Best RTAS Sampled Piano

[lwilliam]

OK, I normally hate these "What is the best..." types of questions, but since there aren't 250 choices (like mics or preamps), I was hoping no one would mind. The only two I know of are:

1. Synthology's Ivory
2. EastWest Ultimate Piano Pak (Bosendorfer 290 + Galaxy Steinway 5.1)

I can't believe the piano that comes with Sampletank would compare to the 5GB+ romplers above, so that's not a contender.

Anyone used either or both of the above? Am I missing one?

[DDM]

Hey if you can get fxpansion which allows vst instruments to be used as rtas instruments and then go out and buy "The Grand" which is thee best grand piano pluggin there is... Trust me!!!!

[yOkO]

although i've been trying diferent samples, (in the university library there's even the viena philrmonic thing)
i've stuck with vitous bosendorfer thing, for two reasons, one-it consume less cpu (i've saw)
and i can put it in the smpltnk, as more developed sounds are used think i'll need another cmputer,
just as a virtual rack,(wich are my plans).then i'll tell ya.

[DDM]

Two things I would consider... To tell you the truth I don't even sequence my tracks in protools, and there is a feature on "The Grand" that allows you to set the plugin to use less memory... of coarse it wont sound the best during tracking however once you are finished tracking you can set the grand to its maximum performance and bounce out the grand as a stereo track to the point where you no longer use cpu power.... Now programs like cubase and logic have the freeze function that doesnt use any cpu power, nor ram.... It all depends on what you want to do and what quality level, Trust once you have heard the grand your mind will change quick... I have tried all the others from giga sampler,sampletank,east west symphonic library, to many others... and the grand is the truth....

[GW]

I only have the Bösendorfer 290 and it took a lot of tweaking before I could get it dry enough for my use. When I need a closer feeling I use a 250Mb sampling that you can find for free (if I remember correct on Hammersound) and run it thru Reason.

So perhaps the Q should be Best for what? For Debussy or Elton John?

I can only state that in the last couple of years it's a HUGE difference and it gets better all the time...

[max cooper]

A often have a problem with some of the sound modules being "recorded" with too much ambience.
BFD is a great sounding product, but I'd love it if they'd make the next set of sounds in a smaller room. I've been wondering about the Bosendorfer, since there's nothing I love more than the way they sound, but if you're saying they made it heavy on the "room" then that's a bummer. Plus if you end up applying even a little compression to the mix, the ambience comes up even more.

Also, the fxpansion wrapper works well for me with the UAD stuff, but the latency is ten or eleven minutes. I don't know if that would be good unless you're gonna track the midi with a different sound source. Maybe you are and I missed that.

[lwilliam]

It seems that there's a toss-up between Ivory and The Grand from my visits around the 'net. The 290 costs the same as Ivory, and you get the 290, a Steinway D, and a Yamaha C7 with Ivory.

From listening to the mp3 demos on synthology's site, it seems they're recorded fairly dry, but you can add "ambience" from the audience perspective to make them better for solo piano vs a pop mix.