[sdiy] OT: Grand Piano ?

[Seb Francis]

>The price category is ok - I guess I have to spend some money on RAM anyway.
>I really want it as realistic as possible.
>
>What I had considered the big players so far are the Steinberg Grand 2 and
>the Bösendorfer 290
>(http://www.soundsonline.com/sophtml/details.phtml?sku=EW-157).
>How do these compare to the Ivory ?
>  
>
I haven't actually heard the Ivory or the Bösendorfer so I couldn't 
comment, but you can find a review on the sound on sound website for the 
Ivory:
http://www.soundonsound.com/index.php?section=%2F&url=%2Fsearch&Keyword=Synthogy+Ivory
(because it's a new review it requires a subscription to read unless you 
want to wait 8 months!)

Here's the review of the Gigastudio format release of the PMI Bösendorfer:
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Mar03/articles/samp_grandioso.htm
And here's one for a Steinway Model D library (also from PMI):
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct02/articles/sample_grandioso.htm

I would say that all these very large piano sample sets will sound very 
realistic - certainly much better than any hardware keyboard could 
possibly sound.  The choice then comes more down to which individual 
piano you prefer the sound of (and in some cases also the sound of the 
acoustic space where they are recorded - personally I favour recordings 
done in a very dry space and then use a convolution reverb later).

Maybe you can find a local music shop where you can play around with 
some of these libraries?

Seb