Synthogy Ivory II Italian Grand Reviews

4.1/5.0 based on 5 customer reviews

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Customer Reviews

Gino Vannelli
from Portland Or
September 20, 2011Music Background:
Singer, songwriter, producer & arranger

Valiant effort

The word great pianists understand is 'bloom'
The best of the best pianos have a sort of tonal after effect that creates intersecting harmonics and a confluence of tones that rise, intermingle and 'ring', and sound rich and pleasing to the ear --though the Itlian grand begins to accomplish this sonic feat in the low and lower mid range, the mids and highs are unfortunately stil too plucky, dry and sticky. It may have been the piano itself or perhaps something lost in the translation. But I will say this to the folks at , ' do not stop--this is a most worthy cause, for he who creates the perfect virtual piano will rule.

Doug Wollman
from Rapid City, SD
September 12, 2011Music Background:
Hobbyist, Semi-Pro

Sounds pretty good

Sounds great. If I had just recently ventured into Piano Sample Collections, I would probably be more blown away. But I've been checking out various virtual pianos. There are some great virtual pianos out there, Ivory probably being the most popular or marketed.

Definetly sounds better than some of what I've heard...especially the brand that claims they can produce a superior piano sound by "modeling" without means of sampling. (I won't mention any names...I do hear what they are attempting to accomplish within their sound that perhaps Ivory doesn't have...but this particular brand I am alluding to fell short of that attempt in my opinion. Yet I do admit I could hear what the attempt was. Kinda hard to explain. I guess I'll let the cat out of the bag concerning which virtual piano I am talking about. Pianoteq.)

Anyway, that being said....back to Ivory. Great clean piano sound. Very playable. It does sound better than what's onboard my keyboard for piano sounds....and I do love my keyboard. While I do love the Italian Ivory library and what it has to offer, it wouldn't be an exclusive solution for me. Hence my need for an assortment of virtual pianos...including this one.

Mark Warren Reinhardt
from Denver
April 2, 2011Music Background:
musician; recording engineer

At Last, a Great Virtual Piano!

I thought I was way too fussy, and would never find a virtual piano to meet my needs. Most didn't sound right, some didn't play right, and a few (like Ivory's leading competitor) I found so riddled with flaws it was unusable. Everyone else seemed to like these pianos, so I figured it was just me.

Determined to give it one last try I ordered the Ivory II Italian Grand, and so far I've found it amazing. The tone is wonderful and rich, it plays beautifully, and it's not a resource hog. I love the interface too. It's intuitive and very flexible.

One thing I wasn't expecting is the range of tone the factory presets bring out in this piano. I don't know how they did it, sampling just one piano, but in addition to the warm, complex sound I was expecting, the jazz and rock presets are fully capable of changing the piano into a bright "C7" facsimile that should be perfect for cutting through the mix on pop and rock tunes.

What more could you want from a piano? How about a synth pad built right into the interface? This is a brilliant idea, and an unexpected bonus from Ivory. It sounds wonderful, and makes it easy to create lush sounds in a mix where piano alone isn't quite enough.

All-in-all, this is a great product and a wonderful piece of engineering. Highly recommended!

Tray
from Kinston, NC
March 17, 2011Music Background:
Hobbyist

Happy Customer

This thing sounds great. I was using Native Instruments Akoustik Piano before buying this. The Italian Grand sounds far better than any of the pianos on Akoustik. I am really impressed with the fullness of the low keys. The samples are very clean and rich sounding. I was somewhat hesitant about buying this because I don't like the idea of needing the iLok, but it is a small price to pay considering the quality of the piano samples. I believe you will need a relatively decent computer to run this. I will most likely buy the other Ivory pianos at some point. I would score this product a 5 if you didn't need the iLok.

Dave Zimmerman
from Orem, UT
November 14, 2010Music Background:
Recording Engineer, Music Producer

Wow!.....Wow!......Wow!....

Okay. So I was the one who wrote a semi-negative review on Italian Grand 1.7. I thought there were some funky overtones, and that the piano was a bit too dull in the midrange. Not anymore.

Wow!... I can't stop saying that. I am very impressed with the new version. The midrange sounds better this time around. The playability is fantastic! The resonance is fantastic. This is the first time I really enjoy the blend of the notes in the chords. When you pound some chords together, you get a richness of overtones that is huge and beautiful.

Playing Ivory is way more fun than playing on my real piano (just a basic upright though). But seriously. I turned on the pad behind the piano and I could just play for hours.

A definite worthwhile upgrade if you own 1.7. An excellent price if you are buying it for the first time. I was thinking I should buy all of Ivory II's Grand Pianos, but I could see myself being happy with just this one for a very long time. Great work Synthogy!!!!