1000 different sounds? Piano sounds like Piano, I use N.I. The Grand. Sounds okay. I also like the piano on the edirol plug in Orchestral.
Hypersonic has also some nice Piano sounds, but nothing approaching 1000!

I doubt, there's 1000 pianos out there worth sampling. Anyway, Native instrument does a few good ones, The Grand, Alicia Key and many more. If you buy the komplet bundle, you also have some pianos in the band section + electric pianos + classic concert pianos.

They all have many settings to customise the sound, response, noises, ambiance, etc... So, if you tweak a bit you might get to your 1000 ;)

My first virtual piano was The Grand, and like spooner wrote, it sounds OK. Then I used Ivory and that is what I mainly use now. It has a few different pianos included, but nowhere near 1000. :wink:

I doubt, there's 1000 pianos out there worth sampling.

Well there's that upright beast in my garage... LOL

pcrecord, post: 403137 wrote: I doubt, there's 1000 pianos out there worth sampling. Anyway, Native instrument does a few good ones, The Grand, Alicia Key and many more. If you buy the komplet bundle, you also have some pianos in the band section + electric pianos + classic concert pianos.

They all have many settings to customise the sound, response, noises, ambiance, etc... So, if you tweak a bit you might get to your 1000 ;)

That's the thing... not that you'd necessarily get 1000 different pianos, but as PC mentioned, you would have a lot to choose from in a good library, if you factor in the different types of mic'ing and sampling scenarios involved in creating the various sounds.... things like a Yamaha Grand with different mic arrays, one might have more "tac" because the mics were placed closer to the hammers and strings, while another sample might be based on the mics pulled back a bit to capture more of the "body". It's the same piano, just sampled differently.

Factor in velocities, different ambient/room mic arrays and you would have a lot to choose from. I doubt highly that you'd get a thousand, but you would have plenty to work with.

I've used Garritan, Ivory and East West Colossus. All are nice, but it also depends greatly upon the context of the song and production. For example, I don't think that the end piano solo on Sweet Home Alabama, which sounds very "honky tonk" in nature, would sound nearly as cool or edgy if it was played using a Bosendorfer Grand sample designed for a Rachmaninoff-type piece. LOL... unless you're going for that Liberace plays Skynyrd sound... ;)

fwiw
-d.

The upright beast in your garage is an old analog plug-in Donny, NOT a VST. It would require hard wiring each string to separate contacts on the CPU with the output routed direct to two gerbils for stereo spread. Not worth the effort.

I apologize, I should have been a bit clearer.

Not just "piano" sounds, but any other sounds, like Harpsichords or guitars etc.
Just like on a Keyboard or E-Piano.

Then, I would say Hypersonic. For me, it has the correct mix of traditional and modern sounds. Easy to use and flexible. I have a LOT of vst instruments, but I use Hypersonic almost all the time. Worth the money, in my opinion.

spooner248, post: 403162 wrote: The upright beast in your garage is an old analog plug-in Donny, NOT a VST. It would require hard wiring each string to separate contacts on the CPU with the output routed direct to two gerbils for stereo spread. Not worth the effort.

Can I substitute with mice? I got plenty of them in that garage. ;)

Any other ideas besides HYPERSONIC?

DonnyThompson, post: 403173 wrote: Can I substitute with mice? I got plenty of them in that garage. ;)

No bass with mice. Try a dog and two starlings. Woofer and tweeters

For a library with a variety of other instruments like electric pianos and synths, something like East-West Colossus would probably be a good choice...

BUT... keep in mind that if great sounding piano samples are what you are after first and foremost, then looking at a library with just piano is gonna be your best bet. Other multi instrument libraries might have some nice piano sounds, but you won't get the same variety and qaulity of piano samples that you'd get with a dedicated piano program.

For straight pianos, look into "Ivory".

[[url=http://="http://www.ilio.com…"]Synthogy Virtual Instruments[/]="http://www.ilio.com…"]Synthogy Virtual Instruments[/]

On a final note, good sounding libraries are not cheap. There are plenty of budget sample libraries/VSTi's available, but by and large, you're generally going to get what you pay for.

fwiw
-d

NI has Komplete 8 Ultimate. I've had the pleasure of playing with that bundle, and as a classically trained pianist, I think a lot of the piano sounds in it are very good. Expressive, diverse, etc.

Kuroneku, post: 403181 wrote: Any other ideas besides HYPERSONIC?

Can you give us some idea of what you're looking for - more choices than Hypersonic? More focus on keyboard? Guitars? SFX? Better quality? Lower price?

And what's your DAW software?

TBPlayer, post: 403239 wrote: Can you give us some idea of what you're looking for - more choices than Hypersonic? More focus on keyboard? Guitars? SFX? Better quality? Lower price?

And what's your DAW software?

My DAW is REAPER, and I am looking for a VST bundle that has Rock & Roll instruments included, but also orchestral elements. Price does not matter at all.

I just tried Miroslav Philomark, I believe that's what it's called.

I must say I fell in love, but came across a very frustrating issue. At random moments and parts of the recording, the MIDI track loses it's "quality" and starts sounding NUMB. I've made tests, and it does not come from cutting or moving the tracks. It's a very strange and annoying thing. Then at random times, the quality arrives back.

Is it my DAW or could it be a bug from the VST?

It could be a bug - I gave up on Miro because of that. I use Cubase.

Native instruments has some great bundles to get an enormous amount of samples in one buy. That should get you started.

Addictive Keys has been my go to ever since I purchased it. There aren't anywhere near 1,000 different instruments though. However it does have an amazing engine that allows you to craft your own sounds from the original samples. And it's cheap for what you get.