A great free Bosendörfer PIANO

alex zonder · 03-06-2007, 07:41 AM

I just posted this link at KVR where someone asked for it, but let's post it here as well because really good free piano vsti's are so rare if not non-existing.

Acustix' demos of their Bosendorfer and Steinway formerly were only available for Halion 3, but now they suddenly come in the sfz format as well. The RGC audio sfz VST is even included in the downloads of the demo. That is great news.

Expecially Acustix' Bosendorfer is even in its limited form (only one velocity layer; all samples are limited to 2 seconds; total size less than 10MB instead of the full version 74MB) the very best free piano out there IMHO.

If you need a realistic but virtual piano now & then, as many here no doubt do, be sure to give this one a try.

http://www.vanbarel.com/acustix/use.html#A

Jae.Thomas · 03-06-2007, 08:23 AM

very cool alex, merci bien

Art Evans · 03-06-2007, 07:13 PM

Thanks, Alex. For me, these are not very usable due to the short samples used - the decay is much too short - but I can hardly blame the guy for not letting something too good onto the net! The Trachtman pianos still seem the best free / $5 value out there. But - see http://www.purgatorycreek.com/ for all the alternatives - great site for virtual piano freaks!

Art Evans · 03-06-2007, 07:35 PM

Might buy the Steinway from that site, though... never did like Bosendorfer pianos. They don't seem to "sing".

alex zonder · 03-06-2007, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Evans

Might buy the Steinway from that site, though... never did like Bosendorfer pianos. They don't seem to "sing".

You're right Art, but for me most of the time that's what I need since I like a percussion approach of the instrument. Acustix's Steinway btw is very reasonable priced, looks like a good choice.

To make the Bosendorfer sing a bit more (but less than the Steinway) I use PSP's free pianoverb plugin that is quite effective and convincing, so I recommend it : http://www.pspaudioware.com/plugins/piano.html

Using that and Silverspike's (free) Roommachine I am able to prolong the decay a bit and put the instrument on its feet as in a room. All fake, but that's the price of virtuality

alex zonder · 03-06-2007, 09:25 PM

BTW, just out of curiosity, does anyone have an idea what the guy on this page actually has to offer when it comes to the Bösendorfer sound? I have no clue:

http://www.recordhall.com/bosendorfer-piano.html

Art Evans · 03-08-2007, 08:48 PM

Just "took delivery" of my new Steinway (the one referenced in this thread) and wow, the demo really doesn't do it justice - it's excellent! The decay seems as long as a real one, the graduation of tone with keyboard velocity is just right - I'm listening to Chopin preludes from a midi file through it at the moment and it's completely credible, as far as I'm concerned.

It's very revealing of the quality of reverbs, I find. The freebie "Classic Reverb" comes up very nicely in it - puts the piano into a real space - some others sound much more like artificial reverb! Though of course the quality you want depends on circumstances.

alex zonder · 03-08-2007, 09:06 PM

I'm glad to hear so, Art. Quite a nice surprise when the real thing is actually a lot better than the demo is suggesting! But yes, I always thought Acustix had a real good product for a friendly price. So now I consider, by way of compensating the Steinway, to buy the Bösendorfer.

Art, I recommend (for your Steinway!) these MIDI transcriptions of Shostakovich's magnificent Opus 87: http://www.unicamp.br/~jmarques/mus/opus87/
Download in one zip-file (239kb) of the complete work: http://www.unicamp.br/~jmarques/mus/opus87/op87.zip

And how beautiful is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhnRIuGZ_dc (Horowitz performing Chopin's Ballade No 1 in Carnegie Hall - on a Steinway)

teej813 · 03-23-2007, 08:36 AM

hmmmmm.. Interesting conversation. I don't use piano that often, but it would be nice to have something of good quality around.

Have either of you heard the free Splendid piano SF? I've always thought it sounded pretty decent. How do these compare? Are they that much better?

Quote:

Originally Posted by alex zonder

BTW, just out of curiosity, does anyone have an idea what the guy on this page actually has to offer when it comes to the Bösendorfer sound? I have no clue:

http://www.recordhall.com/bosendorfer-piano.html

Reads like he owns this SF and is offering to render your MIDI part for you for a fee...

btw, Alex,
Thanks for the link to those Shostakovich MIDIs. I'm anxious to hear them on a quality SF.

teej

Art Evans · 03-23-2007, 04:49 PM

The Steinway I bought as a result of this thead really is in a different league from the "Splendid" - chiefly because of the realism of transition of sound from pianissimo for fortissimo playing I think.

http://www.pianosounds.com/ has a free one and a $5 one which are worth the download. The $5 is rather low level but of course you can turn it up.

teej813 · 03-23-2007, 04:53 PM

that helps. Thanks, Art. I hope to have time this weekend to DL and listen to a few.

