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Hi Guys.

Any feedback on the playability of ivory ii upright pianos from those who own them?

are they comparable to the modern U?

How are they in terms of playability?

Thanks in advance

Of this was discussed before I do apologize.
I’m terrible at navigating the forum.
My search results seldom result answers fsr

The Modern U is an absolute delight..

It feels alive .

Cheers

From what I read, the Ivory II uprights are good, but Modern U (from my playing experience) is much better. True, if you are looking for a ragtime sound, and something that has some wear, the Ivory will do better than the Modern U. But for just tone and playability, I like the Modern U a lot.

I’m really amazed by the Modern U..

Whatever vi labs did this time around they nailed it.

The piano sings

I've always *loved* the sound of the Hume in the Ivory demos I've heard, and if I could buy just that instrument, I would. But the last thing I need is a bundle with tack/honkytonk pianos I'll never use!

Is there a trial version?
I would like to try the modern U and the Italian, but before buying them
I would like to try them ..

My opinion of Ivory is not very high.

If you are going in that direction, you may as well get pianoteq.
At least the quality of Pianoteq is higher then Ivory and you get more bang for you buck.

The modern U is not in the league as Ivory.

Ron

My opinion.

I don't know about the uprights, but in my view the Studio Grands are excellent. They feel like real live grands.

Pianoteq doesn't come close.

Hello,

@OldSoul, There aren't any demos which, of course, isn't as it should be but is all too common in VSTi land.

I have no experience with the True Keys Italian, I can only say it is generally considered of a lesser quality (for it is older, from an earlier stage in the life of VI Labs) than Ravenscroft 275 and most recently Modern U.

As for Modern U, this thread put me on its track:

http://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2944125/vi-labs-modern-u-review.html

As a daily Modern U player I can report it is every bit as good as @David B presents it in his video -- and then some.

Hope this helps.

Cheers and happy decision making,

HZ

The studio grands was the other library I was considering actually.

Not sure if the American D is superior or not to the studio grands

When listening to demoes everything sounds good

I’m guessing in terms of playability though the studio grands may be better?

More recent tech etc.

Whatever I do get though I’ll test it out and post my opinions on it

I’m leaning to the studio grands atm

Just wanna have one good and decent Steinway
With the studio grands I get a bosie too

Vintage D sounds amazing but I always have a bit of trouble controlling it.

It doesn’t listen as well as I’d like

I’m playing and it just responds really nice sometimes and other times a loud note comes out of nowhere and I’m like dude, I didn’t play that. I didn’t press u that hard why are u yelling at me.


Anyways my two cents

I’ve had that issue with vintage D across the board. With the ghs Yamaha. With the Roland pha4 standard and now with the rm3 action. Which is a lot firmer and heavier than the other two.

Not sure why .

Before you rush out and get the Studio Grands, I would like to mention that they don't sound great out of the box for me, because the Roland FP-30 action does not match the samples well. In my opinion the weakest part of Ivory II is the velocity curve flexibility, which is quite limited compared to e.g. Pianoteq. It has required a lot of messing about with the settings to get everything sounding nice (and there are REALLY many settings to mess about with in Ivory II).

And that’s the caveat right there.

I’m very sensitive to touch and response

Which is strange because I can usually adjust to almost any acoustic piano there is

And we have a lot of century old acoustic uprights locally which have weathered the tropics surprisingly well

I had no clue what it was that bothered me all these years

Only after reading constantly on forums such as this I realized it was

1. Latency issues

And

2. Velocity switching I think it’s called ?

And well velocity curves not matching up to the software creating an unatural experience

Probably why my brain often gravitates towards pianoteq after a while even though it sounds a little synthetic in some aspects

What’s lovely about this new modern U tho is I don’t have issues with its playability

It’s fine without any tinkering

Similar experience with the CFx garritan

Decent out of the box

Only issue is it’s a resource hog and it’s difficult to get a dry sound

The samples themselves have alot of resonance

I’ll probably just stick with the pianoteq for now and wait on vi labs next offering

They nailed it with playability it seems

@HZpiano

Hello Hzpiano, thanks for the info, now I'm going to read the topic, thanks for reporting.
In recent months I use CFX which I like a lot, I looked around a bit, but if you can't try them I won't buy them, in the case of a great discount ok, but not at the moment.

I'm now exploring the world of recording using VIs and stuff..

Decided to mesh a screen recording and wav file this morning because YouTube doesn't allow audio files

I'm still amazed at how well the Modern U responds and sounds and feels.

For anyone who are fans of Pianoteq and I know they are far and few between in this particular website, You all need to try this particular VSt.

As long as you got a decent system the playability is amazing.

I think a common problem with VSTs is most folks just don't have the proper set up.

not enough amplification etc.

and you end up compensating by playing hard which gives a very harsh tone from the pianos.

I'm currently using a FiiO a3 amp for all my VSTs with an AKG mkii studio monitor headphones.
For whatever reasons all my VSts are soft via the Mac headphone jack alone. the ohm impedance of the headphones is 55 I'm guessing that's why.

anyways hope you guys enjoy

If I had an upright in my home, I'd be very happy if it sounded and played like VI Lab's Modern U. Thanks for sharing.

God Bless,
David

Mta88, well played and the Modern U has a nice sound. Although the name of the song is Can't Help Falling in Love.

I have both the VI Labs Modern U (which is superb and incredibly realistic in touch & sound), and the Ivory Uprights, which I think are the most realistic of all the Ivory pianos (I have all of them). The Ivory Vintage Upright has a certain character I've not heard in other uprights (an early 1900's large American piano) and the Barroom Upright is even more characterful, without becoming too Honky-Tonky. I don't play the Ivory Tack Upright or Ivory Yamaha U5 as much – I think VI Labs really nailed it as far as Yamaha Uprights go!

Aside from those, don't overlook the Addictive Keys Modern Upright (also a Yamaha U3) - it's very well sampled, scripted and natural sounding, with multiple mic sets and great dynamics. It can often be found on special or 2nd hand on music forum Classified sections for around $25-30. I rate it quite closely to the VI Labs Modern U.

Lol I was wondering if I was going crazy when I started hearing the song. Thanks for clarifying this for us!