🎹Synthogy Ivory II Grand Pianos VST Plugin Review - Steinway D Concert Grand Virtual Instrument🎹

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#Sythogy #VST #IvoryII
Welcome to Merriam Pianos on KZbin! Continuing our series on VST plugins, this video will be a deep dive into Synthogy’s Ivory II VST.
We’ll be checking out their Hamburg D, Bosendorfer Imperial and Yamaha C7 samples - all three are incredibly detailed and enjoyable.
Please like the video below, and if it’s your first time to the channel, subscribe and hit that notification bell!
Background:
Perhaps no other plugin in the piano VST universe has had such a sustained level of mystique surrounding it than Synthogy’s Ivory. Active since 2004, Synthogy is still a major player in the VST space.
While the interface hasn’t really been updated in 15 years, the current incarnation, Ivory II, is easily one of the best-sounding VST’s out there.
Some of the current samples get all the way to 18 velocity layers, which is a crazy amount of detail, resulting in a hyper-realistic tone. Now, will a hyper-realistic piano tone be ideal for your project? Not necessarily, but there’s no doubt that the demand for this type of plugin exists.
The sample pack we’ll be reviewing today is the Hamburg D, Bosendorfer Imperial, and Yamaha C7 samples.
User Interface:
When you first open the program, the program preset calls up everything - sample set, eq settings, ambient settings, and in some cases, the synth layer. This approach is a little bit obsolete compared to what other plugins are offering today, but still perfectly useable.
The Bosendorfer patch offers three sample sets with a bunch of different preset configurations, while the Steinway and Yamaha offers 4 sample sets each.
Sound:
The Bosendorfer sample sounds very authentic, with the super authentic bass the Imperial is known for. The resonance engine is not as prominent as on other engines, and one area where the acoustic instrument isn’t perfectly captured.
There’s an effects window off to the side, with a 3-band sweepable EQ, chorus effect, ambience, and preferences in terms of MIDI assignments, as well as session commands when it comes to velocity mapping and touch curve.
The Hamburg Steinway D is our favourite of the three sampled pianos in Ivory II, with a very different character from the Bosendorfer. It’s delicate but grows tonally and dynamically very easily.
Just like a lot of other plugins, you can flip the stereo perspective, meaning you can change the direction of how the sound is presented.
The C7 sounds really bright, biting, and brassy as one would expect from a Yamaha. Again, the instrument is very faithfully recreated.
Summary:
Ivory has other sampled instruments available, but we thought these three would make sense to look at. This plugin has deadly levels of realism, with super authentic recreations of the instruments they are sampled on. There’s not a ton of room character, with the ambience coming out of the reverb engine, as opposed to other plugins that incorporated room ambience into the samples themselves.
We could see Ivory II working really well in conjunction with some other reverb engines and EQ’s, but it really does nail the source material.
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[@sheskimusic]

The most thorough piano/VST reviewer as well the most experienced professional pianist on the Tube!

[@Pe6ek]

Yeah, forget about Brendel!

[@JustMe-999a]

Most eexperienced pianist?

[@okay1904]

Yes his demos and knowledge of pianos in general is illuminating

[@sheskimusic]

@@JustMe-999a you know what I mean

[@jguo]

I am listening to this via BBE 282 and the Steinway D at 17:15 sounds sooooo good. Beautiful playing and beautiful review!

[@Transterra55]

I love the Yamaha C7, but for my ears, the Steinway is my favorite! Thanks Stu for another enjoyable presentation.

[@calikokat100]

so many great sound vst plug ins..so hard to choose,,,.its amazing how far technology has come...and your play is so wonderful

[@jordanrazowskymusician8178]

Thanks for the review.

