Garritan Steinway and Quantum Leap Piano

[feck]

Originally Posted by Gemylon

So, any news on the Garritan ?

Anyone tried it yet ?


Cheers

G

I have been using it for several weeks now. Aside from 2 technical issues (a strange sample and some pedal release samples which have already been addressed by Garritan and are being fixed via an update) it is a hit. I can say that its' playability and sound are second to none I have played or heard. While a Steinway isn't always the right sound, I can't see ever using another piano sample set. It is just that good. 5 positions as well - the under lid position run through Altiverb will blow you away. I was sitting 5 feet back from my Adam monitors while a pianist was having a go at it, and with my eyes closed, would have sworn I was in front of a real piano.

[SEA]

Originally Posted by feck

I have been using it for several weeks now. Aside from 2 technical issues (a strange sample and some pedal release samples which have already been addressed by Garritan and are being fixed via an update) it is a hit. I can say that its' playability and sound are second to none I have played or heard. While a Steinway isn't always the right sound, I can't see ever using another piano sample set. It is just that good. 5 positions as well - the under lid position run through Altiverb will blow you away. I was sitting 5 feet back from my Adam monitors while a pianist was having a go at it, and with my eyes closed, would have sworn I was in front of a real piano.

I'd be interested in hearing some of your demos feck. Do you have any up yet?

I have been A/B'ing Garritans with QL over the past week. The one I like the best (so far) is the QL Bechstein. It has a lot of character to me.

I have Black Grand (a Steiny D) and yet it seems that all the Steiny D's out there I have heard sound a bit plain to me.

The Bosey sounds pretty good (demo wise). I guess the thing to do is just order them both and see eh?

Garritans (the demos at least) sound a bit muffled in comparison. From what others have said on NorthernSounds forum, the Garritan lacks "Soul" and the dynamics in the soft and loud areas (ppp an fff).

But to each their own eh?

SEA

[gnileux]

sorry to revive such an old thread..
but is it me or is QLP's yamaha a bad sample set?

on soundsonline.com, only 2 demos of the yamaha can be found and it is not compared with Ivory. It's also the smallest piano (40+Gb) compared to the others of 60-80gb.

My guess is the yamaha demos are played with relatively high velocity?
Anyone have used the EWQLP's yamaha? Any comments on this?

Thanks!

[SEA]

Originally Posted by gnileux

sorry to revive such an old thread..
but is it me or is QLP's yamaha a bad sample set?

on soundsonline.com, only 2 demos of the yamaha can be found and it is not compared with Ivory. It's also the smallest piano (40+Gb) compared to the others of 60-80gb.

My guess is the yamaha demos are played with relatively high velocity?
Anyone have used the EWQLP's yamaha? Any comments on this?

Thanks!

Your best bet would be to go to the Soundsonline forum and ask over there. I know there are those who have the QL pianos and enjoy them very much.

Here's the link to the forum Soundsonline-Forums - Your favorite place for premium support of EastWest distributed products

[nickolo]

I bought the garritan personal orchestra a few months ago because i needed an oboe and harp for a job.But have ended up using the steinway piano quite often.Obviously its not perfect and im sure there s better samples out there for more dosh etc..but i think its very usable.I do end up cutting some upper mids and top to soften it a bit and then it is pretty cool for a sample!!That whole deal has a few main orchestra samples in it and for the £90-120 price is amazing value!!

[gnileux]

Originally Posted by SEA

Your best bet would be to go to the Soundsonline forum and ask over there. I know there are those who have the QL pianos and enjoy them very much.

Here's the link to the forum Soundsonline-Forums - Your favorite place for premium support of EastWest distributed products

Yea actually I have posted over there... But i must say the community there is not as active as gearslutz. Most of the posts there gets little or no reply. Maybe most wouldn't care about a Yamaha. (They love the Steinway & Bosendorfer) But the Yamaha is a very important piano sound set to me!

So i was wondering if anyone here has used it and can post a quick review of what they think of the QLP Yamaha!

Thanks again !

[SEA]

Originally Posted by gnileux

Yea actually I have posted over there... But i must say the community there is not as active as gearslutz. Most of the posts there gets little or no reply. Maybe most wouldn't care about a Yamaha. (They love the Steinway & Bosendorfer) But the Yamaha is a very important piano sound set to me!

So i was wondering if anyone here has used it and can post a quick review of what they think of the QLP Yamaha!

Thanks again !

I have downloaded all the demos (wave files ) from the QL Pianos and have listened to them over and over. I have also downloaded Garritan's new Steinway so I could A/B them. So far I like the QL the best. However I have been in touch with Gary and we are going to do some demos together so I can get some side by side comparisons.

Now I am listening to the Yamaha C7 demos and as an owner of TBO (which is also a C7) to me the demos sound very good.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the C7 samples, just because there are only 2 demos, I just think that they there are only 2 demos posted since the Concert grands (seems to me) are what they are focusing on.

However, I did order QL Pianos and I will do some A/B'ing on my own once they arrive and load them. Hopefully I can tell you more from a personal side in a week or so :)

Jamie

[gnileux]

Originally Posted by SEA

I don't think there's anything wrong with the C7 samples, just because there are only 2 demos, I just think that they there are only 2 demos posted since the Concert grands (seems to me) are what they are focusing on.

However, I did order QL Pianos and I will do some A/B'ing on my own once they arrive and load them. Hopefully I can tell you more from a personal side in a week or so :)

Jamie

Thanks Jamie!

Can I find out from you if the TBO sounds similar to the QLP Yamaha Demos interms of tonal brilliance when played with a heavy touch? The demos on soundsonline.com for the Yamaha sounds as if the player was banging on the keyboard to me.

The Yamaha when played softly or with moderate strength produces a unique tone that I am unable to hear from the demos.

Maybe I should buy the EWQLPianos soon (theres a promotion going on and ending pretty soon)

Would still like to hear from you regarding the Yamaha.. and if its bad.. Maybe i will keep the box sealed and have it sold to someone else!

[jdvmi]

Originally Posted by gnileux

Thanks Jamie!

Can I find out from you if the TBO sounds similar to the QLP Yamaha Demos interms of tonal brilliance when played with a heavy touch? The demos on soundsonline.com for the Yamaha sounds as if the player was banging on the keyboard to me.

The Yamaha when played softly or with moderate strength produces a unique tone that I am unable to hear from the demos.

Maybe I should buy the EWQLPianos soon (theres a promotion going on and ending pretty soon)

Would still like to hear from you regarding the Yamaha.. and if its bad.. Maybe i will keep the box sealed and have it sold to someone else!

I think the yamaha is the worst of the bunch. I don't know that it's completely un-usable, but it needs some serious work. It's VERY twangy and the velocities seem to be off. When playing it does sound like you're banging on the keys. I think the EWQL Steinway is the best in the bunch and it's the one I use the most, but I must say I still love my S90ES piano sound, not sure how yamaha does it, but that 26 MB S700 sample in the S90ES smokes a lot of the large piano libraries.

Also, be careful purchasing if you're not sure. I don't think you can re-sell your copy even if it wasn't open. Just make sure to double check before buying something.

[gnileux]

Originally Posted by jdvmi

I think the yamaha is the worst of the bunch. I don't know that it's completely un-usable, but it needs some serious work. It's VERY twangy and the velocities seem to be off. When playing it does sound like you're banging on the keys. I think the EWQL Steinway is the best in the bunch and it's the one I use the most, but I must say I still love my S90ES piano sound, not sure how yamaha does it, but that 26 MB S700 sample in the S90ES smokes a lot of the large piano libraries.

Also, be careful purchasing if you're not sure. I don't think you can re-sell your copy even if it wasn't open. Just make sure to double check before buying something.

From what you say, I read that the C7 on EWQL is practically unusable? Wow! Thats very sad to hear as a C7 sample is one of the most important sounds I'll be needing. Would you put up a demo using the Yamaha ? Like try playing softly or something , just a quick one will do too!

What are the good C7 samples around? seems like only TBO and Ivory...

[Animus]

I am not that impressed with the EW pianos. Just another piano sample library, hohuh, trumping the megabyte size of the previous competitor. Pretty soon these pianos are going to be 5 terrabytes in size. lol I agree with allencollins the recordings themselves sound a little honky and shrill and I am not crazy about the room. It certainly doesn't blow Ivory out of the water. The beauty of Ivory is how they fit in the mix. Good point about S90ES. It's not about sample set size but the quality of the recording and the programming.

[GearGuy]

About the Garritan....

For the people who have bought it... are you using the standard version ($199) or the Pro version ($399.) That would be helpful to know for your comments.

[clonewar]

Originally Posted by Animus

I am not that impressed with the EW pianos. Just another piano sample library, hohuh, trumping the megabyte size of the previous competitor. Pretty soon these pianos are going to be 5 terrabytes in size. lol I agree with allencollins the recordings themselves sound a little honky and shrill and I am not crazy about the room. It certainly doesn't blow Ivory out of the water. The beauty of Ivory is how they fit in the mix. Good point about S90ES. It's not about sample set size but the quality of the recording and the programming.

Do you have the library or are you basing your opinion on the posted demos?

[theother]

Originally Posted by ETM Dude

I've got it working fine on Vista 64 / Sonar 7 x64. Haven't tried it in a 32 bit host in VIsta 64, out of curiosity why would one be on Vista 64 if not using 64-bit standalone or 64-bit host? Seems like you would be asking for problems there-

Because almost no plugins exist that are 64-bit.

Why would you want a 64-bit host if you can't run any plugins?

Now having a 64-bit OS makes sense because Nuendo can use 4GB RAM instead of 2GB with XP 32-bit and Vienna Ensemble can access the rest of the 8GB RAM together with Sony ACID Pro running in the background.

I love it! The only troublemaker are all the Play modules. Everything else works like a charm.

[theother]

Originally Posted by SEA

Your best bet would be to go to the Soundsonline forum and ask over there. I know there are those who have the QL pianos and enjoy them very much.

Here's the link to the forum Soundsonline-Forums - Your favorite place for premium support of EastWest distributed products

Let me tell you something about this forum.

I own all the Play products and EWQL SO Platinum XP. (plus several other EW/QL products)

Play (all modules) and Pianos had so many bugs that I posted there asking if other people had similar problems, after EW support was unable to help.
None of the posts were rude nor confrontational. I only asked in a friendly manner if others had the same problems.

It turned out everything I posted got eventually confirmed as a bug.

I spent hours with EW tech support explaining to them what isn't working and they had to admit that are a lot of issues with the software.

EW thanked me by banning me from the forum. Two days after posting the bugs on the forum I could no longer log in or post. Up to this day.

I asked them several times for a reason why my account got suspended and they never bothered replying.

The EW support guy (Jay) said it wasn't his decision and he doesn't know the reason why I'm barred but failed to put me in touch with the person who did so or give me any valid reason.

I asked him several times who is was that banned me but never got another reply. I sent several emails to Doug Rogers. No reply.

This is the worst company I've ever dealt with!

I wouldn't be surprised if the moderators delete this post because they are afraid EW will stop paying for ads on Gearslutz...

[Animus]

Originally Posted by clonewar

Do you have the library or are you basing your opinion on the posted demos?

Listening to all the demos, I don't own it. Are you implying that demos don't represent the product? Especially when the demos claim to have no additional processing etc, and to be straight out of the player?

Regardless I am not saying they sound bad. They are just not the Second Coming of Piano like everyone seems to by hyping it up to be.

[Animus]

Originally Posted by theother

Let me tell you something about this forum.

I own all the Play products and EWQL SO Platinum XP. (plus several other EW/QL products)

Play (all modules) and Pianos had so many bugs that I posted there asking if other people had similar problems, after EW support was unable to help.
None of the posts were rude nor confrontational. I only asked in a friendly manner if others had the same problems.

It turned out everything I posted got eventually confirmed as a bug.

I spent hours with EW tech support explaining to them what isn't working and they had to admit that are a lot of issues with the software.

EW thanked me by banning me from the forum. Two days after posting the bugs on the forum I could no longer log in or post. Up to this day.

I asked them several times for a reason why my account got suspended and they never bothered replying.

The EW support guy (Jay) said it wasn't his decision and he doesn't know the reason why I'm barred but failed to put me in touch with the person who did so or give me any valid reason.

I asked him several times who is was that banned me but never got another reply. I sent several emails to Doug Rogers. No reply.

This is the worst company I've ever dealt with!

I wouldn't be surprised if the moderators delete this post because they are afraid EW will stop paying for ads on Gearslutz...

wow, that is douch-e-bagery!

[henryrobinett]

I'm about to pull the trigger on Ivory. I'm looking for a sampled piano library that does jazz well, as opposed to classical. Any feedback as far as this is concerned. I'm not so much looking for classical concert. Not an overly bright or overly dark. Something sound that sounds great in a trio or quartet and that can take EQ well, if needed.

I mostly record real 9 ft grands. But it'd be very handy to write/produce at home. Interested in feedback.

[loncali]

For Jazz I recommend the Ivory Italian Grand, it is incredibly smooth and perfect for jazz, in fact it is probably the best of all the Ivory pianos.

[henryrobinett]

Thank you! That's great to know. I see the Italian Grand is a standalone. Is there a catch or problem with buying this without buying Ivory? Is the player OK? I want to use this as a plugin for DP or Logic.

[Football]

Just to throw out another opinion. FOR ME, I love Ivory's Yamaha but don't like the Italian Grand at all (never ever use it).

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by Football

Just to throw out another opinion. FOR ME, I love Ivory's Yamaha but don't like the Italian Grand at all (never ever use it).

Yes, but are you applying it to jazz? Yamaha isn't really the best jazz piano. It's a great pop piano though.

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Yes, but are you applying it to jazz? Yamaha isn't really the best jazz piano. It's a great pop piano though.

I've played piano most of my life and worked professionally as a piano tech some years ago. I have half a dozen or so piano libraries including Ivory. I have yet to be satisfied with any of them but will say the Ivory Steinway is my second favorite right behind the Galaxie Steinway.

It may be true that Ivory outshines most, if not all, others in terms of playability and dynamics but I just don't think the timbre and tone of the Ivory Steinway sounds real. Especially on the low mids the roundness of tone and the subtlety of attack just isn'tt convincing and I have not been able to fix my complaints with EQ. I'm picky though.

I played the Garritan Steinway at NAMM this year and from what I could tell, it sounded great. BUT, NAMM is an awful place to demo something so take what I say here as having limited meaning. I do plan to get the Garritan Steinway, though. In various forums, I read reports of others I have come to trust over the years who say the Garr. Steinway is the best yet.

The reason I write all this is I, like you, play jazz for the most part. Now there's alot of different kinds of jazz recordings but I have found that with virually all of them, I always prefer Steinways. Yamahas, Bosendorfers, Kawais,etc. etc. just dont sound right to me - played live or with samples.

So I would recommend you thoroughly check out the demos of the various libraries before you buy. Demos, I have found, can be very misleading but I just dont know another way. It's better to listen to demos, I think, than to rely
on the opinions of others. There is no accounting for taste.

Jim McCarthy

PS: I have never heard the QL Pianos

[Football]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Yes, but are you applying it to jazz? Yamaha isn't really the best jazz piano. It's a great pop piano though.

No I'm not, good point Henry.

[gnileux]

I'm quite sure of one thing and that is if you're looking for a Steinway,
- go for a Garritan Steinway

If you're looking for a bosendorfer
- go with QLPianos

However, if you want a palette of pianos,
- go with QL Pianos
as they have good tonal quality, at least on par. If not better then the Ivory. For me the QLP's steinway and bosendorfer are definately better then Ivory's steinway & bosendorfer.. Ivory's bosendorfer is

For jazz, I actually liked the italian grand in the past. I found the tone pretty similar to a Yamaha. Not sure why, but it really does.

At the end of the day, I believe you wont go wrong with either
- Garritan Steinway (if you're a steinway lover)
- Ivory Grand Pianos (there's 3 pianos here so if you don't like any..)
- EWQL Pianos (theres 4 here so...)

Search "stocksam" (channel) on youtube and check out his latest videos. They are running on QLPianos, he has a set of recordings done on the Ivory Steinway and Italian Grand as well. Definately worth auditioning if you're interested in the Ivory or QLP

For me, the yamaha and steinway were invaluable so I had to own both.

[Ashermusic]

You might also consider Art Vistas Virtual Grand 2. It is a very nice, very playable Hamburg Steinway B, especially nice for Jazz.

Virtual Grand Piano