AxlBrutality Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 I'm finally moving closer to uninstalling my side by side installation of Legacy, and TruePianos is really the only thing left from that that I really use enough to keep hanging on to it. It's currently on sale for $65 (and I do plan on emailing them to see if I can get an extra discount as a Sonar user), but I was wondering if there are better/comparable alternatives? Just kinda want to examine my options. Just looking for a basic VST piano suite; I don't need a whole smorgasbord of different pianos or available effects....your typical decent grand piano sound is fine, and I use other effects independently (so included effects and parameters aren't super important). Depending on my workflow and the situation, sometimes I just draw in values in piano roll; other times I do use an actual keyboard to record MIDI. So something that has decently low latency and works well in both situations would be great. Free is great, but I don't mind paying a bit for something that's good (you get what you pay for often times). However, I don't really want to (nor can I, really) blow triple digits in cash on something though. Suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidney Earl Goodroe Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 Sonivox Eighty-eight is one of my favorite low budget grands!!! Can usually find it on the cheap somewhere. Try googling!! IMO, it blows Truepiano out of the water. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxlBrutality Posted December 7, 2019 Author Share Posted December 7, 2019 4 minutes ago, Sidney Earl Goodroe said: Sonivox Eighty-eight is one of my favorite low budget grands!!! Can usually find it on the cheap somewhere. Try googling!! IMO, it blows Truepiano out of the water. Just looked on their site; it does look pretty spiffy...I'll add it to the consideration list for sure! Appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Variorum Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 I've done some A/B tests on the pianos I have and @msmcleod posted a piano he sampled that is now my go-to piano for solo and classical stuff. I fiddled with the SFZ file and samples to give it a more linear velocity response (it has 7 velocity layers!). I'd have a hard time paying for a piano VST when there are some really good ones available for free. Here's an example with no reverb, EQ, or processing of any kind... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidney Earl Goodroe Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 Forgot to mention that Sonivox 88 has to run with the Ilok elicenser!! It just registers its licence to your computer drive rather than having to have a dongle eating up one of your usb ports. Not hard to setup and well worth the trouble!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tezza Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 That's what put me off the Sonivox stuff, there's like 28 steps to get it running and authorized. Couldn't be bothered, I have enough pianos anyway at the moment. I just use what came with KU10 and haven't really looked for pianos since, so cannot help in recommending one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mánibranðr Studios Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 I have this free Piano, which is nice. There's also Wolno and the Soft and Modular Pianos from Spitfire LABS. This Spring Piano by Chri Henson and Fred Rembrandt is also pretty good, and finally, there's the Piano in 162 by Ivy Audio. As for paid stuff, I mostly use the Grand Piano patch from my Roland SD-50, the SCVA or the Palette Orchestral Sketchpad. There's also stuff that was included when I purchased my Arturia Keylab Essential that works to that effect. If you're looking for an affordable one, the Mini-Grand by AIR Music technology is around $9.99 right now. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxlBrutality Posted December 8, 2019 Author Share Posted December 8, 2019 (edited) 15 hours ago, Sidney Earl Goodroe said: Forgot to mention that Sonivox 88 has to run with the Ilok elicenser!! It just registers its licence to your computer drive rather than having to have a dongle eating up one of your usb ports. Not hard to setup and well worth the trouble!!! I mean, I already have an iLok and have to use it for other things, but yea I have the elicenser service installed as well....so none of that's an issue. Edited December 8, 2019 by AxlBrutality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 May want to demo PianoTeq 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mánibranðr Studios Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 I just found out about this, but right now, and for a limited time (Obviously) the Waves Grand Rhapsody Piano is on sale for $40, and with an extra $10 off with the code GIFT10. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 (edited) The XLN Audio Studio Grand demo is free, and has no expiration. It is limited to four octaves, rather than the full 88 keys. Full version retail is $89.95 not counting possible available discounts. https://www.xlnaudio.com/products/addictive_keys/instrument/studio_grand For cheaper alternatives, I would suggest the Sonivox Eighty-Eight, or the AIR Mini-Grand. Most of the other decent options will be > $100. And I just looked at that Waves deal. Looks interesting for $25. Edited December 11, 2019 by abacab Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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