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Hi Miami Mo
To my ears the AcustiX Boesendorfer sounds more Steinway then Boesendorfer, I prefer the Boesendorfer in the NI Akoustic Piano VST, http://www.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=akoustikpiano as to Steinway I still think the Grand 2 from Steinberg comes top. http://www.steinberg.net/151_1.html
It must be said though that the Ivory VST http://www.synthogy.com/index.html tends to be the prevalent standard in the professional world.
However as has been said before, it is purely personal opinion, so buy whichever suits you.
Enjoy whatever you play

Bill

Bill, thanks for replying..I liked all the samples you suggested, the Ivory more than the Acoustik (couldn't find how to play the Steinberg, however) i then went back to play the AcoustiX Boesen and here's the problem, i think..that sample is somewhat louder and w/fuller-sounding eq..so maybe that is what is influencing me.. but it still blows me away like none of the others do. I find all the others guys have suggested excellent..i find that one superb.

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Miami Mo

Only problem is figuring out how to conveniently get it to gigs :

As a Tyros2 owner I have to agree the Fantom to me sounds great as a refined piano sound and I also prefer the more mellow tone of the PA800 in the way it's presented. I agree with
Diki's assessment of the Ty2's default by comparison- brittle etc. In the mp3 you can hear a harsh background metallic ring accompanying it - [which you can also get to hear playing the voice on the Ty2 itself darn it!]
Outside of the extremes, trying to get into too much detail with comparisons of default voices can be pretty fruitless IMO.
eg.if someone says yours is too bright or muddier, or is less expressive than mine I can change that by editing. But when I start to get too smug he can go away and presumably do similar edits on his KB so where does that get us.
What voices ever do sound their best out of the box I wonder?

I made a customised piano based on the T2 Grand designed to take away some of that brashness, give a mellower and more delicate feel when playing plus many other detailed edits. You can listen to it at the link below.I used the Purgatory Creek (PCrk) midi to play the Ty2 as a slave KB so I could set my own registration in place and have the voice played.
Same bit rate as Purgatory Creek's original mp3 for the Ty2 standard grand, which I've included in the zip for direct comparison.
http://tinyurl.com/3belk9

There's no intention to rate it with the top piano sounds, the point I'd make is it's also valid to form opinions about a KB based on the editability of the voices not just how the defaults sound.

Here's hoping the difference comes across!

John

[This message has been edited by jwyvern (edited 09-05-2007).]

I preferred the Tyros2's piano before you edited it.

I like a bright clean sound...your edited version is nice but seems to have lost some of the dynamics that make the original sound appealing to me.

Just my opinion.

Ian

My goal, when I sit down at a keyboard, and punch up it's best piano sound, is to get the illusion I am actually sitting in front of a real piano (key-feel aside!).

I have played many of the world's finest pianos, Steinways, Bosendorfer's, Kawai's and, yes, many, many Yamaha's. But I have NEVER sat in front of a piano, and got that cold, brittle, darn near tack piano sound out of ANY of them, Yamaha's included.

Sure, you pound the living bejesus out of ANY of them, you can get something like that, but the minute you back off, get into mf and downwards country, all of a sudden the sound warms up, you hear the wood and the soundboard, and the sound goes quite mellow, and expressive. But still close.

The Yamaha arranger (and WSs, IMO) never achieve that warmth as you play softer. They just, to me, start to sound more distant, but still bright. It's as if, to get quieter, someone just pulled the piano back 20 feet or so

But they NEVER give me the illusion of sitting at a real piano unless you are pounding them. There IS a recording at P.Creek of a REAL piano playing the same piece. Listen to it's tone as it plays the softer passages, then go and listen to the sampled pianos... Night and day, in most non-software pianos, IMO.

Once again, all my opinion, yada, yada, yada.

Playing a digital piano will always be a compromise once you played(or grew up playing) the real deal.

Ian

Certainly, Ian.

But how MUCH compromise you can handle is what is important. Some can't handle hardly ANY (the Clavinova, P250 and RD700SX crowd), some can handle a modest amount (G70, PA800), some can handle a lot more (T2, PSR's, etc.)...

All, once again, just my (yada, yada,yada).

That's OK Ian. I haven't thrown the original away.
While the preset seems fine to me as an all round piano sound for an arranger - fitness for purpose and all that - if you like to play full KB occasionally, and not all Fats Waller or Pub style it gets a bit much and not as satisfying as it could be IMO. In looking for a way to get a bit more strength with "refinement", expressiveness through touch, & stereo presence - at least as I saw it at the time - it seems I obscured some of the bits that you like.



John