Is virtual better than real? Damn straight it is. Now, before anyone drops a piano on our
heads for uttering such heresy, let’s clarify. If you need a make-angels-weep-tears-of-joy piano part for your project, by all means, record an expertly-maintained grand in a pro studio that has awesome acoustics, using excellent mics and an engineer who knows exactly how to point them.
If your resources are anything less than this, you’ll get a better recording out of a software virtual piano. Why? Because the guys who made it already booked the studio and did the piano tuning, mic pointing, and other heavy lifting, which lets you focus on playing a great take. Of course, you have the usual benefits of going virtual, like being able to transpose or edit after the fact, but those alone wouldn’t make us use the word “better.” It’s the sound — it has finally reached the point of being that good. Keyboard contributors (and accomplished pianists and composers) Jim Aikin and Richard Leiter teamed up with tech editor Steve Fortner, and just about everyone in the Keyboard offices, to play and compare ten of the hottest virtual acoustic piano softwares available.
AUDIO EXAMPLES FROM PIANO VIRTUOSO MIKE GARSON!
Mike Garson of David Bowie fame was kind enough to provide us with the original piece "Hatikvah," as a MIDI file he captured on his Yamaha Disklavier grand piano. We imported the file into Apple Logic Pro and used it to drive all ten virtual pianos in this roundup. MP3 files are below each piano's screen shot - clicking on each should open it up in a separate QuickTime Player window. If you have a fast connection, you can also download a ZIP file of the full-resolution (16-bit, 44.1kHz) WAV files:
Link to ZIP of Mike Garson WAV files!
For more about Mike, visit him at www.mikegarson.com.
All these pianos run great on today’s fastest computers, but what if your machine is more modest? Here’s how to get the most out of it.
Max out your RAM. Sampled pianos load the “heads” of the samples into RAM so they play instantly, then stream the rest from hard disk. If you play densely, a small amount of RAM can get crowded pretty quickly, so beef it up.
Don’t put the samples on your system drive. Don’t use a drive onto which you’ll record lots of audio tracks either. Give ’em their own, and use a 7,200 rpm drive — or better, 10,000 rpm.
Reduce polyphony. Most virtual pianos let you set a limit for how many notes are allowed at once. Hit the ceiling, and the program politely kills the voices you’ll least notice, which sounds a lot better than crackles and dropouts from your computer choking when the limit is set too high.
Try a “lite” preset with fewer velocity layers. For live gigging and dense studio mixes, the nuances of a dozen or more layers are going to get lost. Fewer layers means the computer has to shovel less data to keep up with you.
Unload samples your music doesn’t need. Many virtual pianos let you turn detail samples (release, soft pedal, etc.), on or off separately. If your ears aren’t missing it, lose it — your computer may breathe a lot easier.
VIRTUAL PIANO FEATURE-SPEAK
You may run into these buzzwords when shopping. What do they have to do with sounding like a real piano? Here are the answers, in rough order of importance of each feature.
Full-length samples: When sampling a piano, you can record each note for as long as it takes to ring out and decay into silence, or you can loop the middle part (make it repeat). The first way sounds more natural; the second saves memory. The trade-off is that sometimes you can hear the loop points.
Velocity curve: An adjustment that relates how soft or hard you’re really playing to how soft or hard the software thinks you’re playing.
Velocity layers: Playing a real piano harder doesn’t only make it louder — it brings out more harmonics and sympathetic vibrations. The more velocities you record someone playing the real thing at, the more raw materials are on hand to create a realistic sampled piano.
Release samples: Let a key up before the note dies out, and there’s a tiny bit of sound as the damper re-mutes the string. Fading in a separate sample of this sounds more realistic than just making the “regular” sample stop playing.
Sustain pedal samples: Push the sustain pedal on a piano then play a note, and you’ll get a wetter, more ambient sound than if you play that note then push the pedal. Better virtual pianos use a separate set of samples to capture this.
Sympathetic resonance: If you’re holding notes and you hit some more, the new notes’ vibration excites the previous ones, whose dampers are still off the strings, a little. This adds overtones and ambience.