Like i said, for the stuff i do, i don't use piano very often (much more apt to use a B3 organ...

), but i'm always looking for better samples.

teej

TerryW · 03-23-2007, 05:24 PM

Did you listen or tried the Truepiano vsti? It's great!
http://www.truepianos.com/

alex zonder · 03-23-2007, 05:44 PM

Also the HQPiano of Sampletank Free is very good for a free instrument, and as such quite popular.

http://www.sampletank.com/Main.html?STFreeDwn

Lot of sound tweaking possible in Sampletank itself, good FX on board.

Of the free instruments the B3 Organ and the Strat (!) are very useful in a mix as well.

chip mcdonald · 04-02-2007, 08:35 AM

Are there any free midi files of performances *played* by virtuouso-level pianists?

Seems like in the 'Midi world" there would have been some sort of defacto midi file of a wide ranging piece to use as a reference for comparing piano modules.

Oh well.

/ feels urge to go to a friend's piano store and plunk on some pre-turn of the century Steinway grands
// hmm, seriously, might even fight off Master's Tournament traffic just to hear a Cmaj

chip mcdonald · 04-02-2007, 08:44 AM

..on a tangential note....

Recording/playback technology is still in caveman times AFAIC.

Playback systems do ok to reproduce single-speaker close-miced recordings of electronic instruments.

That's about it, everything else sucks IMO, and has nothing to do with reality.

When you sit at one of these gargantuan vintage grand pianos and play something, the spatialization of sound that comes at you is way more complex than a recording can capture at the moment, as well as any reproduction system can reproduce. The complexity of sound they can make, and the complexity of what *happens* to that sound as it emerges in different directions and ways from the piano is remarkable.

How small things sound in recordings is sad; but it's even sadder that in the 21st century, we still can't reproduce that effect to a large audience. AFAIC, you can put about 25-35
people in close proximity around one of these things, and that's the *real deal*; beyond that things drop off significantly.

maa · 04-02-2007, 11:02 AM

Too true Chip.

Art - the Fortissimo of The Splendid Grand (Akai samples) is a let down for sure. When using that piano, just be careful to adjust your velocity to NOT trigger the full level samples. The rest of it sounds good.

I own 'True Pianos' and 'The Grand' and both are excellent.
The Grand has amazing 'pedal down' samples and you can play for hours getting lost inside the sound frames of this tremendous grand. Hear this:
TheGrandSustain.mp3

True Pianos probably has the best overall balance for actual playing which grabs you instantly after trying the competition.
Its not JUST the sound - its the feel you get from the piano while playing.

I'm sure though that this is a subject that will never end and 'pianos' will become collectable. I know I'd like to try some that are only in 'other' formats....

Cheers

M

fab · 04-24-2007, 12:21 PM

"one of these gargantuan vintage grand pianos "

well, seems unlikely, but they still make these things, you know ?(-8=

Artvista VGP is very nice, very playable Steinway B, not free, though, but fair price. comes with Kontakt player. Between this and my old checz upright, I am not sure which I prefer. Artvista at night, for sure.

If you have Kontakt 2, there are scripts for string and pedal resonance for Artvista and many others here

http://music.mezo.com/
(shareware)

fab

xplorr · 02-22-2015, 02:49 AM

AcustiX now have a Kontakt version of their Steinway and Bosendorfer piano.
Here's what they say: "The AcustiX Steinway Piano is the result of the challenge to create a top-quality digital concert piano with rich and realistic sound, whose tonal precision and dynamic qualities rival those of a real, quality acoustic concert grand piano. The result is an sampled piano with powerful bass, crystal clear mid-range and brilliant treble. Especially in the fortes, this piano is extremely bright, loaded with overtones.
The AcustiX Steinway Piano was created with the smaller equipped music workstation in mind, without compromising on sound quality. This piano uses only 74 MB of carefully selected samples from 2 famous Steinway Grand Pianos blended together. AcustiX say that this makes it the ideal choice for orchestration setups where the piano part has to survive between the other instruments tending to occupy a lot of acoustic space (piano concertos, pop, jazz, rock, hip-hop, blues)."
A free trial version is available at www.acustix.tk (reduced sample set, but unlimited in time).

bluzkat · 02-22-2015, 10:25 AM

Necro award!!! post is almost 8 years old.

Mewski · 03-16-2018, 07:45 AM

Right now its 11 years thread. Look for some Bosendörfer for sale go there, play some sounds and record it, its the best way, not synth piano sounds.