Piano sample library recommendations?

[toddgill]

I'm looking for a new piano library, something that really allows for dynamics, sympathetic string vibrations when the sustain pedal is down, maybe different mic placement options, etc. Something as realistic as it gets in the box in 2016. Recommendations?

[Paulie]

What DAW are you using? Kontakt has some great pianos.

[Len911]

http://www.xlnaudio.com/addictivekeys

Addictive keys??

sympathetic string vibrations when the sustain pedal is down,

it's controlled by the body and noise knobs after the pedals

various mics, positions and effects.

I'm sure there are many, many more, this is just one.

[Russell Landwehr]

Someone (a piano player) here in the Forums said that this one is really good.
https://www.pianoteq.com/
They said they've successfully got solo piano songs forwarded with that.

It's on my list of future purchases.

Russell Landwehr

[Len911]

Someone (a piano player) here in the Forums said that this one is really good.
https://www.pianoteq.com/
They said they've successfully got solo piano songs forwarded with that.

It's on my list of future purchases.

Russell Landwehr

Note: this is a modeled piano, not a sampled piano.

[elser]

Sampletekk

http://www.sampletekk.com

My favorites are the Sampletekk Black - Powered by Kontakt which is a Steinway and the PMI Emperor MK11 which is a Bosendorfer. If you can hold out they usually have a 50% off summer sale.

[jonnybutter]

Someone (a piano player) here in the Forums said that this one is really good.
https://www.pianoteq.com/
They said they've successfully got solo piano songs forwarded with that.

It's on my list of future purchases.

Russell Landwehr

I don't know if there's someone else you're referring to, but I have gotten many forwards using the Modartt modeled piano. It is really responsive and very convincing once you get the velocity response matched to your fingers. Several examples on my taxi page - Aria, and the two Mozart tracks are pretty indicative. I believe Modartt has a demo version

[orest]

Hi there!
This is really a matter of taste I guess.

I use Sampletekk (mainy black grand, but also white grand) and the pianos that comes with Komplete Ultimate (Native Instruments).

[mojobone]

I use Addictive Keys, mostly. It ticks all your boxes, but there are some other good sets; SoundIron's Emotional Piano is an excellent choice for soundtrack work and they have some other, rather unique entries, as well. Their stuff runs mostly on the free Kontakt player. The one that gets the most mention (not mentioned yet in this thread) is Synthogy Ivory. Reason's Piano Refills set is very economical and surprisingly good, if you use Reason. You're probably ahead of the game if you have Kontakt; lotsa great pianos for the format including Alicia's Keys, which is a terrific pop piano, also suitable for any kind of soul, jazz or R&B. Native Instruments has a bunch more, including The Giant, which has also seen some mention on this forum.

[mikeymike2000]

I have some Steinway samples with different mic positions but some of the notes are too out-of-tune for my taste so I rarely use them.

The Giant is my personal favorite because you can adjust the hammer noise, the damper noise, the pedal noise and it has the "beats" present in all intervals and the sympathetic vibrations you speak of. (I think it was the giant that I tested this with but I may be wrong... I lightly pressed down a note such that it would not audibly play and then hit a harmonic note and low and behold, the sympathetic sounded in the note that I did not "play"). Currently my set up is not set up otherwise I would make sure this was the sample that did this beautiful thing but either way, Giant is really great.

I recently fooled a very discerning ear thinking it was a real acoustic piano. As with anything it takes some getting used to and messing around under the hood. But I think it is about $99 and you get so so so much for it.