Sustain resonance: Like sympathetic, but more of it, because the sustain pedal is down and any notes you hit will partially excite the entire inside of the piano.
Sostenuto: The middle pedal on a real piano. Hold notes, press it, and those notes will sustain, but any more notes you play won’t. Pop music typically doesn’t call for sostenuto, but serious classical and jazz pianists want it.
Soft pedal samples: The left pedal on a real piano shifts the hammers slightly to the side, which means they’re hitting less strings per note, making the tone softer and less bright. Almost all VPs imitate the soft pedal — some use a separate sample set (the harder but better way); others use volume and EQ.
GARRITAN AUTHORIZED STEINWAY
THE ONLY STEINWAY-BRANDED VIRTUAL PIANO
Pro: $399; Standard: $199, www.garritan.com
MP3 AUDIO: Garrtian Steinway Player Perspective
Yes, most other virtual pianos use sampled Steinways, and no wonder — the name just means “grand piano” even to people who don’t care about pianos. Yes, you could get great results from them, too. This is another level, though, and the difference is in the playing experience. It’s the difference between, “This is a great-sounding plug-in I could use on a solo piano recording and totally fool people” and, “Wow, with a good weighted controller, I feel like I’m actually sitting at a Steinway D.” We know, that’s a tough claim to prove, because Steinways are like Stratocasters or Stradivari — no two are quite alike, but it’s as if Garritan captured the highest common denominator of sound and response. The proof is in this pudding: Players identified Garritan Steinway as a Steinway more often and more quickly than any other virtual piano . . . before they knew what they were playing.
Garritan Authorized Steinway – NEED TO KNOW
Pianos Sampled Steinway D.
Sample folder size Pro 24-bit: 67GB. Pro 16-bit: 45GB.
Standard: 16GB.
Max. velocity layers 12–18, depending on note.
Stands out because Steinway did a lot more than slap on their logo. They were totally hands-on about every detail, resulting in the most authentic virtual Steinway yet made.
Adjusts to touch Drag visual curve to one of five positions.
Realism details Choose one of five different mic positions, and the animated piano shows where you’re “sitting.” Hammer/sustain pedal noise, sustain resonance, sympathetic resonance.
Room ambience/effects Reverb sounds as good as convolution, even though it’s not.
EAST WEST QUANTUM LEAP PIANOS
THE NEW MEANING OF HEAVYWEIGHT
$445, www.soundsonline.com
MP3 AUDIO:
EW Quantum Leap Bosendorfer
EW Quantum Leap Steinway
Players agreed that Quantum Leap has by far the most detailed and biggest-sounding pianos of the bunch. “The dead center of the Bösendorfer’s dynamic range sings out for a long time,” noted Fortner, “exactly like the real thing, and the nine extra notes below bottom A [a famous feature of the real thing] are just thunderous.” Richard Leiter said, “This sounds like a good recording of a good piano. It makes me want to play late 19th Century classical — if I could!” Aikin added, “This’d be lovely for Chopin, but not the patch you’d load for Bach . . . or Little Richard.”
Trying the Steinway, Aikin said, “I’d sit down and play this for pleasure over the Bösendorfer. It’s very lively, with just the right combination of depth and brilliance.” He was even happier with the Bechstein: “This makes me want to play Mozart. There’s a nice singing quality and melodic projection over chords. I have a sense of comfort here, even more than with the Steinway.” The Bechstein was also Fortner’s favorite for his R&B-derived playing style: “Lean into it, and it doesn’t go quite as far as the Yamaha, but the bell-like harmonics you want for pop come forward. Lean back, and it’s brooding and mellow. Gorgeous.”
East West Quantum Leaps Pianos – NEED TO KNOW
Pianos sampled Bechstein D-280, Bösendorfer Imperial 290, Steinway D, Yamaha C7.
Sample folder size 259.55GB with all four pianos; you can also install each separately.
Max. velocity layers 10–18, depending on note.
