Best Piano Sounds for Live Performance?

In my opinon Ivory is the best software piano available. I've never been a fan of the piano sounds within Mainstage/Logic. Once I discovered Ivory though I was sold. The pianos have a very rich and detailed sound. I have Ivory loaded onto a glyph firewire external hard drive.

As far as playability is concerned, Ivory II is at the top of my list. It just feels and responds like a real piano. The iLok requirement is a little inconvenient... (quick rant: the latest generation iLok doesn't play well with the USB3 ports on my MBP Retina. I have to connect it via a USB2 hub in order for it to be recognized consistently. Their support wasn't very helpful either - they blamed Apple for the compatibility issue, of course, even though the iLok is the only product that gives me trouble.)

Anyway, my current favorite in terms of tone, especially for jazz, is Piano in Blue by Cinesamples. It has a lovely warm tone to it. I'm also a fan of Alicia's Keys for a more poppy sound. Addictive Keys is just okay - I find myself using the upright more than the grand.

I use the Galaxy Vintage D, and it works well. Check out their products - they offer several things that compete with Ivory, but you don't have to deal with the stupid iLok.

pianoteq?

Another thought I was able to find the free sample sets "maestro" which was a Yamaha c3 I believe completely free,no copyright (just mention it in your recordings) 4 velocity layers, you can find it on the web download it and map it for exs. Its a real nice, bright but in your face organic sound with a little ambiance. Free. I don't believe there's any copyright but i woild double check before handing it out. this is about 10 years old and was from an individual who put it out on the net for free if you can't find it I have it I just don't know how I could send you the sample set .900mg I already have a patch made for exs it was a lot of work but I did it and would be happy to share.

Hi Buckinjo, would you mind sharing that Yamaha C3 sample with me? I'm new to MainStage and looking for a good piano sound for live performances. Any help would be appreciated.

For the price, I think Native Instruments' Alicia's Keys is excellent for studio and live applications.

I will second Alicia's Keys as a KILLER live piano. I've been using it now for about 4 years as my main ivories, and I have no plans on switching any time soon. For rock/pop (probably even jazz) I do a little bit of EQ (as I do with any piano), I pull a couple dB out of the 320Hz range, and then I'll do a boost in the 5-8kHz range (to taste). For 80s stuff like Journey, I peg the heck out of the 5-8kHz range, as that's sort of the sound from that period. Regardless of whatever piano, I tend to always run it through an LA-2A compressor plug-in (in my case: IK Multimedia White 2A), which gives it a nice heavy attack but gets it out of the way. If you're doing solo piano jazz, you'll probably do less processing, but even when I've done piano jazz, I use these processes, just less.

Honestly, there are now dozens of great pianos out there, some recorded by small independent groups in basements, and they all have their own unique character and sound. For me, Alicia's Keys is a great balance of character but with enough polish to play on a wide range of material.

I've used Ivory II for several years. It's still my go-to piano, but over the past year I have added Pianoteq, Sonivox Ensemble 88, and Ravenscroft. Of all these, Ravenscroft is the thickest and fullest, but it's not right for every occasion. In my opinion it especially shines on ballads and jazz. My next piano purchase will be Ivory American Concert D. If you use piano a lot you can't have too many flavors. Sonivox and Ravenscroft allow you to store the iLok ID on the internal drive, so you don't have to use a dongle.

I'm so sorry! just saw your response. Give me and email address. I'll figure out how to compress this file for you.