[@Zoco101]

It's nice to see Stu relaxed in what appears to be his home studio. I like the personal touch. When the Viscount pianos came out they featured what is supposedly the nearest thing (bit-wise) to a virtual modelled piano. It would be nice to see a series dedicated to the modelled side of digital pianos, but loaded or loadable into hardware. Someone commented that the virtuosic jazz piano performances are unnecessary and somehow annoying. Each reviewer has what he does best to show off pianos of whatever type. Apart from the fact that I really like Stu's playing, I can say, and quite objectively, that he finds way to demonstrate important aspects of assorted pianos (acoustic, digital and virtual) such as tone, registers, dynamics, velocity, pedalling, sympathetic vibration and graded action. IMO this is much better than playing Bach or Scarlatti (you know the reviewer I mean) who had never seen a modern 88-note piano in their lives, let alone composed for such instruments. I love Beethoven, Rachmaninov and so on and I'd be happy to hear some of them too, but you can't have everything in one review. It is also fair to say that most pianists investing more than say 1500 dollars in digital piano equipment do so because they play modern music. Currently, classical musicians are discouraged from spending large sums of money on digital equipment, particularly while many examination boards do not accept the digital piano as a valid instrument. So which music is more typical and useful in reviews of digital piano equipment right now? Modern or classical?

[@prolixsicklicks]

Totally agree. That comment you’re referring to was one of the most ignorant things I’ve read in a while. If he even paid any attention, it’s obvious Stu is not improvising ‘jazz’. In fact his playing for this video in the middle is highly classically influenced improvisation. Along with a good mix of contemporary blues, gospel and pop at the end.

[@Zoco101]

@@prolixsicklicks Yes, now that you mention it, I remember thar there's a strong classical influence at times.

[@mfurman]

This is the one, I was waiting for. I do hope for a comparison with Pianoteq Steinway Model D. Thank you Stu!

[@JoeLinux2000]

Your idea to compare it directly to the Pianoteq Steinway is a good one, but also the Bluthner too. I believe what people like about this one is the massive bass. Stu better find the actual music to the Rachmaninoff as his inaccurate knock off doesn't do it justice. Nevertheless, for these big classical pieces, the Ivory is great.

[@okay1904]

I keep coming back to these demos. Ivory 2 Grand pianos is definitely a keeper, I have the version 1 somewhere, bought about 18 years ago, and never really used it much, must dig it out from whereever I kept it. And Upgrade to the version 2

[@MerriamPianos]

Thanks for tuning in! It is definitely a compelling piano VST. :)

[@Zoco101]

That quiet moment with the Hamburg D made my jaw drop open. PS The Hamburg D starts around 17:10. I went crazy trying to find it again for a repeat listen.

[@prolixsicklicks]

Delightful and tasteful playing, Stu! If you had to pick between the Garritan CFX and the Hamburg here, which would you go with?

[@teadloquor]

Another great review, thank you Stu. I’ve been using Ivory II on and off for a number of years, in the studio and live for musical theatre. I completely agree with your comments and perspectives, and I would just additionally emphasize from my experience its ‘playability’. I find the American D more impressive than the Hamburg D but it takes quite some effort to control it. It has a wider range of colour and dynamics, and plenty of power. It will commonly want to go in excess of 100+ voices which is no problem for a modern MacBook Pro (say). I’ve experimented with a number of other plug-ins including some highly sophisticated, multi-mic, systems. I tend to come back to Ivory II because its interface gives me just the right balance of enough control without too many variables - so I can get the pianistic experience I want without being too distracted by 1001 knobs and sliders to play with. And then there is the great sound … . If you like a fun challenge, how about a side-by-side comparison review of an acoustic Steinway vs Ivory II? I think this would be fascinating and could lead to an interesting discussion on loudspeakers for digital pianos, since the choice of loudspeakers can dominate the experience. There are quite a lot of threads on various forums on the loudspeaker question so such a review would resonate with many folk, I think. I found myself having to stretch my budget to top tier PA speakers around 10K USD a pair before I was satisfied with the sound in comparison to an acoustic piano. It’s ironic that, for example, a Millennium III keybed (NV10) + Ivory II + MacBook + loudspeakers brings the cost close to a quite good (e.g. Kawai GX) small acoustic grand. Many thanks for your great videos!

[@pianistjustforfun]

turn the "shimmer" on, then check the tuning...