Stands out because It’s the biggest, most ambitious sampled piano project ever, with the sound quality to prove it. You’ll need a bad-ass computer to play the full-size presets with abandon, but if you have one — wow!
Adjusts to touch Drag visual curve to make response heavier or lighter.
Realism details Separately loadable samples for: notes with and without sustain pedal, single-note repetitions (with and without sustain), soft pedal, soft + sustain, staccato, and release samples. Mix up to three mic positions.
Room ambience/effects Convolution reverb with presets based on real acoustic spaces.
ART VISTA VIRTUAL GRAND PIANO
THE SIMPLER-IS-BETTER APPROACH
$199, www.artvista.net
MP3 AUDIO: Art Vista Virtual Grand Piano
When Fortner first played VGP, editor-in-chief Ernie Rideout ran in to my office. This time, it wasn’t to make me turn down, but to comment, “From the other room, it sounds more like you’ve got a real piano in here now!” Playing it in the room, there’s an organic quality that’s just so “there” — it made me stop thinking about playing to test this or that aspect of the samples, and start thinking about what songbook to pull off the shelf. The bass notes lack some of the thunder of the heavier hitters, but make up for it in warmth and roundness, reminding me of a high-end upright piano.
The interface has more of a “producer” than a “pianist” vibe (Compressor and Exciter buttons right up front on a virtual piano?) but the “Recording Styles” are an awesome tool. They really do sound like famous records by the artists they’re named after.
Art Vista Virtual Grand Piano – NEED TO KNOW
Piano Sampled 1960 Hamburg Steinway B.
Sample folder size 5.67GB.
Stands out because Warm, nuanced sound from relatively small sample size. “Recording styles” cop the tone of famous artists — pick a name and play.
Adjusts to touch Press the Keyboard button for a menu of 19 velocity presets for most brands of keyboards.
Max. velocity layers 8.
Realism details Sustain pedal noise on/off. No sympathetic resonance controls, but we do hear a little anyway.
Room ambience/effects Reverb, plus one room-sound preset that changes depending on the instrument.
MODARTT PIANOTEQ
THE PIANO PHYSICS
CONSTRUCTION SET
$279, www.pianoteq.com
MP3 AUDIO: Pianoteq Grand C2 Concert
Pianoteq is the only product we tried that uses no samples. It runs a computer model of how all the parts in a piano interact, and there’s a hands-on control (sometimes several) for every one. As for straight-up playing, Rich Leiter said, “I like that you can’t hear individual samples or velocity layers like on sampled grands. That’s very natural. For single notes, there can be a too-clean quality, but it sounds completely real if you play a piece.” Fortner speculated on why: “Unlike with individual samples, every note sounds alike, but you have such fine control over the sound of the whole — you trade off the good kind of unpredictability for the good kind of predictability. You can dial up a superb instant rock or jazz piano, too.” Jim Aikin summed up, “For a solo classical concert, I don’t know that Pianoteq would be my first choice. But for any kind of production work where you’re in a mix, it just offers so much. If you go left-of-center, you can make a piano that’s 30 feet long, has glass hammers, whatever!”
Modartt Pianoteq – NEED TO KNOW
Stands out because It’s all modeling — no samples to take room on your hard drive. Switching sounds is instant. Tweak nearly every aspect of what makes a piano sound a certain way.
Adjusts to touch Create as many velocity breakpoints as you want, then drag them to shape the curve.
Realism details Hammer hardness for three velocity ranges, mixer for overtones, hammer noise, three soundboard sliders, piano size, overall resonance, and sympathetic resonance. Click on Options for key release and pedal noise menus.
Room ambience/effects Simple, clean-sounding reverb.
