Ableton Forum

- any of the BFD range
- Synthogy Ivory Grand Pianos
- Synthogy Ivory Italian Grand Expansion Pack
- IK Multimedia AmpliTube 2 Jimi Hendrix Edition
- Eastwest Symphonic Orchestra (any of the editions)
- Eastwest Quantum Leap Colossus
- Eastwest Quantum Leap RA
- IK Multimedia SampleTank 2 XL

???

If you do, I'd appreciate your thoughts on them. I'm looking to invest in some new software and these are the ones that stand out for me. Cheers.

For piano, you should check Pianoteq. Rave reviews in Sound On Sound and other publications and has a downloadable demo.

http://www.pianoteq.com/



It is a bloody amazing piano which only takes up 10 MB. It is derived by synthesis modelling from a professor of mathematics and a professional piano tuner with 25 years experience.

The problem with Ivory and Akoustik piano and the like is that they are sampled based and take a bundle of hard drive space *like 10 - 15 GBS * and the sound is not consistent, although they mostly sound nice.

This also applies to sample based libraries such as East West or Vienna Symphonic Cube etc. They take MUCHO cpu and storage space. If you have the resources though, I'm sure you'll like them !

- Eastwest Quantum Leap Colossus
- Eastwest Quantum Leap RA

I've used both extensively in a studio context, and I must say they shine. Especially Colossus, which is a hundred times better than SampleTank 2 XL.

I'd start by figuring out whether you want a piano sound, drum sounds or full sound selections...

leedsquietman wrote:For piano, you should check Pianoteq. Rave reviews in Sound On Sound and other publications and has a downloadable demo.

http://www.pianoteq.com/



It is a bloody amazing piano which only takes up 10 MB. It is derived by synthesis modelling from a professor of mathematics and a professional piano tuner with 25 years experience.

The problem with Ivory and Akoustik piano and the like is that they are sampled based and take a bundle of hard drive space *like 10 - 15 GBS * and the sound is not consistent, although they mostly sound nice.

This also applies to sample based libraries such as East West or Vienna Symphonic Cube etc. They take MUCHO cpu and storage space. If you have the resources though, I'm sure you'll like them !

i dunno, the mp3s on that pianoteq make it sound pretty fake. i don't think synthesis is ever going to be able to take the place of multi-sampled piano

One warning for the EastWest stuff - they're moving everything to their new "PLAY" engine, which requires an iLok dongle.

Pianoteq has many very tweakable parameters which can make the piano stand out more, EQ, reverb, and the piano length, lid closed, lid opened, lid half open, scale tuning, amount of hammer knock etc.

The mp3 demos on the site could be improved I agree, although I think the classical music ones are good. I think this review from Dave Stewart in January 2007 Sound On Sound is pretty accurate.

"I compared Pianoteq to one of the best of the recent crop of sampled grands, and the difference was pretty dramatic. Both pianos sounded fine on simple pop/rock styles, handling big stately chords, slow melodies, octave bass lines and fast repeated chords with aplomb. But when it came to expressive improvised music, Pianoteq was much more playable — its notes sounded more connected than those of the sampled instrument, giving fast runs and phrases something of the silvery cohesion of a real piano. The lack of discernible latency was also a huge plus."

Um, I don't think the JH edition AT is out yet?

I have allot of BFD stuff........what do you want to know?

I have
- Eastwest Symphonic Orchestra (Silver)
- Eastwest Quantum Leap Colossus

They're really good.

Cheers for the input everyone.

leedsquietman - the software you mentioned is interesting - I'll research it some more...

machinate - helpful as always! I do like the sound of the Eastwest products mentioned - for a full sound library... should I definitely get Colossus over
SampleTank 2 XL? Is SampleTank 2 XL worth getting at all?!

eyeknow - i thought this product was a virtual instrument... never mind!! I have BFD + Jazz & Funk, it's great - are the other expansion packs worth getting?

brightonalex - Do you know how the Symphonic Orchestra sounds compare to the Garritan products? That's two good shouts for Colossus!!!

Thanks!!

BFD is really good. I tend to use the Toontrack stuff more though simply because they're easier on the computer. Works good for what I do (write songs).

I think Colossus is lightyears ahead of Sampletank 2XL. The only good thing about sampletank is the vintage piano sound, which sounds great when over-comped, but you can get that a million other ways.