[@midi510]

Are you using the PA speakers for performance or just playing? I don't perform and use my studio monitors with a sub. You can get some really good studio monitors for less than 10K. Agreed, though, that at a point, the speakers make or break the experience.

[@stevehurleydesign]

This series has been so amazing so far, thank you. Are you planning to review Keyscape as well?

[@blindwatchmaker7877]

keyscape is cheap piano ( include 36 inst for $399 )

[@stevehurleydesign]

@@blindwatchmaker7877 no need to be snobbish

[@dynoroad]

I already know I love this one ever since I heard it demonstrated by the amazing Geoffrey Gee and Jay Oliver (Dave Weckl, Jay Graydon, Jimmy Buffet), but I still wanted to hear you play it. On another note, I kind of love that old user interface. If they do update it, I would like it if they retained the scholor scheme and overall theme. As far as realism goes, I actually think one of the strongest features of the newest Ivory engine is to give you a sound that's maybe not realistic, but sort of "enhanced" with extra shimmer, huge reverbs and increased resonance.

[@nichttuntun3364]

I enjoyed your video. I play the IvoryII grands some years now and they still are very satisfying imo. Oldies but Goldies. Totally agree with your great video result. The resonance emulation takes a lot of CPU for being so subtle but can be turned up in volume. The EFX section is completely obsoleted for me, having so great 3rd party tools in my studio. But yeah, they are there ;) I love the Boesy but there is a nasty annoying string resonance on one certain key (don't remember which but it's in the main middle region). I guess thats character ;) Recording with wide stereo isn't a problem here as most DAW can shift-pan the complete stereo channel field L and R and you can narrow the stereo field also with this channel track tool. Further you could partly mono up the bass frequencies with a mono maker. Lots of option in a mix session. I would rather go with the stereo width from this plugin as it is very natural instead of going the other way round as you can always mess up the phases this way and it won't sound as natural too. But best thing in my opinion is having care for this already in the complete pre-production. Cheers and thank you for doing this great video.

[@777Witness]

Hi Stu. Thank you for this video. What would you say your favorite piano vst is for solo piano (classical, jazz)?

[@thomasschatton3481]

Marvelous review again! I did not only enjoy all the very informative explainations, but also your wonderful playing! Ah! And of course your perfect kinda oldfashioned super-German pronounciation of the word "Steiner". Could it be you watched too many American movies about Word War II? Just kidding! 😉😁 Cheers from Germany!

[@Thinkso75]

How are you recording the audio , and are you processing the aduio with mastering effects after you recorded? When I export a midi file to audio, the sound that I get is not the same as you have here--it comes out boxy. further more Ivory seems to play same midi notes at same velocities with different attacks or volumes when iporting a midi file to ivory. When I play live, I do hear similar sound as to what you have hear--I have rd2000 as you have; but when exporting a midi file via ivory plug in in cakewalk to audio, I get a different sound. Maybe it has to do with the midi file previously created on a different piano instrument. so i guess logic is recording the audio while you play, but then do you export the audio to a wav file, etc. Thanks in advance.

[@PianoScoreVids]

19:40 great ending to that phrase xD

[@pianistjustforfun]

big compliment from an expert :-)

[@mdominic]

Are you planning an FP-90X review?

[@jonnybravo3697]

I love all of that blues stuff from 23:56😁

[@PianoScoreVids]

it's so great

[@csilt]

Ivory still sounds like the best virtual piano I've ever heard. Sounds like the real deal

[@MerriamPianos]

It is certainly an impressive-sounding VST! :)

[@Takussaagut]

Brillian player you are. I really enjoy your video. So, what's your favor today of software basic grand piano? I have Keyscape from Spectrasonics, considering something new.

[@MerriamPianos]

Hi Brian! Brent here! Thanks for tuning in! I will be sure to pass on your kind words to Stu. :) I certainly can't speak on behalf of Stu as to what his preferred VST is, but Pianoteq and Keyscape are versatile options. With that said, there are a plethora of amazing options out there these days, all of which offer their own unique tonal character.