4FRONT TRUEPIANOS
BIG SOUND, TINY CPU HIT
$180, www.truepianos.com
MP3 AUDIO:
TruePianos Diamond
TruePianos SapphirePed
“One thing I always listen for when I’m chording with my left hand is whether the right-hand melody projects over the chord in a natural way,” explains Jim Aikin, “The Sapphire piano feels natural — I don’t have to play artificially hard (hence too brightly) to bring the melody out. If I had to guess, I’d say there are at least five velocity layers in there. I don’t hear any note cutoffs or looping.” Fortner noted that Emerald “sounds most like about a seven-foot Yamaha. Diamond is like a brighter Sapphire.” All players gravitated towards SapphirePed, a version of Sapphire that, according to Aikin, “sounds like they added sustain pedal samples.” Rich Leiter compared this module to “the Yamaha C7 in Ivory — bright and clean.” We also agreed that turning on sympathetic resonance made every TruePiano more spacious and realistic. The sound tends towards the bright side overall, but is still much more multi-layered and nuanced than the typical ROMpler. Between that, the almost-nothing disk footprint, and the worry-free performance on any computer that’s anywhere near current, TruePianos is a great choice for set-it-and-forget-it band gigging.
4Front Truepianos – NEED TO KNOW
Pianos sampled Not identified by name. Pianos are Amber, Diamond, Ruby, and Sapphire.
Sample folder size 371MB (uses combination of samples and modeling).
Max. velocity layers
No spec available.
Stands out because Very CPU-friendly. Pianos switch almost instantly. Sounds much bigger and more detailed than its disk space would indicate.
Adjusts to touch Three velocity controls: Threshold is minimum force required to hear sound, floor sets the lowest volume possible, dynamics sets shape of curve.
Realism details Sympathetic resonance on/off in options.
BEST SERVICE GALAXY II PIANOS
SURPRISING SLEEPER
$337, www.galaxypianos.com, dist. by East West, www.soundsonline.com
MP3 AUDIO:
Galaxy II Bosendorfer
Galaxy II Steinway
Jim Aikin felt the Bösendorfer sounded “bigger than Ivory’s but not as big as Quantum Leap’s. It’s more contained, but also very sweet.” Fortner agreed, adding, “It’s more friendly to a broader range of musicians than the QL Bösendorfer, which demands more of you, but exactly in the way a real one does.” Richard Leiter struck the bottom A and observed, “Wow, that’s a ton of bass.” Playing part of a sonata, he concluded, “It’s very robust, definitely a big Austrian piano.”
Listening for make-or-break realism details on both the Bösendorfer and Steinway, Jim said, “I hear separate pedal-down samples — good. Wow, the inside-the-piano resonance is just booming when I lay into high notes.” Fortner concurred, “I hear a lot of the harp and the soundboard.”
Rich Leiter praised the “smooth, realistic sustain” of the Steinway, explaining, “Ivory is my personal benchmark, but this is comparable. I’d use this on a record, and if Ivory didn’t exist, I’d use it all the time.” Aikin summed up, “If Galaxy were the only sampled grand I knew about, I’d be very happy.”
Best Service Galaxy II Pianos – NEED TO KNOW
Pianos sampled 1929 Blüthner baby grand, Steinway D, Bösendorfer Imperial.
Sample folder size 29.27GB.
Max. velocity layers 13.
Stands out because Wonderfully playable and deep — you don’t hear much about Galaxy, but you should. Anatomy section has the most fine-toothed velocity tweaking of any virtual piano.
Adjusts to touch Choose preset curves, or draw your own in the velocity editor, where you can set the response of every MIDI velocity value.
Realism details Noises button brings up volume knobs for release samples, hammer noise, and sustain pedal noise.
Room ambience/effects Space section has high-end and lite reverbs; Warp adds bizarre effects, plus pad sounds for layering.
SYNTHOGY IVORY
THE TRAILBLAZER
$349; Italian Grand add-on: $169, www.synthogy.com
MP3 AUDIO:
Ivory Bosendorfer 10 level
Ivory German D (Steinway) 10 level
Ivory Italian Grand (Fazioli) 12 level
In March ’05, Ivory raised the bar and won our Key Buy award. In spite of all the competition that’s since appeared, Ivory is still the go-to piano for many composers. Why? Then, it was bleeding-edge, and you needed a bleeding-edge computer to get the most out of it. Today, it still sounds bleeding-edge — Quantum Leap Pianos and Garritan Steinway are the only products that really give it anything to worry about — but computers have come far enough that it plays great on the iMacs and back-to-school Dells of the current market.
