props to VILabs

[zephonic]

I got the Ravenscroft while it was on sale ($99) and dayumn, I'm friggin' lovin' it; the only thing that comes close is TrueKeys. The Italian grand is a better fit for pop and Latin, as it is brighter and very dynamic. But the Ravenscroft just ooooozes Jazz, warm and velvety smooth, capable of subtle ppp, yet plenty authoritative when played forte.

 

There are a lot of great-sounding piano libraries, but VI Labs wins big with playability. It has the immediacy of great hardware, with the humble MX88 controller, it feels very responsive and intuitive. No need to tweak velocity curves, mic positions or damper settings (although you can if you want), it just sounds and plays great right out of the box.

 

Another thing I love is that their libraries aren't insanely large, they chose to make it lean and efficient, rather than throwing more gigabytes at the problem. Also, I think they were right to choose UVI as their player.

 

I own Keyscape, Galaxy Vintage D, Piano In Blue, Garritan Steinway, and the NI stuff. No contest, although Kontakt's Grandeur is a surprisingly good alternative. I haven't played Ivory or the EWQL library, and of course someone is bound to say "but Pianoteq..."

 

Anyway, I'm happy. Sorry for gushing.

 

 

 

 

 

[Kawai James]

I really love that their libraries use FLAC (lossless) compression.

 

James

x

[Kelly Gibson]

Thanks for the tip! Ravenscroft is a great sounding virtual piano. I just bought it today. The authorization seems convoluted but the end result is worth it. I'm still in the process of tweaking my Mac for minimal latency.

[LX88]

They had it for $99.00??? When?

 

Every once in a while VI Labs has a tempting sale. About a year ago they had a three piano package for $99.00, which I believe required a bit less memory than the Ravenscroft.

 

I would love to get it but I am too technically challenged. I wish they would realize that not everybody gets how to load it into a laptop or whatever. I also do not trust laptops for longevity.... my headphone out is usually the first thing to go on any computer I have had - I use it so much.

[Steve Nathan]

I wish they would realize that not everybody gets how to load it into a laptop or whatever. I also do not trust laptops for longevity

I've used Ravenscroft on an ancient (2010) MBP since it was a beta and it's been both joyful and easy.

[zephonic]

They had it for $99.00??? When?

 

You still have 24 hours https://audioplugin.deals/

 

 

Every once in a while VI Labs has a tempting sale. About a year ago they had a three piano package for $99.00, which I believe required a bit less memory than the Ravenscroft.

 

That's when I got TrueKeys. It's just under 8GB for all three models. Ravenscroft is just under 6GB.

 

 

I wish they would realize that not everybody gets how to load it into a laptop or whatever. I also do not trust laptops for longevity

I've used Ravenscroft on an ancient (2010) MBP since it was a beta and it's been both joyful and easy.

 

Yeah, the UVI player is super-efficient. It doesn't require mega-specs to run properly. The VILabs pianos also load fast because they all require less than 200MB of memory. This in sharp contrast to most other piano libraries.

 

Steve, what controller do you use? And do you tweak the velocity curves?

 

 

 

[analogman1]

Could someone point me to a "virtual piano" comparison thread? Looking to possibly get Pianotec or True Pianos.

[ElmerJFudd]

That's a conversation for these blokes (a few of which also hang here), but a topic they go on and on and on and on about. Which virtual piano to add to your collection.

 

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/6/1/digital-pianos-synths-keyboards.html

[Doerfler]

Could someone point me to a "virtual piano" comparison thread? Looking to possibly get Pianotec or True Pianos.

 

That's a conversation for these blokes (a few of which also hang here), but a topic they go on and on and on and on about. Which virtual piano to add to your collection.

 

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/6/1/digital-pianos-synths-keyboards.html

 

Interesting how many people over there like Pianoteq.

Anyway, as always, this thread has been derailed. carry on.

[zephonic]

I really love that their libraries use FLAC (lossless) compression.

 

Yeah, that UVI player is a miraculous feat of engineering. Makes me wonder how great Keyscape would have been if Spectrasonics had stuck with UVI.

[Dave Ferris]

I have to pass along that when I played the VPC-1 controller at NAMM that was set up, I was told specifically for the Ravenscroft - there was a serious latency issue for single note Jazz linear type playing. This was coming through the Focal monitors they had set up.

 

The chords sounded excellent ! No problems at all there. But when I started playing lines, it was very noticeably behind.

 

And the VPC-1 is being sold as a Ravesncroft product I believe. And expensive !

 

I don't know if this the same product. The one I played wasn't blue but black. But the price was $5500 like here.

https://ravenworksdigital.com/product/the-studio-model-i/

 

To clarify, this was in no way connected with Kawai , Ravenscroft had a separate small booth right behind the Fazioli room.

[Sam Mullins]

Just took advantage of the $99 deal this morning. Installation was fine and timing/performance seems rock solid. For reference: this is with 4 year old Win 10 laptop (2.7 GHz i7, 8GB RAM and SSD) and RME Babyface audio interface.

 

Sound is in my wheel house for jazzy voicings and adventurous pop. Like it a lot so far.