[@Takussaagut]

@@MerriamPianos Thank you

[@JayTheLane]

Great video. I got the uprights for £50 which was a total bargain. The Ivory sample set now work with the Ivory 3 engine which is great. The new engine is much more usable.

[@MerriamPianos]

Thank you so much! That is awesome to hear! Sometimes, you can luck out and get these VSTs at really amazing prices. :)

[@okay1904]

An excellent review of a piano I think is still worth having. If only they would lower the price significantly, cos these samples are somewhat long in the tooth (dated).

[@mdkgr]

I bought a Roland FP-30X to finally learn the piano at 28 (not trying to produce music etc.). In your opinion, which is the best plugin to take the Roland’s sound to the next level? Just started learning about all the available plugins, but I heard about Garritan CFX, Keyscape’s C7, Ravenscroft 275, Pianoteq -to mention a few-, are great. What’s your opinion? Also, trying to load Garritan CFX on a Roland FP-30X connected to a desktop PC but I can feel the latency affecting my playing. I can around 2 ms latency but it still feels “slow”. Don’t know if my brain is making this up. How do you load the plugin (VST, Standalone)? How can someone “eliminate” latency, to replicate the feel of a real piano?

[@MerriamPianos]

Hi! Congrats on your FP30X and for taking the plunge into learning piano! In terms of plugins, it really does come down to a matter of preference and personal taste, but Garritan, Keyscape, and Pianoteq are amongst the most popular choices (for a very good reason). They are very authentic and versatile plugins. In terms of latency, there are a number of reasons as to why latency could be occurring. It is difficult to troubleshoot without knowing exactly what your hardware/software setup is. If you are playing the VST through a DAW, there may be settings to adjust and compensate for delay/latency of plugins. I would recommend experimenting with those settings if they are available on the DAW you are working within.

[@mdkgr]

@@MerriamPianos Thanks so much for the ultra-fast response! I’m indeed playing with the DAW’s settings in my goal to lower the latency. Currently using Reaper as my choice of DAW (tried Ableton too), I’ve set the Sample Rate to the maximum of 384 kHz that my Chord Mojo DAC supports, which lowered the latency instantly, and now I’m experimenting with the Buffer size, around 128-256 samples, keeping in mind how my system responds, so as to avoid cracks and pops. I’ve also got a Ryzen 3600 system, which handles all this pretty fine I’d say. Still feels kinda slow. Anyways, thanks again for the response, love your channel!

[@carltonec]

I hope Stu does a review for Ivory 3. I think he will like it alot.

[@MerriamPianos]

Thanks for the suggestion! I will add it to the list of potential VST plug-ins to cover when we tackle that topic again. :)

[@BUJU2007]

Did you have to set anything up? I have Synthogy Ivory II Grand Pianos and it sound super muffled. I'm using my Roland FP-90 as a controller.

[@MrPhil480]

Bonjour. Avez vous résolu votre problème ? je ne voudrais pas qu il m arrive pareille mésaventure si je l achète. On nous promet de beaux sons, mais est ce toujours la réalité .... ?

[@jennyp3430]

I also have a Roland and I usually have to set the key sensitivity lvl to 1 or 2 (meaning less power needed to make louder volume) on Roland then it doesn't produce the muffled sound.

[@theblackponderer]

I'll be honest. I could care less about gear reviews. I'm here because of Stu's piano playing.

[@nicolasarianos9731]

please do review for Ivory III Thank you so much...

[@MerriamPianos]

Thanks for the suggestion! We will do our best to get to that review for you. :)

[@nicolasarianos9731]

Thank you so much.God bless you​@@MerriamPianos

[@pianistjustforfun]

there is a heavy bug: turn the "shimmer"-effect to 0,5 or higher and check the tuning with a tuner, it will raise about 10cent! i told synthogy yesterday, nobody noticed until now... it´s a "no-go" for a professional software.

