Poll: Garritan Steinway D vs. Ivory Steinway D

[Jazz+]

Garritan Steinway D (mp3):

 

http://www.keyboardmag.com/uploadedFiles/keyboardmagazine/Features/Garritan_Steinway_player.mp3

 

Ivory Steinway D (mp3):

 

http://www.keyboardmag.com/uploadedFiles/keyboardmagazine/Features/Ivory_GermanD_10_level.mp3

 

 

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[Jazz+]

The Ivory Steinway seem to have better clarity in the bass notes. The notes seem to blend more on the Garritan but can seem muffled. Does anybody have an opinion on which responds better when playing?

[Joe Muscara]

I listened to both mp3s when the article was posted and thought they both sounded good and had their uses. It might depend on your style. Also, they both are very adjustable, so they might be closer than you realize. It's too bad these things are too big to have a downloadable test drive.

[burningbusch]

Jazz+,

 

I don't have the Garritan so I can't give an opinion. What is most interesting to me about the Garritan Steinway are the various microphone positions. These make a huge difference and give you all kinds of options for fitting the piano into a mix or solo.

 

I will say that the Ivory pianos are the best I've found in terms of consistency of tone and playability. You don't find notes jumping around. Ivory uses a "Proprietary Timbre Interpolation technology for ultra smooth velocity and note transitions." Even as you increase dynamic range, the pianos remain extremely playable. I have the QL Pianos which are beautifully recorded in mutiple microphone positions, but I consider jumpy and more inconsistent, especially when played against Ivory. The Ivory engine is unmatched, IMO. Other vendors seem to use traditional sampling techniques where as the Ivory engine was designed to address specific issues related to piano sample playback.

 

The Ivory pianos come with a single close microphone position, as I understand it.

 

Busch.

 

 

 

 

[JeffLearman]

The garritan might sound better in a solo recording. I'd prefer the less roomy Ivory for live use or for mixing into a combo recording. But as Joe says, that might be more related to how they're tweaked than the underlying goodies.

 

Personally, I have a hard time comparing by simply listening. Playing adds a huge dimension in discrimination. Same with guitars: I can't really hear what one sounds like until it's in my hands.

 

However, I like the clarity and less roomy sound of Ivory so I voted for that. But it would really depend on the application, and if I had both, I bet I'd use both.

 

Yup, it sure is too bad we can't try out more of these software pianos before buying them. It would be nice if they had a money-back guarantee and we could buy two or three, just keeping the one that works for us after a week's trial.

 

[Steve Nathan]

Can I vote for the Ivory "Italian" Grand?

I prefer it over both of the other choices

[Mark Schmieder]

Although I voted for the Garritan, it was with some hesitation, because it has problems (as do all sampled pianos). There are some artificial sounding "dead stops" during more syncopated playing.

 

But I still voted for it, because there is more fluidity. Ivory sounds like discrete notes, and always has. Its big plus originally was the more realistic timbre vs. what else was out there.

 

Certain types of playing trip up Garritan, but overall it sounds like a real piano due to phrasing. One could owe up the faults to miking technique or playing technique. With Ivory, it is blatantly clear that samples are being triggered.