Which Piano VSTs do you use?

[PatrickJ]

Looking for something to create backing tracks for myself .. jazz standards chords and melodies.  I want something a little better than Steinberg's Halion's Offering but I don't want to pay a fortune for one, ideally less than £50 but would stretch to £75.

Anyone tried the Garriton's Abbey Road CFX Lite or XLN's Addictive Keys?

Edited April 19, 2021 by PatrickJ

[paul_5]

I’m a huge fan of the Waves Rhapsody piano plugin, wait for a sale though, as it’s quite pricey!

 

Just had a look and it’s $35 from the waves US site, not sure if it’s a similar price on the UK site.

[paul_c2]

I've used Native Instruments' "The Gentleman" only because it came included with the keyboard I bought. They do a few other piano plugins too.

Edited April 19, 2021 by paul_c2

[lowdown]

1 hour ago, PatrickJ said:

Looking for something to create backing tracks for myself .. jazz standards chords and melodies.  I want something a little better than Steinberg's Halion's Offering but I don't want to pay a fortune for one, ideally less than £50 but would stretch to £75.

Anyone tried the Garriton's Abbey Road CFX Lite or XLN's Addictive Keys?

 Before you spend, or at least try as another Piano, give the Sonic Atoms free 'Novel Piano Sample Library' a whirl. It runs in Halion and is pretty good.

You might be  surprised. It plays very well.

 

Download Link:

Novel Piano - Sonic Atoms

 

 

[lowdown]

 'Piano In Blue'... $99 (around £72) and my favourite (also always highly praised). Especially nice for anything Jazz related..!!

Check out the demos. Great tone and very playable.

Cinesamples - Piano in Blue | Columbia Records' historic Steinway D Concert Grand piano

 

And on sale at $50, is the SSS Signature Grand. I use this a lot as well, it has ten dynamic layers and is very responsive.

Signature Grand - Pianos - Virtual Instruments (simplesamsamples.com)

 

EDIT: 

Sorry, apart from the Novel Piano for Halion, the other two would require Kontakt full version.

Edited April 19, 2021 by lowdown

[PatrickJ]

3 hours ago, lowdown said:

 Before you spend, or at least try as another Piano, give the Sonic Atoms free 'Novel Piano Sample Library' a whirl. It runs in Halion and is pretty good.

You might be  surprised. It plays very well.

 

Download Link:

Novel Piano - Sonic Atoms

 

 

Thanks for this - I will give this one a go tomorrow!

[PatrickJ]

3 hours ago, paul_5 said:

I’m a huge fan of the Waves Rhapsody piano plugin, wait for a sale though, as it’s quite pricey!

 

Just had a look and it’s $35 from the waves US site, not sure if it’s a similar price on the UK site.

I've got a few Waves plugins already and they are pretty good.  Looks like there's a demo I can download and try tomorrow.

[lowdown]

There is also the free Spitfire Labs 'Soft Piano'.

It comes with it's own sample player and is really quite nice sounding.

LABS — Soft Piano (spitfireaudio.com)

 

 

Maybe try the Demo of the Air Piano that uses it's own player (So need for Kontakt).

Review: Air Music tech Mini Grand : Ask.Audio

AIR Music Technology - German-engineered virtual instruments, software, and effects

Edited April 20, 2021 by lowdown

[Mcgiver69]

Soniccouture "Hammersmith" is pretty much unbeatable specially for the price ($0). 

https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p322-hammersmith-free/

Edited April 26, 2021 by Mcgiver69

[lowdown]

57 minutes ago, Mcgiver69 said:

Soniccouture "Hammersmith" is pretty much unbeatable specially for the price ($0). 

https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p322-hammersmith-free/

 Yes, it's not bad at all, especially for a freebie. I got it a few months ago when they were pushing it over on 'VI-Control'.

Unfortunately, I don't think there are any free licenses at the moment though. Which is a shame.

 

EDIT:

They are suggesting subscribing to their mailing list for possible more licenses in the future.

 

Edited April 26, 2021 by lowdown

[adamg67]

On 19/04/2021 at 21:23, paul_c2 said:

I've used Native Instruments' "The Gentleman" only because it came included with the keyboard I bought. They do a few other piano plugins too.

I use The Gentleman as well, I've got NI Komplete and I still prefer The Gentleman to the others in there for most things, including jazz piano which I'm (slowly) learning.

[dave_bass5]

I normaly use Halion’s Piano’s, which i find to be really good, but recently ive been using the Mrs Mills piano from SpitfireAudio and love it. Its not asa versatile as Halion, but its got a great tone to it and seems to mix very easily. Not bad for £25

[xgsjx]

A bit more than your budget, but Roli Equator 2 has some verrrry nice baby grand patches. Lovingly mix’s up in a number of different ways.