Synthogy Ivory II Italian Grand Virtual Instrument

It was a pain in the neck to set up. Dealing with iLock was unpleasant, and I finally had to access it from another computer, download to the key, move it to my DAW and then, two and a half hours later, and after tweaking latency parameters, sample rates, buffer sizes, and the kitchen sink....... WOW!!! It is well worth it, because I now have world class piano sounds for my daw. HUGE improvement over my Yamaha digital piano, which now makes a fantastic controller for this software. So, if iLock is already working for you, then you're going to be off to the races in a fraction of the time it took me. The piano sounds are not oversold. Truly amazing... Seriously amazing. Piano only, but several excellent piano sounds, and piano with strings etc to choose from. I can't wait to record with this. I can see why Synthogy goes to such lengths to protect their intellectual property, because this software is pure genius. Worth every penny... Actually, with the quality of this product it's a steal... but don't let Synthogy know that. Boooo iLock. Yay Synthogy!

Sounds magnificent. Can never have too many virtual pianos (because none, including this one) comes close to THE REAL THING. You didn't expect to get a real $100.000 Fazoli for the price of $200, right? Installation took less than 3 hours, the iLock registration added less than 10 mins. to that and was a breeze. No problem at all. I am running this software from an iMac with 12 GB RAM and Intel i7 (2009 model). Plays without delay or any problem whatsoever and sounds magnificent. If you like a bright piano with a strong, almost percussive attack, you will like this a lot.I always blend pianos for a richer sound. My keyboard is a Kawaii MP10. I mix this with either PianoTeq (a physically modeled piano) or this Synthogy Italian Grand. Next I will try EWQL. VERY HAPPY! It's NOT - let me repeat: it's NOT - like playing a real grand, but it is as much fun!

I've owned a recording studio and worked as a pro keyboardist and producer/arranger for the past 20+ years. This is the closest you can get to a grand without owning a real one. And I've tried a LOT of different options, both hardware and software.In terms of studio work, it is extremely stable with Logic 9. Have never used it live. Loads fast, much faster than previous version.Very responsive, great dynamics, beautiful highs, great blend.

After all the hype and reading the reviews here I thought I'd give Ivory 2 Italian Grand a try.Well has not come up to snuff. There are firstly some serious sound artifacts starting at about F from middle C where it gets annoying and dead like in the upper C, D, E and E flat above middle C.I emailed Synthology about it and even heard the same issues on Youtube reviews.After tons of research I concluded that it has to do with how your keyboard velocity settings " match up" with Ivory.A Fazioli is like a Steinway and Bosendorfer combined, this doesn't have any of that.I am hoping that Synthology find a way to address the Velocity mapping and like Pianoteq, have a Velocity Wizard that allows you to customize the settings more accurately .Its very nice but these issues immediately "pop" you out of the idea that there is anything convincingly " real" about this piano , which is a shame.It also has to do with the " Engine" they use, Cantabile, which maybe it should go through a complete revamp or the dump it all together.I have many VST pianos and this one ranks 3 in my library, so I gave it 3 stars, I am hoping that the future Ivory 3 will address these issues and bring the full potential of this product to life.

This software gives such a realistic simulation of an Italian grand piano that it's startling! The variations in timbre, tone & room ambience are limitless! This may be the only piano you'll ever need!

For my piano recordings, I had been using the Yamaha S90 ES piano or EastWest QLSO Steinway samples. This easily blows both out of the water in terms of realism, customizability, and beauty. Every detail is present and customizable, including the piano's timbre, soundboard, damper and sympathetic resonance effects, subtle hammer and key release sounds, soft pedal samples, MIDI velocity curve, EQ, and reverb. You can also choose among four levels of the piano's lid height, from the bright, brilliant sound of a completely open grand to the satisfyingly woody effect of a completely closed lid. In addition, there are a few backing synthesizer pads to choose from, which I haven't used much yet but are a nice bonus.At the time of my order, Synthogy offered an online service for trying the Italian Grand out yourself. You just click a link on their website, book a 25-minute session, then hook up your MIDI device or computer keyboard and play away. There was a slightly annoying lag, but it's enough to get a feel for the samples and I'd highly recommend it if the service is still available.The Italian Grand comes with stand-alone software, but I have been using it as a VST plugin with Ableton Live Intro and it has worked without any major hiccups so far.Can't wait to dig into this library more, as I know I've only scratched the surface of its potential.