The Grand 3 vs Synthogy Ivory 2...

Hi,

I’m in need of buying a decent sounding Piano library and would like to know anyone’s thoughts on The Grand 3 and whether anyone has compared it to Synthogy Ivory 2? Which is better (as subjective as this may be)?

Thanks for anyone’s help

Jono

Aloha j,

I know both can be used for many different things.

My approach to them is to (try) use

1-‘I’ for jazz/classical/church stuff
and
2-‘G’ for pop/rock/miscellaneous stuff.

Usually works. But sometimes not.

Reason being; that during a ‘heavy mix’, both are sometimes what I call:
‘to big to fit in the hole’ (even with moderate e.q.ing) and in those instances
I will end up using a ‘thinner’ NI piano or HS2 or SampleTank instead.

Good Luck!
{‘-’}

Thank you! I recently tried the trial of The Grand 3 and I did love it but very curious as to what the Ivory 2 sounds/plays like.

I really liked the Upright Piano in the Grand 3 Trial and do like the fact (for the money) that I could get both a Grand Piano and Upright with TG3. With Ivory 2 I would have to buy two packages and not sure I can spend so much at the moment.

Decisions Decisions!

Thanks again
Jono

Was blown away by this software at NAMM this year. Ravenscroft 275 Ravenscroft really kills. I have both VIENNA Imperial Grand and Ivory. Also the NI stuff. But I would more than put this up against any of them, the Ravenscroft 275 piano is incredible and so is their Virtual Instrument.
Kenny

Thank you! Wow! It sounds amazing! Now I’m already spoilt for choice!

Jono

I’m telling you that Ravenscroft is not only lower in price but better sounding than anything I have played except the Vienna Imperial and that has a steep price point. The user interface is great to. Did you hear jordan rudess demo on the site?

Yes! I listened to all the demos on their site! Still torn between what to buy! I’m going to be mainly using it for writing Piano parts for Rock/Pop Music so perhaps the Grand 3 is the way to go (for now)? I’m not sure!

Jono

What a kool prob to have! :slight_smile:

IMHO
since we are on this site, go with the G!

{‘-’}

Indeed! :wink:

Maybe a little on the side, but…

By experimenting with parallel compression and eq tonight I made The Grand 3 sound quite much like the “darker” jazz piano I really like. Just had to mention it since I’m quite thrilled about the result :wink:

Great work Whirly!

Can you post some specifics/numbers etc on how you did it.
1-What plugs?
2-What settings?
3-BTW If it is s secret, I understand that as well. :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Major TIA (thanks in advance)
{‘-’}

I’m not in front of my computer at the monment so I might get some of the details wrong. Anyway, here’s a little report:

I used the Bösendorfer, as I regarded this is the best starting point. The Steinway is much more open in the top, which is nice for a lot of things, I guess, but not for what I aimed for this time.
I turned off TG’s built in reverb and EQ. Honestly, I couldn’t hear any difference between Player and Close view and ended up using Close (me think).

I now found this video that describes the technique I used: Parallel Compression | New York Compression in Cubase 6.5 | Tutorial - YouTube
In addition to what’s shown in the video, I used a second group channel to which I sent the output of both the dry TG3 and the compressed signal, enabling me to control the overall volume sent to the main stereo out with one fader. On this “summing” channel I added the send reverbs.

This is not an exact science and I didn’t tweak it to perfection, so don’t have the exact numbers. Anyway, on the group track, where the compression took place, I used the following inserts:
Fabfilter Pro-C compressor (radical settings: low threshold and high ratio, fast attack, release time set to auto). I’m sure I could have used some of the Cubase stock compressors, too.
Fabfilter Pro-Q eq (a matter of taste and what will work in the mix. Yesterday, when playing along with a brush drum track and a upright bass track , I used a hi shelf to roll off the high’s from about 1,2 k, and a bell curve to boost the low mid around 0,5 k.

Blend the dry TG3 signal and the compressed signal to your liking. If I remember correctly I had equal amount of both.

Experience: I got a sound I liked, however when playing two handed it was a challenge to play the left hand stuff soft enough to just support the right hand, so I guess I need to do some more tweaking.

OBS! This was done quite late yesterday night so the chances are that when I open this project this evening I will realize I was actually quite far off from what I aimed for :wink:

Excellent report! Thanks mucho for the info.

Just a thought about that.

Instead using of the Fabfilter Pro-C, perhaps
the FabFilter Pro-MB would be a better choice because
since it is a multiband comp, you could use it to
ease up a lil on the compression in the lower ranges.

Good Luck and thanks again.
{‘-’}

The pro-mb could work if the latency is note too bad. Before using the pro-c I tried using the Cubase stock multiband compressor - that was horrible and impossible in any way to use for live tracking/practising.

Got it.
{‘-’}

I’m now kind of looking at the 8Dio 1928 Steinway Scoring Piano. The Demos sound great! There is just so much choice!

I just bought The Grand 3 in the Valentine’s Day sale. Glad I did. Its a great collection! Feels so good to play and is very versatile. Now I might be greedy and get 8Dio’s 1928 Scoring Steinway as that is currently on offer. :slight_smile: