How right you are!Arguably not a good decision heuristic because Craig's playing makes any piano library sound great.
And that's true. 
I can't compete with Craig, he's in a different league.
Fine help here, while wrestling with Monthly subscrpt vs single Lib purchase. No 'right' answer, but now comfy with Bosendorfer, ahead of Yamaha. Will enjoy for sure. THX all !Craig, classic pieces by you, is a new experience for me. Appreciate it very much.
In the Chopin piece, I have the impression that the Boesendorfer sounds a little warmer than the VSL 280VC. Which is positive for classical pieces. But I have the impression that at one point or another, the sound decays too quickly. Am I wrong?
I had to grin at the excerpts from "Elise". You play the "Elise" and leave out the "difficult"
Back to the point. The "Elise" shows well the dynamic range of the Boesendorfer.
In the "Arthur's Theme" example, I like the Boesendorfer best. The example alone is a reason for me to buy the Boesendorfer. Full resonant sound.
You didn't write anything about your personal impression. I suspect that it is not very different from the Yamaha CFIII.
Good work! Thank you!
Other than the bandwidth issues that IKM was having, my installs went very smoothly. I'm not certain why everyone is having all these problems!I could no longer stand it so got a month trial. But instantly I was confronted with the annoyance and probably the most frustrating reasons why there is often a lot of negative comments around IKM.
I launched the installer and I was presented with 15 updates. So installed the binaries and then tried to install the updates of the sounds. But nope, you need to pay for updates if you bought it longer than half a year ago
Then I added the serial I got from the subscription. Installing the binary was flawless, but installing the sound files.. nope. You cannot install it if you need the files to be on a different drive than your OS. Selection the options, choosing the install location will not fix it. It keeps popping the same error.
After fiddling around for a while, I managed to get the installer running by first manually adding a Pianoverse folder inside my IK Multimedia folder on the added drive, Then running Pianoverse and in the settings point the sound sources to the specified folder. After closing the app and relaunching the installer, it will then start the installation.
It is that I had to pay for this demo, else I would already have given up!
I launched the installer and I was presented with 15 updates. So installed the binaries and then tried to install the updates of the sounds. But nope, you need to pay for updates if you bought it longer than half a year ago
…
When I wanted to install the Boesendorfer, the Product Manager also downloaded and installed the CF3 that had already been installed 2 days ago. Very annoying.
I hope you like one or two of the pianos, so that it was worth the effort.
Do you use Windows or Mac? Under Windows there are often different issues depending on hardware, drivers, configuration or other installed programmes and tools. By the way, such different behaviours are also known for mobile phones, smart TV, games, etc. Software is always buggy, but the bugs do not occur for everyone.
Smooth sailing on Windows 10 over here. Mac is usually much more bug-free than Windows.
Good approach and interesting finding. The Boesendorfer also has only 12 folders. Hmm?
Mixing the two microphone perspectives is not possible from my point of view. You have to use a second VST if you want to do that.
You may be right. But, none of the companies mentioned offer a Yamaha CFIII VI and their prices are not negligible either. I am also happy to have a decent CFIII in my collection. I also have all the VSL pianos, including the 3 Boesendorfer Grands, but the IKM Boesendorfer is also a nice alternative. Yes, they have weaknesses, like the una corda, no velocity editor or the sympathetic resonance, but for the price, the IKM pianos are a no-brainer for me.
Such information makes me happy. You rarely read anything about the IKM U5 here on the forum.
Thank you for this information. The NY Steinway and the upcoming Hamburger had the least appeal for me because I have 18 Steinway Ds in my collection.… I'm a huge fan of the New York Steinway, but this one is not for me. Some might call it warm, but to me it's muddy and lacks the treble I expect from a Steinway. Compared to the VSL it sure has a lot of low-end and body, but it misses clarity. If I EQ a bit of 250 cycles out it becomes a bit better, but I have a hard time to really make it sound good to my taste. At the high dynamics it starts to sound great but then you're also out of dynamic layers
It also feels very uneven to me, and E5 sounds completely filtered when played at low and medium velocity. If you play at very low velocities, all you hear is some low percussive sounds instead of a piano tone. It stays that way even if I remove all the key noises. Might be the model they sampled though.
It's not for me either. I bought some (5-6) of these much praised "Intimate" Pianos, but have uninstalled them all. The Piano VIs are undoubtedly good, but I don't like the muddy/felted sound. I am probably too much of a purist in that aspect.
+1
+1
CPU load? Phasing issues?
On Windows 10: What do you say to that? As you can see, my two pianos are displayed correctly here. But, since I installed both pianos, the left authorizations display is wrong with 9. It should only be 8. Or not? OK, it's not that important.
Re: the authorizations - I believe that is for the main Pianoverse software, not the individual pianos, so 9 is correct. I have all 4 current pianos installed, and mine shows 9 left.On Windows 10: What do you say to that? As you can see, my two pianos are displayed correctly here. But, since I installed both pianos, the left authorizations display is wrong with 9. It should only be 8. Or not? OK, it's not that important.
And here, what's going on? No "Black Diamond B280" but instead the "Royal Upright Y5". And, I have tried it out, it is not a spelling mistake. Maybe I don't understand how the Product Manager works and it's all OK. For me, it's a bug!
Thank you! I had found that out myself. But the behaviour of the IKM Product Manager is "weird" for new IKM customers like me.
Yes, the IKM pianos are good, but for me not on Garritan CFX level. Not even close, from the point of view as a solo player.
I fully agree with you.
I don't miss it, but I haven't seen any option.
I wouldn't view it as a replacement but complementary. If there was a CFX in Pianoverse we could directly compare but I do not have the experience to understand which parts of the sound are due to the sampling and which due to the piano itself. The bass register on the Garritan is jaw dropping and the VI is a gold standard, period. Personally I switched to Noire from Garritan as my goto because I tend to find the Garritan a bit sterile but that's just me.
Hmm? Now here I am a bit confused because I don't understand your question.
