949 said:
Audio Brewers also has deeply sampled pianos, but I haven't seen many comments about them so far.
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And this is Alejandro Cabrera's baby, I just learned. He's had a career of doing this before (8Dio).
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Love what I hear.

EDIT: I went with Cinepiano at this point. Sound, features and adjustments, sale price, Kontakt Player. I don't have it in me right now to learn a new ecosystem with Aria.
 
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I've been trying for years to get this sound (I believe it's a Steinway as well). I got close with Pianoverse Yamaha and Xperimenta FP2. Curiously enough, I liked the same pianos the most on this Rameau piece.

I would be interested if anyone could come close to this Pires recording using any VST.

The sharpness of notes... so detached and at the same name resonant, round, and sweet. Very hard to replicate....

Seems we don't even need newer DG recordings to make any VST sound...well... virtual (when compared).
I just wish one day someone will make one that actually can sound like this recording.
 
alexf26 said:


I've been trying for years to get this sound (I believe it's a Steinway as well). I got close with Pianoverse Yamaha and Xperimenta FP2. Curiously enough, I liked the same pianos the most on this Rameau piece.

I would be interested if anyone could come close to this Pires recording using any VST.

The sharpness of notes... so detached and at the same name resonant, round, and sweet. Very hard to replicate....

Seems we don't even need newer DG recordings to make any VST sound...well... virtual (when compared).
I just wish one day someone will make one that actually can sound like this recording.
Click to expand...

You should post your attempts to duplicate the sound.
 
alexf26 said:


I've been trying for years to get this sound (I believe it's a Steinway as well). I got close with Pianoverse Yamaha and Xperimenta FP2. Curiously enough, I liked the same pianos the most on this Rameau piece.

I would be interested if anyone could come close to this Pires recording using any VST.

The sharpness of notes... so detached and at the same name resonant, round, and sweet. Very hard to replicate....

Seems we don't even need newer DG recordings to make any VST sound...well... virtual (when compared).
I just wish one day someone will make one that actually can sound like this recording.
Click to expand...

Pires is a legend. Amazing player. I have many of her CDs.
 
alexf26 said:


I've been trying for years to get this sound (I believe it's a Steinway as well). I got close with Pianoverse Yamaha and Xperimenta FP2. Curiously enough, I liked the same pianos the most on this Rameau piece.

I would be interested if anyone could come close to this Pires recording using any VST.

The sharpness of notes... so detached and at the same name resonant, round, and sweet. Very hard to replicate....

Seems we don't even need newer DG recordings to make any VST sound...well... virtual (when compared).
I just wish one day someone will make one that actually can sound like this recording.
Click to expand...

I have to try with more calm, but here is a sound that I like, even if it lacks a bit of the metal I hear in Pires touch. She uses also very little pedal, giving that sense of detached but still rounded tone... great pianist

View attachment Mozart.mp3
 
Rob said:
I have to try with more calm, but here is a sound that I like, even if it lacks a bit of the metal I hear in Pires touch. She uses also very little pedal, giving that sense of detached but still rounded tone... great pianist

View attachment Mozart.mp3
Click to expand...
I forgot this is a VSTi... very nice and "rounded tone" in the mid-high is precisely what seems to miss in many I've tried or bought. :2thumbs:
 
creativeforge said:
I forgot this is a VSTi... very nice and "rounded tone" in the mid-high is precisely what seems to miss in many I've tried or bought. :2thumbs:
Click to expand...
I agree, I'm exploring the possibilities of piano layering, and it seems to work relatively well
 
Piano layering sometimes works for me as well... I feel like a lot of VST's sound excellent in the top end, quite a few sound great in both bass and treble regions, but no VST can mimic the ~C4-C5 area.
Will post my attempts in a bit.
 
These are my best shots. I feel like it's much harder to capture than the Rameau piece.
I've also tried without much success the Garritan CFX, VSL Steinway, Galaxy II Vintage and Steinway, Noire and Signature Sam (sometimes this last one works - not on this piece though).
 

Attachments

  • fp2 xperimenta.mp3
    1.1 MB
  • Pianoverse YMH.mp3
    1.2 MB
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