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Comments
Thanks for the results! Interesting!
I thought that all of the pianos in the poll were included in the test, like the korg ivory grand, which I do own, but I guess not.
As for the results, and since this was a truly blind test for me and my ears, I found out that I do not own the piano that was my favorite choice, so I will definitely consider picking that one up. Thanks for making the comparison.
Yeah, I do own Cubasis.
So you just send me a midi file, and I import into cubasis and play it through Korg Ivory and bounce the file to disk and then send the audio file back to you?
That sounds simple and quick enough, and I could do that sure, no problem.
Ok, sure, sounds good!
And yeah, hopefully you can get a few other people to provide any of the other pianos that you might be missing, so the test can cover all or almost all of the pianos that are out there, and it will be a truly comprehensive shoot out!
Actually, not too surprised by the results. Thanks, @tja. Ive just had a quick play of the Bach myself on Ivory and it sounds great, but, until iOS can stream large sample libraries, it can’t compete. Then again, they all sound much better than my old Korg 01w, and I thought I could write a symphony on that...!
Thank for doing this. It was interesting to see the responses and great to know what was behind the curtain in the PM. I think you should post the details at some point and allow folks to comment. Many assumed certain products were in the mix that were not. I made my rankings based upon which sample set had the best notes below middle C and the winner in that contest surprised me and I own all the pianos tested except 1.
At some point I might pick that one up too. There are a lot of great pianos not being tested here. So a shared MIDI file and someone to collect all the results might be a good idea.
Thank for doing this. It was interesting to see the responses and great to know what was behind the curtain in the PM. I think you should post the details at some point and allow folks to comment. Many assumed certain products were in the mix that were not. I made my rankings based upon which sample set had the best notes below middle C and the winner in that contest surprised me and I own all the pianos tested except 1.
I can do the Imperial Grand and also iSymphonic‘s Kawai
I can support through Auria with Salamander and Piano in 162.
So the results are...
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/27342/piano-world-cup-resume
So, @fjcblanco, you are a little late to the party! As I recall it was 1/Salamander 2/Beathawk Acoustic ( which is on sale now for $6. Just downloaded it) 3/ Ravenscroft275 and 4/Colossus.
Is that right, fellow participants?
In retrospect the whole thing seems screwy. Salamander? Really? And I think UVI stuff is great, but the Beathawk D? No string resonance, etc. What were we thinking? ( hearing?) And now there is Korg's Model D. Should we have a face off with that one and the top 4? That would be interesting! But maybe it means they all fall short in one way or another, just like vsts, and just like acoustic grands.
I have been participating on the PianoWorld forum. Very nice people, but by in large they would prefer playing/listening on/to an out of tune, beer soaked upright than a pristine vst, or God forbid, an iOS app. My fav is still the RC275, but I haven't really danced with the model D and the BH acoustic. I doubt my mind will change.... Just like the beer soaked upright lovers, I swallowed the hype and my ears go along for the ride.
Thanks @[Deleted User] and @LinearLineman.
I've been out of the game for a while, but now I´m back starting to playing keyboard...again.
I already have BH Accoustic and bs-16 i. Maybe I'll get RC (on sale) and try the HQ Salamander soundfont.
Thanks @[Deleted User] and @LinearLineman.
I've been out of the game for a while, but now I´m back starting to playing keyboard...again.
I already have BH Accoustic and bs-16 i. Maybe I'll get RC (on sale) and try the HQ Salamander soundfont.
I love bs-16i it just works. The piano is king to me, personally I think Salamander soundfont is the best sounding piano from the competition and the thing is free. I hope one day Pianoteq will come to ios and the debate will be over.
From best to worst, I'd rate them:
...and I didn't rate #2 because I thought it had too much effect for a fair comparison with the others. Looking forward to finding out what they are!
I'm also curious for any thoughts about whether it's worth buying the piano for Beathawk if you already have Ravenscroft. My use will involve triggering different instruments from different apps simultaneously in a real-time performance environment, so besides sound quality, one of my concerns is total overhead, i.e. playing well while also running other apps.
Hi @anotherscott. You are on the PW forum also, no?
Now is the time to buy all your pianos! Korg module on sale, I think, with model D Steinway and German grand inapps. BeatHawk is decentand on sale, but for me third below the above two. The top three in the piano poll were Salamander (!) Beathawk (!) and Ravenscroft, as far as I recall. Plenty of iOS apps on sale. Check the Black Friday thread. Best, Mike
I did and I never use the BeatHawk. But I did add the Korg Module American D Steinway and it's neck and neck with the RC275 for sound quality and Velocity Curve/EQ controls but NOT AUv3.
Auria Pro is on sale for $25 and it includes several excellent pianos and can import SF2 and SFZ to add even more. There's a free one out there called the "Piano in 162" recorded by an Arizona University engineering student that's stunning in Auria (though I did have to buy a Limiter to get it loud enough and I've been told I could have edited the SFZ for that issue).
OK. You need a stable Piano and Module is rock solid. RC275 has a crackle issue that loading DubFilter is supposed to fix. Search the threads for @Janosax and RC275 to get more details.
My solution for a light weight, stable AUv3 Piano is AudioLayer
using Salamander Pianos in SF2 format imported into my Mac's Mainstage/Logic ESX24 Synth and exported in ESX24 format which AudioLayer can import. I have one from that route that works really well. With a lot of other instruments playing you can use a lot less detailed Piano and SF2 are out there from Akai ROMplers and such that sound pretty damned good and are a less than 100MB is size. You can run many of them (if you'd ever need to) for example.
Life and engineering is a series of tradeoffs. The best piano has features fit for purpose.
