Jazz+ Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 I am getting closer to buying a software piano and I have narrowed it to Quantum Leap or Ivory Which do you prefer? COMPARISON 1 : Quantum Leap Steinway (demo 1, mp3): http://media.soundsonline.com/ip/mp3/EWQL_STE_comp.mp3 Ivory Steinway (demo 1, mp3): http://media.soundsonline.com/ip/mp3/Ivory_STE_comp.mp3 Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 COMPARISON #2 Quantum Leap Steinway (demo 2, wav): http://media.soundsonline.com/wav/2098_Steinway_Improv_QLP.wav Ivory Steinway (demo 2, wav): http://media.soundsonline.com/wav/2098_Steinway_Improv_Ivory.wav Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 COMPARISON #3 Quantum Leap Steinway (demo 3, mp3): http://www.keyboardmag.com/uploadedFiles/keyboardmagazine/Features/EWQL_Steinway_sus_rep_88.mp3 Ivory Steinway (demo 3, mp3): http://www.keyboardmag.com/uploadedFiles/keyboardmagazine/Features/Ivory_GermanD_10_level.mp3 Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Ferris Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 I don't have time to listen to Demo #2 but on #1 I liked the Quantum better...it seemed more forward. https://soundcloud.com/dave-ferris https://www.youtube.com/@daveferris2709 2005 NY Steinway D, Yamaha AvantGrand N3X, CP88, P515 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 I found a great jazz player named "stocksam" on youtube who has a lot of solo piano videos using either Quantum Leap or Ivory pianos because he owns both. He says QL is more fun to play and that Ivory is very even but "flat" and he gets bored with it quicker (I think he means flat in character not pitch). He also says the Garritan Steinway would be a third alternative, but in his opinion Quantum sounds more natural. He also says maybe wait for a fourth alternative to come out. Here is a link to his channel if you want to hear more of theQuantum Leap and Ivory pianos. Many of his videos have a higher quality stereo link in the info paragragh that you can click on to hear how much better it sounds in stereo. link to "stocksam" on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/stocksam Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 In Stephen Fortner's article "Ultimate Software Pianos" he wrote this about the QUANTUM LEAP: " Players agreed that Quantum Leap has by far the most detailed and biggest-sounding pianos of the bunch. The dead center of the Bösendorfers 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, Thisd be lovely for Chopin, but not the patch youd load for Bach . . . or Little Richard. Trying the Steinway, Aikin said, Id sit down and play this for pleasure over the Bösendorfer. Its 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. Theres 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 Fortners favorite for his R&B-derived playing style: Lean into it, and it doesnt go quite as far as the Yamaha, but the bell-like harmonics you want for pop come forward. Lean back, and its brooding and mellow. Gorgeous. About IVORY, Fortner wrote: "In March 05, Ivory raised the bar and won our Key Buy award. In spite of all the competition thats 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, Its 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 Id do with a real piano. Jim Aikin loves the Ivory Bösendorfer: Its always right in the sweet spot. Theres enough immediacy that you can enjoy it as a player, but enough breadth to fill the room. Im 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 dont like about either. Thats exactly what a real Fazioli does for me. Link to Stephen Fortner's article and audio shootout: http://www.keyboardmag.com/article/ultimate-software-pianos/oct-08/87255 Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linwood Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 I've got Ivory, 7Cs Grand, Art Vista and I got a 20 hour demo of QL when I did the Play upgrade for ewqlso. I like QL better than any of those others. I'd buy it today, but one time I was using it, out of the blue, i got some kind of digi noise that red lined everything in the room. It might have been that my G5 dual 2.5 w/6.5 gigs of ram isn't quite enough, or the drive I had it on was too slow, or maybe it was just a fluke, I dunno, but I think I'll wait til I upgrade my mac before I buy. That said, I loved playing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 9, 2008 Author Share Posted November 9, 2008 Thanks for that info, Linwood. Were you running some other heavy software applications at the same time you got that noise? I wonder if Quantum Leap Pianos will function well on my PC system? I have: Windows Vista 64 bit O.S. (Quantum Leap Pianos are compatible) Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.40 GHZ CPU 800/1066/1333 MHz Front Side Bus 4.00 GB RAM 640 GB Hard Drive, 7200 RPM Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SK Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 QL, Jazz+. To me it's sonically more alive, more body and a decent singing quality. CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stevekessler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linwood Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Hi Jazz+, No, not a whole lot running. I had it open in DP6 and that could be the problem, as well. Who knows. I was able to track a tune using it in that 20 hours, I can't remember which one it was, but I remember that I like the way it sounded/played and I want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 9, 2008 Author Share Posted November 9, 2008 I see East West has a QL 2 for 1 sale going on till Nov. 30th in their News section. Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyBoy Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Thank you for posting this. I had read the Keyboard article on Soft Pianos and have researched the heck out of them. I pretty much settled on Ivory as it had been the de facto standard. There is no comparison between the two presented here, however. The QL pianos are superior. I then went to their website and listend to their comparisons and extensive demos. Again, very impressed. A buddy showed me these software titles on a torrent site and I was tempted to just download them to try them out. I couldn't bring myself to do something that dishonest, however, even if my intentions were to test it out and then purchase it. I really wish there was a way to test these. Broken demos (piano teq missing notes) or watered down demo copies (after all, you can't expect a company to provide an online 250G demo!) just don't do it for me. How would I test out Ivory? I just have to go with as many reviews by professionals and amateurs that I can find and listen to files like the ones presented here. I have a long way to go! Thanks again for providing these files. They really help. Tommy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 J+ Are you gonna make a purchase? How will these align with the FP4? Full replacement? I've dabbled a bit into the software pianos, but True Pianos is the only one I purchased. I am lately working with my PC3 to coax out some good sounds. Regards, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanS Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 What about the Garritan Steinway? What we record in life, echoes in eternity. MOXF8, Electro 6D, XK1c, Motif XSr, PEKPER, Voyager, Univox MiniKorg. https://www.abandoned-film.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 10, 2008 Author Share Posted November 10, 2008 I am getting closer to buying a software piano and I have my sites on Quantum Leap Steinway or Ivory. I hope to try the QL Steinway in the next week or so. I found a great jazz player named "stocksam" on youtube who has a lot of solo piano videos using either Quantum Leap or Ivory pianos because he owns both. He says QL is more fun to play and that Ivory is very even but "flat" and he gets bored with it quicker (I think he means flat in character not pitch). He also says the Garritan Steinway would be a third alternative, but in his opinion Quantum sounds more natural. He also says maybe wait for a fourth alternative to come out. Here is a link to his channel if you want to hear more of theQuantum Leap and Ivory pianos. Many of his videos have a higher quality stereo link in the info paragragh that you can click on to hear how much better it sounds in stereo. link to "stocksam" on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/stocksam Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Ferris Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 He sure uses a lot of verb on "Turn Out The Stars". https://soundcloud.com/dave-ferris https://www.youtube.com/@daveferris2709 2005 NY Steinway D, Yamaha AvantGrand N3X, CP88, P515 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 As I understand it, you'd better have a manly CPU to handle Quantum Leap. I won't consider buying that or Omnisphere until my next computer, which in this economy is probably quite a ways off. Good luck with your purchase, and let us know how you make out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 10, 2008 Author Share Posted November 10, 2008 I wonder if my current PC will be powerfull enough? Model HP a6567c Vista 64 bit O.S.Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.40 GHZ CPU 1066800/1066/1333 MHz front side bus, Chipset: Intel G33 Express4.00 GB RAMSpeed supported PC2-6400 MB/sec 640 GB SATA 3G (3.0 Gb/sec) , 7200 RPM Sound/Audio Realtek ALC 888S chipset * I GUESS I NEED TO GET AN EMU SOUND CARD * Also, I suppose I need to get a 2nd hard drive. Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Wish I could help, but I'm a Mac guy. Check over at the sounds online forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 I wonder if my current PC will be powerfull enough? Model HP a6567c Vista 64 bit O.S. Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.40 GHZ CPU 1066 800/1066/1333 MHz front side bus, Chipset: Intel G33 Express 4.00 GB RAM Speed supported PC2-6400 MB/sec 640 GB SATA 3G (3.0 Gb/sec) , 7200 RPM Sound/Audio Realtek ALC 888S chipset * I GUESS I NEED TO GET AN EMU SOUND CARD * Also, I suppose I need to get a 2nd hard drive. JazzPlus - slap one of these VelociRaptor puppies in there as your C drive and add another 4 Gig RAM. You should be all set. http://www.wdc.com/global/images/products/frnt/300/wdfDesktop_GLFS.jpgLINK Ummmm, plus a quality audio interface of some sort. Yeah. "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Tom, Granted, I don't speak PC, but I thought that the whole point with these high performance pianos was that they weren't supposed to be run on the system drive. (You PC guys call that 'the C drive', right?) I know that that's been born out on my Mac. I installed a second internal drive, and it's been great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 10, 2008 Author Share Posted November 10, 2008 Thanks ITGITC, I am always confused about which RAM to order, can you give me a suggestion, this is my PC: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01463061&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burningbusch Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 J+, Glad to see that it's a desktop vs. a laptop. You have a better chance of success. Package should arrive on Wednesday. Busch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Tom, Granted, I don't speak PC, but I thought that the whole point with these high performance pianos was that they weren't supposed to be run on the system drive. (You PC guys call that 'the C drive', right?) I know that that's been born out on my Mac. I installed a second internal drive, and it's been great. Mark, I'm not sure if Ivory or the EastWest pianos can be installed on the 2nd internal drive. The website for Ivory recommends a fast (7,200 RPM) primary drive, so I figure that's where it all resides. The Raptor and VelociRaptor spin at 10,000 RPM and have a very fast access time. Since the hard drive is the slowest component of the PC, this really makes a difference in the responsiveness. Figuring that Jazz+ has a 64 bit operating system he is able to use more than 4 Gig RAM. And, within reason, the more RAM you have available, the faster your system will be. Now I don't know the differences in these pianos and how much of the sample actually gets loaded into RAM, vs. how much of the sample is streamed from the hard drive. But, I would think that with the low price of RAM these days, if his machine will support it, having 8 Gig instead of 4 with a 64-bit OS might make a difference. I have a 2nd drive in my machine that's only used for storage. Nice to have, that's for sure. But I also wanted it because if you're using your PC to record - you should record your audio files onto that 2nd drive so that OS maintenance tasks to interrupt the data flow (as they might if you only have one drive in your machine). So, I don't know the answer for sure about loading these large samples onto your primary drive vs. a secondary drive. I don't know if the software gives you that choice. I hope you and your family are doing well. Tom "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Thanks ITGITC, I am always confused about which RAM to order, can you give me a suggestion, this is my PC: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01463061&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN JazzPlus: Here is what Crucial.com recommends for your computer: LINK But you probably have all your slots occupied and would need to sell your current memory in order to populate the slots with four 2 Gig sticks. HP recommends PC2-6400 modules. The Crucial brand, which is very good memory, would run you $124 for 8 Gig. LINK You may find other memory for less money at Newegg.com or somewhere else. However, I feel quite sure the Crucial memory would work. Bottom line: Try 4 Gig RAM that's already in your computer and see how that works. Bottom line #2: Your primary drive already runs at 7,200 RPM. There is a good chance that it will be fine. My suggestions are just that - suggestions. It may be more trouble to you than it's worth to move your current drive to a secondary position and install a VelociRaptor as the primary drive. But if you were to ask me about the top 3 things you can do to improve that system, that's it: VelociRaptor, 8 Gig RAM, & a good audio interface. Tom "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnegrad Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Tom, We're doing well, thanks for asking. Regarding the topic at hand, now you've really got me scratching my head. Maybe this is a mac-specific thing, but I can tell you from first hand experience that attempting to use Ivory on the system drive is a major no-no. Tons of slow-disc errors. It took installing it on a second internal drive (7200) to get real performance out of it. And quantum leap is supposed to be much more demanding than Ivory. Jazz+, I encourage you to really do your research on this. I'd hate for you to make a mistake on this, knowing that a player like you is going to demand real performance from your computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 10, 2008 Author Share Posted November 10, 2008 Tom, Do you like the E-MU 1212m sound card? It also comes with a large suply of free software. Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 10, 2008 Author Share Posted November 10, 2008 Thanks cnegrad, Yes, and i have been researching over on the East West forum, who markets the Quantum Leap Pianos, all recommed a secondary drive for the pianos. I notice they all have a lot of RAM in their PCs, like 8 MB, although some have as little a 3 MB. Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITGITC Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 EastWest Quantum Leap System Requirements Up to 263GB Free Hard Disc Space. Each piano can be loaded and used individually: (Bechstein 73GB, Bösendorfer 87GB, Steinway 58GB, Yamaha 46GB) DVD drive iLok Security Key, not included (a free soundsonline.com account is required for retrieving and managing iLok licenses) If you do not own an iLok Security Key you can purchase one at your local authorized EASTWEST retailers, or here. More details about the new iLok copy protection for our PLAY SYSTEM powered products is available here MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR MAC G5, 2GB RAM, Mac OS 10.4 or higher RECOMMENDED MAC SYSTEM Core 2 Duo 2.5Ghz or faster processor, 4GB RAM MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR PC P4 2.5Ghz or faster, 2GB RAM, Windows XP SP 2 or Vista, sound card with ASIO drivers RECOMMENDED PC SYSTEM Core 2 Duo 2.5Ghz or faster processor, 4GB RAM, sound card with ASIO drivers, 64-bit OS and host INCLUDED FOR BOTH PC & MAC: 32-bit standalone and plug-in versions included. 64-bit PC VST (host must support 64-bit VST plugins) and standalone versions included. Check the following compatibility chart for availability of other 64-bit versions and updates. SUPPORTED INTERFACES WIN: VST, ASIO, DirectSound, RTAS MAC: VST, Audio Units, Core Audio, RTAS===================== JazzPlus - Your Q6600 is 2.4 GHz. Their minimum here is 2.5 GHz Pentium 4. Nevertheless, that won't be a problem. However, if you want to load all the pianos, it will take 263 GB of hard disk space. That would take most all of the 300GB of a VelociRaptor. Like I said, stick with what you've got. Get a good audio interface and try it. I think you'll be fine. Tom "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz+ Posted November 10, 2008 Author Share Posted November 10, 2008 A special thanks to Busch for his support in this endeavor! Jazz+ Harry Likas was the Technical Editor of Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" and helped develop "The Jazz Piano Book." Find 700 of Harry’s piano arrangements of standards for educational purposes and jazz piano tutorials at www.Patreon.com/HarryLikas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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