Synthogy Ivory II Upright Pianos (boxed) Reviews
Synthogy proudly introduces Ivory II, its next generation of Ivory piano products. Powered by a new custom engine, the entire line of Ivory virtual pianos will feature groundbreaking new technology, a new graphic interface, and further expanded piano sample sets to provide performers and producers with more expressive detail than ever. The Ivory II instruments will be available as upgrades to all of Synthogy's existing line of products, including Ivory-Grand Pianos, Ivory-Italian Grand, and Ivory-Upright Pianos. NOTE: This product requires an iLok account for authorization. An iLok (not included) is optional. Please call your Sweetwater Sales Engineer if you have questions.
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Most Recent Reviews
The sound of real upright pianos
Why would you want upright pianos when you can have wonderful Steinway grands and other sampled grand pianos that sound so incredible? Well the grands sound great for classical piano, but many times for pop or even jazz when you want a slightly tighter sound the upright is a great choice. The Yamaha piano has the brighter more modern sound who people like Chick Correa and David Foster use. Not to mention all the music schools that have them. I personally love the piano sound myself which is the main reason why I purchased it.
For playing any of the sampled pianos its nice to have a weighted keyboard. Also if you use headphones, open back headphones are a better option to reduce fatigue vs closed back. Of course if you have good studio monitors that can be a great option as well to hear the music.
So how does the Ivory II Uprights sound? They sound like real pianos. When recording with them, there is no way I can hear any difference between a real piano and the Ivory II. All the piano samples are rich, the tone of the soundboard is heard and the reverb and EQ options along with saving settings is great. From the bar room, vintage, tack piano to the Yamaha. Just incredible sounding pianos.
The download is pretty straight forward but my Norton Antirvirus did not trust the download and I had to allow it in order to move forward. It will take about an hour or more to download all the piano samples so be patient. If you dont have an Ilok account, create one first. When you register the software, it wil put the software in your Ilok account. I also recommend you have a heavy duty stand that will stop your keyboard from bouncing when playing harder.
Inconvenient
Ivory Upright Pianos came with unexpected extra costs and inconveniences. The first being the 12 disc installation. I had to purchase a usb superdrive for my macbook pro (no cd drive) which set me back $100. Then there was the iLok key, which is an added $50. The cost of shipping for the iLok was another $50, plus the duties and taxes which came out to $25.
The whole process seemed dated to me. The piano itself is very nice with many tweakable parameters, but it's not all that much better than the cheaper alternatives.
As close to real thing as you can get!
I chose Synthogy's Upright Piano collection because I've spent most of my life at upright acoustic pianos. Over the past several years, my piano technique has been adversely affected by trying to get any number of synth based, hammer action keyboards to sound like a real piano. I play so hard on these instruments, that the light and nimble touch needed to execute scales and runs just isn't there. Enter Synthogy's software. Right out of the box, it 'feels' totally different. The resonance is astounding, and suddenly I can play an electronic keyboard like a piano again....YAY!
I'm triggering the software from a Yamaha MOTIF 88 key synth, running it on my MacBook Pro. It's so nice to know that I haven't lost my touch...I just needed Synthogy to bring a real piano to my virtual world. Simply the best feeling VI piano I've ever played.
Ivory upright pianos rock!
Up till recently I have been playing the Garritan Steinway, but, I just couldn't get that turn of the century bar room sound. That was until I purchased the Ivory II upright. Don't misunderstand, I still like my Garritam,but, for Ragtime playing, the Ivory is the way to go.
