Winner

All the piano's on this plugin are fantastic. A must have library for any studio. Even the short versions of these piano's are beautiful and are used the most in my studio because the full versions take up a lot of processing power. This one is a winner.

Heavenly Sounds on Disk

If you are a true piano nut ( like me ) this is the only library to get. I was going back and forth trying to figure out whether to get a workstation or go with software. It took a lot of time, but , after calculating cost for both, I would come out ahead going the software route. This includes a new computer, extra memory , software & keyboard controller.

This collection of pianos are truly amazing. I am truly happy with my decision. Andy Miller , my Sales Engineer , was very patient @ totally helpful. I can't wait for my next trick.

Amazing!

Unless, I get an immaculate piano and an engineer I could never hope to afford, I am never recording with a live piano again! Couple this with a great controller and you'll see what I mean. The pianos take a while to load but they sound amazing! Every piano is expressive in a different way. The Bosendorfer sounds clean and sweet, the Steinway sounds very balanced and beautiful, the Yamaha has a great gospel piano sound and the Bechstein is simply amazing all the way around. Lay back and it sounds nice and warm. Lean into it, and you've got a piano-rock monster. Just amazing.

The sound is FANTASTIC

I just started using EW Quantum Leap Pianos, and I couldn't be happier. As the other reviewer noted, it is a very large library, and it takes quite a while to install. However, once you get it up and running, it is well worth it. The sounds are simply incredible. The thing that most surprised me is the dynamic detail available. This virtual instrument really "feels" like playing a real piano. Originally I chose this software because I wanted something that could work in a 64 bit environment. It does that with ease, but it is also easy to use and great sounding. I am definitely going to buy more instruments from the EW library.

Nothing sounds better, but be aware

Before buying this package, know what you are getting yourself into! First, this software will not operate without an ilok hardware key. You must buy one if you don't already have one. Second, while you are buying things, go ahead and get another hard drive to dedicate to this software. I use an external SATA 1TB RAID 0 set. The software takes over 250GB of disk space, and USB 2.0 or Firewire 400 is just not fast enough to keep up with this program's data transfer needs when you really get going on it. Also, putting the sound library on the same drive as the operating system or the program portion of this software will also cause data transfer issues unless your drive is lightning fast! There is just too much data transfer! And another thing: the software comes on 35 dual-layer DVDS! Install time will exceed 16 hours, and cannot be interrupted!

Now that I have discouraged you, GET THIS SOFTWARE! The sound quality of the samples is magnificent, and so detailed that you lack for very little in piano articulations. The staccato sections are head and shoulders above any other software, at any price. I work with the lid position fully up, since this is the way the sound library was recorded, but the sounds are still most excellent with the position simulator active. And, the flexibilities of the sound adjustments are amazing in their scope! My main keyboard player owns a 1906 Steinway grand, and has never been satisfied with any recorded piano that I or anyone else has been able to do. Not anymore! With the fast dedicated drive, she can even play MIDI only at shows and let me supply the piano sounds 100% in the system! Now, EVERYBODY is happy! Am I gushing? Sorry, but it really has solved a lot of issues here, since other piano sound banks never were good enough.

In summary, you will never regret having these wonderful sounds; just prepare in advance to use them properly, because they take a lot of horsepower to work right.

Piano Heaven in a box

Beautiful samples but take a long time to load. There are lite versions of every piano that load fast and also sound just a great. The piano's are not as bright as I would like them to be so you may have to EQ a little to your preference. Overall a great sounding piano.

I wished it worked properly... sigh

The sounds are nothing short of inspiring. I just wished there weren't any dropouts when rendering to audio. I know there's some way to solve that problem, but I still haven't found it. Tried it on a new Mac, a reasonable used PC, a new PC, on XP, Vista 64, Leopard, and was able to solve most of my problems related to other software, but this... well, not yet.

I'm looking forward to finally being able to use this on my tracks. I got all the Quantum Leap titles so far, and have had no problems with the rest. Just this one.