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All EastWest Quantum Leap Pianos are 60% off until September 13.

Do anyone own these pianos?

Are they any good.

In terms of playability etc.
Sound?

Thanks in advance for any info

I have the EWQL pianos Platinum Edition (24bit samples with Close, Player & Room mics). To my ears, in certain contexts, they still sit with the very best sampled pianos in terms of realistic tone & depth of sound. They are very thick, warm & resonant, and were captured in the East West Studios & Scoring Stage so there's some natural "air" in the samples which help give them depth & realism. Playability and consistency is considerably behind the likes of VSL, Soniccouture Hammersmith, Production Voices, VI Labs etc, but still quite good if you're prepared to do some MIDI tweaking afterwards.

One big advantage is they have separate sustain pedal samples, repetition samples, as well as true Una Corda samples which many sampled pianos lack. Also, the 4 pianos in the collection are distinctly different in character. A word of caution: the newly released OPUS engine has several issues with the EWQL Pianos (I have a Support Ticket in progress) so I'm still using the PLAY 6 engine, which is very stable and efficient on my Mac (OS Catalina).

I have all 4, Platinum edition. I do not use them because repedalling is not supported. If this is not important for you, it's a nice product.

Shame, to me repadaling is even more important than half pedaling.

Half pedaling is not supported too.

Is this the same old EWQL that I read about here on PW some ten (or more?) years ago?
Or do they have a new, improved version? If not then it's no wonder that it's on sale.
Old virtual instruments age just like any other old software.

Yep, same pianos, although the PLAY engine has had many upgrades & refinements since then, and I noticed an improvement from PLAY 5 to 6 in terms of playability and consistency. Forget about using the pianos in the new OPUS engine for the time being - it's very much a work in progress with regards to the pianos in my opinion.

I consider the EWQL pianos as "production" pianos. I'd struggle to use them exposed, and as a solo playing experience I'd look elsewhere, but they have a lush, full bodied tone which tends to hold together better in a mix than many others. Horses for Courses.

Hello,

@Craig Richards, That is a super practical, to-the-point and thus useful summary, thanks a lot for that!

Cheers and happy playing,

HZ

I think EW software is rather frequently on sale...

I concur; it seems they take it off sale a few months of the year.

EW tries hard to switch their customers to subscription model. First big VI vendor trying to do this.
There were rumors of NI going this way couple years ago, but they hold off for now.

East West was a big topic of discussion in the late 2000s ... before I bought my first virtual instrument.

Not long afterwards they faded into obscurity ... judging from the dearth of mentions here on PW.
It was all about Ivory, and then Galaxy, and lots of others.

After reading, above, that EW is still selling their 10+ year old pianos ... I'm not impressed.

EW does not focus on pianos. While they may release some new piano VI (and I'd love to try it), their main competitor is NI, and they are busy creating new sound libraries elsewhere and switching to OPUS.

Yeah their focus is on the renewed Hollywood orchestra with the Opus engine and the Hollywood Orchestrator. Very, very good, I must say, absolutely exquisite if you’re looking for that lush Hollywood sound. Love those new Hollywood Backup Singers as well. Here’s hoping they’ll revisit the pianos too.

I'll get more East West piano's when they send me $450 to rent my SSD space. Biggest waste of $450 in my lifetime.

Wasn't sure if I should insert a laughing smiley, because I'm very sorry for your loss, but your words sum it up.

Why should we get those 200GB behemoths at hundreds of dollars/pounds/euros, when a 5GB library does the same thing? If the bigger ones are better, they are only marginally better.

Good example about a small piano VST but extremely efficient as to quality/size, is the VI Labs Modern U (don't own it myself, just going by what others say, and online demos).

I think the bigger ones can be better.
But it's not the size of the library that's in question. It's the price.

Yes the price, but also the quality/price ratio. The VSL libraries cost maybe five times [*] as much as the VI Labs Modern U or some other quality small libraries, but are they five times as good, as the small ones?

[*]Temporary offers may affect this ratio, make it smaller or bigger, but not so much if both the big piano VSTs and the small ones have temporary discounts.

If I was unclear - The EWQL pianos were the first I ever bought before I knew better, and in my opinion, they are terrible. Never used them.