The Colussus "Brown" Concert Grand is my favorite solo piano (to replace my 7'9" Petrof Concert Grand in a downsize) and it crashes every know DAW (and I have way too many of those too) when I need it to record something. I can play the Colossus at all hours. I could only play the Petrof when the TV was off. So, for the best piano I trade off recording unless I record my iPhone 5S running it using an Audio Interface to my iPad... which should work if the A-to-D's are any good. This might answer that question. How would it sound through a PA Live? It consumes about 20GB on my 32GB iPhone for just the Brown Grand. I bought 4 other Colussus Piano models too just to see if they would compete. The Epiano's did well against the usual EP Apps.
The Uprights and smaller Grands just didn't have the warmth of the RC275 or Korg Am D Steinway. Closer to the BeatHawk which swims in reverb to smooth it out. I prefer to add reverb cause you can't remove it without loosing overtones.
Finding the perfect digital piano is an exercise in the suspension of disbelief... we just want to be fooled. I played a real piano recently and it was just awful. I've been spoiled by a piano that was recorded while in tune... most need a good tuning.
Anyway, RC275 for $18 is money well spent. Korg Module and Steinway American D for $40 (at 50% off) is good because Module also has IAP's for the Korg Triton, Strings, Scarbee Epianos, Mellotron, Dreamy Synths, Hammond Organs, etc.
And they all show up in Korg's Gadget after purchase of that $20-40 Walled Garden.
Tradeoffs and decisions. Good luck. May you painlessly make good music and at a fair price.
I think the Ravenscroft has the best sound when the sustain pedal is down: much richer than any of the others. But then of course if you keep the pedal down the crackles come in....
I bought the American D last night and I quite liked it: warmer than the Ivory, and more suited to softer playing. But when the sustain pedal is down the resonance isn't as rich as the Ravenscroft.
Yup.
I did pick up Auria Pro and some other stuff.
No, I hadn't seen the larger poll, I have a lot more to listen to now! But since this older one is kind of obsolete, could someone post what the 8 in this thread were? I'm curious about which ones were which of what already evaluated.
Thanks to all of you for your input!
That's an excellent observation to add to the comaprison. UVI's Ravenscroft 275 nails "string resonance" compared to the others. I'd guess it requires adding a special "reverb" effect or adding extra harmonics to the mix but it does make the experience. The RC275 is @Linearlineman's favorite piano and he logged many hours of flight time on a Steinway Grand and has 5 albums of solo jazz piano music. So, for me his opinion speaks volumes on the question "Does it sound like a piano to you?" He is buying just a MIDI controller because his iPad with RC275 works to replace the Steinway.
If you're on the "Grand Piano Quest" you should consider the $50 Colossus "Dark Brown Model" Concert Grand with it's 24-bit 96Khz samples with 24 layers of velocity. There are also other models at various prices. The Black Steinway-based model is also very good. The App is free to hear the model demo's. Their product downloads are throttled and the Concert Grand takes hours to download and you can't use the iPad (or iPhone) while it's downloading to do it overnight. I recently took 3 days to successfully re-download the Concert Grand on a spare iPhone 5S. It runs the piano vert well so I use it as a sound module when I want this particular experience of a wonderful solo piano. I think it I add an iConnect 4 I can use the extra USB ports to keep this pianos sound in the digital domain to my iPad's DAW's.
Colossus Concert Grand $49.99
Japanese Grand $12.99
Colossus E-Piano Set $19.99
Upright Piano $19.99
Baby Grand Piano $26.99
Classic B Grand $15.99
Vintage Upright $9.99
Pianino $12.99
Historic S Grand $9.99
Please keep sharing you experiences with these amazing IOS instruments for the piano enthusiasts on the forum. Yesterday I added the BeatMaker3's Grand Piano for $1 (of course I had to pay $25 to get BeatMaker3 but I've been needing a reason to look into that Pandora's Box for quite a while). My first few notes on this extra Piano were not good but today I learned that the instrument starts with the dry signal set to "zero" and reverb at 100% so maybe changing that will improve the first impression.
As with my thoughts on the BeatHawk's Acoustic Grand I want to add reverb but start with none. I have better reverbs in my tool box like "Altispace" which accurately models room characteristics using "Impulse Response" measurements that get "Convoluted" by this reverb to recreate the sound physics of various rooms, halls, etc. @VirSyn's AudioReverb is also a great reverb with great piano rooms and reverb plate simulations.
Sadly I think the Colossus is a little too colossal for my current iPad, maybe if I get a new iPad with more storage it might be worth considering, but for now I don't have the space for it.
I’m still getting temporarily hickups and crackles in Ravenscroft275 on my 2017 iPad Pro 12.9”...
Although, it has been better and better with every update to RC275...
Well, I finally got that midi controller @McDtracy mentioned. A Kawaii MP11... New still in Turkey, tho eclipsed by the new 11se available almost everywhere else. A really great piano action, metal cabinet, virtual technician which tweeks about twenty piano sound parameters, on board Kawai EX, four midi zoned 75lb bundle of love and fun! The RC275 sounds damn good on it, especially with sustain and soft pedal working. Selling my Roland FA07. Who needs a workstation when you got iOS?
I retain a Casio AT5 when I need a synth action. For a $500 board it is amazingly sensitive, tho noisy. . How does Casio do it?
Yes, much love for RC275, but the new module D is up for inspection soon. Fun!
That's an excellent observation to add to the comaprison. UVI's Ravenscroft nailed "sympathetic string vibration" compared to the others. I'd guess it requires adding a special "reverb" effect or adding extra harmonics to the mix but it does make the experience. The RC275 is @Linearlineman's favorite piano and he logged many hours of flight time on a Steinway Grand and has 5 albums of solo jazz piano music. So, for me his opinion speaks volumes on the question "Does it sound like a piano to you?" I remember when he got it and