“When I first got Ivory, I sat down with two other colleagues, and each of us picked the German D [Steinway] out of all the presets,” says Rich Leiter, “It’s such a great general piano that if I need it to be more brittle and rock-like, I can do that with EQ and compressors — like I’d do with a real piano.” Jim Aikin loves the Ivory Bösendorfer: “It’s always right in the sweet spot. There’s enough immediacy that you can enjoy it as a player, but enough breadth to fill the room. I’m tempted to boost the lows, though — it seems a little midrange-y for what a real Bösendorfer should be. Still, this could be my desert island piano.” Fortner prefers the Italian Grand add-on: “It has everything I like about the real pianos at two extremes of the culture: Bösendorfer and Yamaha, with nothing I don’t like about either. That’s exactly what a real Fazioli does for me.”
Synthogy Ivory – NEED TO KNOW
Pianos sampled Bösendorfer Imperial 290, Steinway D, Yamaha C7, Fazioli 308 (Italian Grand).
Sample folder size 58.76GB with all pianos (incl. Italian Grand); you can install each separately.
Max. velocity layers 10 (12 in Italian Grand).
Stands out because It’s the best balance between no-compromise sound, ease of use, and computer resource hit.
Adjusts to touch by Dynamic range, velocity curve editor and presets.
Realism details Soundboard resonance presets, sustain resonance, release and soft pedal samples.
Room ambience/effects EQ, chorus and reverb. String and pad sounds for layering.
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS AKOUSTIK PIANO
THE POP WORKHORSE
$229, www.native-instruments.com
MP3 AUDIO:
NI Akoustik Bosendorfer
NI Akoustik Steinway
Overall, testers thought Akoustik was similar to Ivory, but lighter feeling, brighter sounding, and more pop-oriented. Rich Leiter thought Akoustik’s [Steinway] Concert Grand D was “very playable. One octave, C1 to C2, isn’t quite as convincing as the rest, but otherwise, it sounds like a concert grand is supposed to, and makes you want to play. The default velocity map seems particularly well-matched to my playing and to this [Studiologic Numa] keyboard.” Fortner observed, “The three grands all sound like great concert pianos, and are different enough from each other, but the resemblance to their real-world counterparts is less exact than much of the competition. Initially, I thought the Bösendorfer was a Steinway, and vice versa.” Fortner dug the Steingraeber: “The bass notes make it clear this is an upright piano, albeit a very good one. Hearing jazz on it makes me feel like I’m listening to some guy tear it up in some basement nightclub, then I realize it’s Art Tatum.” Check out Akoustik if you’re looking for production-ready pianos that speak crisply through a mix, but can still be subtle if played carefully.
Native Instruments Akoustik Piano – NEED TO KNOW
Pianos sampled Bechstein D-280, Bösendorfer Imperial 290, Steinway D, Steingraeber 130 upright.
Sample folder size 15GB.
Max. velocity layers 10.
Stands out because Crisp, clean sounds. Simple but sophisticated interface.
Adjusts to touch Seven-way velocity curve, dynamic range.
Realism details Sustain pedal resonance, release resonance, hammer and pedal noise.
Room ambience/effects Three-band parametric EQ. Killer convolution reverb — click on a picture of a space, and there you are.
VIENNA INSTRUMENTS BÖSENDORFER IMPERIAL
THE OFFICIAL VIRTUAL IMPERIAL
$385, www.vsl.co.at, Dist. by Ilio, www.ilio.com
MP3 AUDIO:
Vienna Instruments Bosendorfer
It’s no surprise that the brains behind the Vienna Symphonic Library won the Bösendorfer piano factory’s endorsement — both companies are famous for their attention to detail, and besides, they’re from the same ’hood. For sounding like an Imperial — voice-of-God bass, long midrange sustain, and singing treble that’s never brittle — it simply kills. The Bösendorfer in Quantum Leap Pianos is the only true competitor in terms of authenticity, because it doesn’t go quite as bright quite as quickly when you dig in. This could just as well be the difference between two real Imperials, though. The only reason to think twice is that the user interface isn’t specifically piano-like. If you don’t already use Vienna for orchestral sounds, there’s a learning curve compared to other virtual pianos. If you do, you’ll be so at home with how it handles articulations and performance controls, and so satisfied with the sound, that you won’t look elsewhere for a top-drawer concert piano that’s as good as the rest of your virtual orchestra.