[@nichttuntun3364]

It's not a problem as everybody uses shimmers from 3rd company anyway and many detune them also as it's pretty boring using them just just an octave up or down or whatever. The key in mixing here is the right amount of wet-dry proportion. Such an effect is best sent to an EFX AUX anyway. I never had the idea to use the internal effects of IvoryII :)

[@pianistjustforfun]

@@nichttuntun3364 perhaps i wasn´t detailed enough: the "shimmer" is part of the programm-section not of the effect-section of ivory. if i set the A4 pitch to 440 and fine pitch to 0, i expect a tuning of 440. But this is only the case if shimmer is on 0 or below. If it´s above 0, your tuning immediately will be about 442 and i´m sure many people don´t realize this, for instance if they do some solopiano recording.

[@nichttuntun3364]

@@pianistjustforfun ah okay, of course. Sorry. Yeah the shimmer is the tone of the overlayed harmonics resonance. I tube the piano to 443 sometimes as it's the tone of my teachers grand piano. I never felt that the shimmers tuning was something which disturbed me. It's kind with saturators when you add more harmonics to a sound source but tune the saturation more toward odd harmonics. But nevertheless. Great discovery and an interesting one also. Cheers

[@pianistjustforfun]

@@nichttuntun3364 i only wanted to mention this subject here to avoid tuning troubles players can get on their gigs or studio dates...

[@nichttuntun3364]

@@pianistjustforfun great discovery and good to know.

[@ArgoBeats]

16:00 does anyone know which song is this? Can't remember.

[@MerriamPianos]

That is a good question! It sounds awfully familiar, but I can't recall the name at the moment. I would have to ask Stu directly. With that said, hopefully, someone from our wonderful community here will recognize the tune and will be able to identify it! :)

[@ArgoBeats]

@@MerriamPianos Hopefully, thank you!

[@jennyp3430]

It's Rachmaninoff concerto

[@ArgoBeats]

@@jennyp3430thank you!

[@davonralls8555]

synthology ivory or keyscape ?????????

[@winterheat]

oh Stu, do you know that Ivory II American Concert Grand is a 1951 NY Steinway, while the Ivory II Grand Pianos has the Steinway D which is a new German Steinway? So they are different... and the Galaxy Vintage D is also another vintage Steinway D.

[@MerriamPianos]

Hi! Brent here! Yup - they use different pianos to create their sample sets, which is a good thing as variety is a handy thing to have when playing, producing, and composing music. :)

[@winterheat]

@@MerriamPianos So can Stu demo the American Concert D and the Vintage D some day?

[@Adhithya2003]

Stu is a homie

I recommend pure piano on ipad.

[@JoeLinux2000]

Stu: Why don't you do an album for your KZbin Chanel fans.that has a selection of the more lyrical and Gospel style pieces you have played along with accompanying transcriptions? The one album that I'm aware of that you have produced seems to be of a more avant guard jazz style, which at least to me, is not as appealing as the Gospel piece you played in this video.

[@hsn10]

Ivory is for pianists. If you will play it as synth, It is kinda punishing. In that case get Keyscape

[@JoseTorres-ft4xk]

Ivory 3 is hear. Review please🙏🙏🙏. Please 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@MerriamPianos]

Thanks for the suggestion! We will do our best to tackle that review as soon as we can! :)

[@JoseTorres-ft4xk]

@@MerriamPianos some more of these I guess they worked 🙏🙏🙏👍👍

[@JayTheLane]

The new engine is free and the old sample sets work with it. They have a new Stein way which has more features.

[@IlimskyHD]

What about classical music? Too difficult for you? 😅

[@BlueGrovyle]

Obviously not, he has great musical fluency. I don't know why you felt the need to post a comment as rude as this.

[@tikeoff5512]

Very funny, but he's classically trained

[@rongrubbs5243]

I'm not interested in what a great jazz musician you are. So you're good. I don't listen to jazz. I play piano to learn classical music.please just show us the piano and spare us your virtuosity. If you could play Beethoven Mozart or rachmaninoff that would be better. Some people buy piano to play jazz. That's alright. I just want to hear what the piano sounds like. You can give a.concert for your fans..

[@MerriamPianos]

Hey Ron - fair enough, so jazz isn't your jam and I respect that. I wouldn't really classify a lot of what I play on here as strictly "jazz" - it's just improvised and drawing on a wide range of influences. To me, sharing my experience of the instrument(s) as a player is how I can be the most authentic and, in my opinion, the most helpful. But there are probably some other reviewers who stick strictly to known classical repertoire and would give you the context and perspectives you're seeking. We may not have hit the mark for you this time, but I appreciate you watching and commenting nonetheless. Best regards, Stu.

[@rongrubbs5243]

@Konstantin Ridaya i'd like to get a grand piano but vintage pianos that I like are hard to come by. I don't know how far I can go, whether I'll reach the level of a concert pianist and make some money for my efforts. I' m in the market for a Yamaha flamenco guitar but there's no music stores around here that carry Y. I'm interested in digital pianos to see what's out there. I was just looking what serves my purposes.I wanted a Roland Lp 40 but is discontinued so i settle for a Y. P45 I can afford for now. I watch living pianos w bob estrin a lot. I wish these salesmen would just show the piano instead of showing off their talents I don't mind much but do mind too much. If I go to a piano or music store I just pay a scale slowly so I can hear what the piano sound and handles iike not to demonstrate my ability ( or lack of). I don't know.how far my ability will take me but I 'll have fun finding out so I 'll stick to a.small investment right now.. If you think stu is so great and you like jazz why don't you just go to his concerts? It takes longer to learn classical music than jazz and more skill but I'll say something about rock & roll lead guitarists. That takes about as long to learn.

[@JoeLinux2000]

Stu is one of the few persons demonstrating pianos that plays with enough complexity for me to get an actual impression of the instrument. What you don't seem to get is that Stu is a living Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmoninoff and much more. Stu would hold his own with those guys if they were alive today. I guess Stu could have a bank of MIDI files on USB stick and demonstrate the instruments that way, but it wouldn't work on purely acoustic instruments which in my opinion are mostly obsolete. Some of the worst demonstrations of acoustic and digital pianos are by players with modest talents who play their rather limited repertoire over and over again. Let me clue you in: Being able to play Chopin and being Chopin are two entirely different things. Simply playing classical music is a lot like painting by the numbers. Someone on Chopin's level has created the composition, and you, the so called performer, just executes it for better or worse. Creating a sophisticated composition may be far beyond your capabilities. I like Cateen. So far he has demonstrated a Steinway B, a Kawai toy piano, a Casio S-1000, and a Melodica. He is a highly skilled player who creates very unique performances of some classic literature.

[@JoeLinux2000]

To continue on with my rant, symphony orchestras are dying out all over the country, If you go to symphony concerts you will notice the audiences are for the most part geriatric and sparse. People aren't exactly breaking down the doors to hear piano recitals. I live within walking distance of Denver University and the Lamont School of Music has a new multi-million dollar performing arts complex. Before COVID, I could go down there and watch fabulous free concerts night after night during the school year. Even better there was almost always a reception with free food after the performance provided by the artist who gave the performance. It's not exactly a profitable venture for the artist, but I have seen some very wonderful performances there. Now for Stu: He was demonstrated a massive number of instruments and given his honest opinion as to how he feels they play. His material is always fresh and very enjoyable to listen to. He has total command of the instrument and is an extremely natural player. Honestly who could ask for more? I'm not going to request that he does Clair de Lune on some specific instrument. He plays what he wants on what is available to him. That's fine with me, because I happen to like very much almost everything he plays. I've made mostly positive comments about the many instruments he has evaluated. The good news is there a lot of great pianos on the market today. Most people seem to buy what they can afford. These virtual software pianos represent great value from my perspective. They sound as good or better than the real thing, and cost a lot less.

[@danhun7355]

@@rongrubbs5243 Then don't watch it if you don't like it you clown. The world doesn't revolve around you. It's a channel creator's decision what they want to do. You only decide if you want to watch it and if it gives you the information you need. If not, find something else. Not that hard. Don't be a fckn mron.