Vienna Instruments Bosendorfer Imperial – NEED TO KNOW
Piano sampled Bösendorfer Imperial 290.
Sample folder size 38GB.
Max. velocity layers 7.
Stands out because Sounds like a real Imperial. If you use VSL for other instruments, you’re right at home here.
Adjusts to touch Mapping velocity to expression.
Realism details Sustain pedal samples, sustain resonance, key noises, close-miked and distant-miked samples.
Room ambience/effects Add your own with third-party effects.
PRO AUDIO VAULT BLÜTHNER
DIGITAL MODEL ONE
A PRODUCER’S GARDEN OF PIANO SOUNDS
$299, www.proaudiovault.com
MP3 AUDIO: Bluthner 45 Classical
BDMO is so different that it’s an apples-and-oranges comparison to anything in this roundup, but what it does is so painstaking and unique that we’d be crazy not to include it. Though Skywalker Sound’s one-of-a-kind Blüthner was the only piano sampled, convolution (imposing the sonics of one thing, like a room, onto another, like a piano) is used to duplicate the tonal qualities not just of lots of different pianos, but of those pianos as they were recorded in real contexts — different eras, famous clubs, hit records, and the like. There are dozens of options, but for copyright reasons, the manual describes them only in vague terms (e.g. “R&B, 1972, New Orleans”), so you have to be a bit of a music geek to hone in on the sound you’re looking for by name. Of course, you can always just explore and find something that fits. “My reaction to this is the same as when I reviewed it [Nov. ’07],” says Rich Leiter, “The presets and timbral impulses all have so much character that you wouldn’t use this as your ‘straight’ piano. Instead, you’d plug one into, say, a film score to recreate a specific sound. The point of these pianos is to be in a mix, and it helps to know what you want from that mix.”
Pro Audio Vault Bluthner – NEED TO KNOW
Piano sampled Blüthner Model One. Sample folder size 4.12GB.
Max. velocity layers 12.
Stands out because Timbral impulses reproduce famous pianos, records, musical styles, and eras.
Adjusts to touch Load a different preset. The higher the number, the harder you have to play to get loud and bright.
Realism details Pedal-down samples and sustain impulses. Adjustable-length release samples for pedal-up and pedal-down notes.
Room ambience/effects Reverb impulse menu of virtual rooms
(convolution).
FINGER-TO-MUSIC CONNECTION
As colleagues played all the virtual pianos, quite often someone’s opinion went from “Unusable!” to “Beautiful!” all because of a simple adjustment to velocity response. Some even insisted (mistakenly) that we must’ve changed the plug-in on them. The lesson? When it comes to perceived realism, the relationship between your fingers, the controller keyboard, and the software is a lot more important than number of velocity layers or sample library size. Three essentials to keep in mind:
1. Use a good weighted controller. Imagine that you could make a wish and be irresistible to whomever you wanted to attract, but the trade-off is that you’re numb below the waist. Playing piano on synth-action keys is like that — too easy, no feeling.
2. Know your own touch. Watch the incoming velocity in your host program’s MIDI monitor (some virtual pianos have simple ones as well) as you gradually play from soft to hard. If the number jumps a lot more (or a lot less) than what your fingers told you to expect, that’s a place where you need to compensate, either with velocity settings or by refining your technique.
3. Avoid dueling velocity curves. Playing a software piano from a hardware MIDI keyboard or stage piano means you’ve got two products’ velocity settings to think about, so make sure they’re not canceling each other out. Leave the less sophisticated of the two (usually the keyboard’s) set to “linear” or medium, and tweak with the other.