Impressions of the Grand and the Steinberg Virtual Instruments Collection

Bassman Brad

Bassman Brad

New member
I'm interested in picking up the Virtual Instruments Collection pretty soon. I need a drum sequencer, and the "virtual rhythm guitarist" would be pretty cool to have, too. But, I also feel that my current acoustic piano sounds are a little weak. (The best piano patches that I have are from the Roland JV-series "Piano" card. It's fair, but not spectacular. May not be good enough for a recording where it would be the primary, up front, instrumental sound.) So, I'm curious about what you think about "the Grand." And, for that matter, what you think of the soft synths and other virtual instruments in this package.

Thanks,
Brad
 
Honestly, I don't think the Grand is all that grand (Especially not worth the money, considering you should be able to get pretty good results out of the JV). I've never been real impressed with the Steinberg instruments. I'd personally go with something like Edirol's Super Quartet, if you are after a basic back-up band. Pianos are nice (Sometimes a little bright), Guitars are nice, but the Basses and Drums are what make this package shine. Plus you can freely modify instruments to your liking. I don't honestly think you are going to get results that are "Far Superior" to the Roland, unless you move up to a Sample library (Such as some of the Steinway or Bosendorfer sample sets). You might consider a good sampler such as Kontakt.
 
Great. That's the kind of info I'm looking for. Thanks. I haven't heard of that Edirol package that you mentioned. I'll definitely do some research into that.

I did explain that the piano samples that I have access to are on the "Piano card" from Roland's old JV series, right? It's not the piano that's on the SRX expansion card (which is supposed to be superb, from what I've heard). So, you're saying that most piano modules (both software and hardware) won't be much of an improvement over that old JV-series expansion board? :confused: Just want to make sure that I'm understanding you clearly.

Thanks,
Brad
 
No, I didn't realize that it wasn't the SRX card you had. Sure you can get better Pianos in a module (Check out the Yamaha Motif rack perhaps). I agree the samples that come with Kontakt aren't stellar. But I was referring to third party samples like SampleTekk's "Black Grand". Also there are many good sound sets available for GigaStudio (Like East West's Bosendorfer).
 
Thanks

Thanks for all the info, guys.

Yeah, I'm basically looking for a backing band in a box. I definitely need a drum machine. I can play my own bass parts. I can provide some acoustic guitar and, once I pick up an electric, I'll be able to lay down some basic (mostly rhythm) guitar parts. And I can stumble through providing the keyboard parts, although my keyboard chops are so rough that I'll have to do a LOT of editing, once I've laid down the MIDI track. So, is the Super Quartet clearly a better choice for this application than the Virtual Instruments Collection? Or would this be one of those situations where some would choose one, and others would pick the other?

Yes, I've considered getting a digital piano, but that would be down the road a bit. I'll probably just try to get a decent soft piano with whatever virtual instruments collection I end up getting. And, if I still can't find something that will get the job done that way, then I'll eventually either try to add a Yamaha P series keyboard, or a Roland 2020, and add the SRX Piano card to it. But, that'll be awhile down the road. After I get the initial virtual instruments package, I'll probably need to focus on expanding my tonal options in other areas. (I'm also going to be adding some better string patches to the XP-50, and will be picking up an electric guitar or two within the next few months.)

Thanks again for your input.
Brad
 
It is definitely a case of one would choose one and others would choose the other. There are lots of options. A lot of people are fans of RomPlers like SonikSynth and SoundTank, which are hybrid sampler/synthesis programs. Many good results can be had with them, but they are often limited cause they are neither fully one or the other, but a compromise between the often best features of both. I think you can't go wrong with getting at least a good virtual instrument collection, in addtion to a good soft-sampler (Like Kontakt or even Steinberg's Halion), and a collection of hardware. It's always nice to have options, but try not to get hung up in having too many options. I often find having as many options as I've collected can often be quite distracting to my creativity, because I get hung up with the sound design aspect of having that many options. And I'm not necassarily saying that the Steinberg suite of instruments isn't good, they have just never really fit my style, and personnal flavor.
 
Sounds pretty good bleyrad. I think the piano could use a little more punch in the lower-mids, but good otherwise. Also seemed the vocals put the overall track level a little to hot. Maybe lowering the overall volume of the track by a couple of decibels might help there. But I still enjoyed it :)
 
Thanks again, guys! :)

Bleyrad, that is precisely the kind of "sparse" arrangement where I don't think my current piano patch would work, so it was very helpful to hear that. (Nice work on that tune, by the way. Very tasteful selection of tonal colors on all the instruments. And, yeah, I though the Grand worked splendidly in that application.)

I worry a little bit about my PC processing power. I'm running a Pentium 4 with 768 Meg RAM. That more than meets the minimum requirements to run either Super Quartet or Steinberg Virtual Instruments Collection, but I'll also be running Cubase LE (which came with the Firepod). I should be enough juice to run either one of these programs AND the Cubase, right?

Brad
 
Shouldn't be a problem. I assume you already have your computers performance optimized for audio?!?!? If not, search around the Computer forum for many performance tips and tutorials.
 
Actually, no, I haven't did anything to optimize my PC for recording. Frankly, I'm hoping that everything will just work the way it's supposed to. Yes, I realize that this is often an unrealistic hope, when it comes to computers. My plan is to hook up the Presonus this weekend and spend some time getting it to work. If I run into trouble, I'm sure I'll be doing searches on the Computers forum here, and asking questions. If I really get into a bind, I'll be sending the computer in to see my computer guy in another week or two, anyway, since I want to add a second internal hard drive and have some quieter fans installed.

Right now, I'm definitely leaning toward the Steinberg set. Mostly, I need a drum machine and a good piano patch. It sounds like the Edirol program includes some nice drum sounds, but doesn't have any rhythms to use with those sounds. I'll probably end up programming my own patterns anyway, but it would still be convenient to have a "computerized drummer" on hand when I just want to fool around with some riffs and chords and stuff. Second priority is to have a decent piano patch. From listening to the demo songs that vestast pointed me to, and to bleyrad's song, I think the Grand will be quite satisfactory. It definitely sounds like it'll be a huge step up in quality from what I've got now. So, the Steinberg collection is probably what I'll go with. Within the next month or so, I'll also be picking up a couple more LDC's (Shure KSM-27 & ADK A-51 Hamburg), an electric guitar (an SG), a couple of more expansion cards for the XP-50 (to add some better orchestral voices), and a RNC or two. So, combined with the mics and rack gear that I already own, I should then be pretty much set to start demoing songs.

You have all been very, very helpful. Once again, I want to say thank you very much for all your comments and suggestions. :) :) :)

Brad
 
Another possibility is sampler Sampletank XL. It has quite good pianos in the package and you can even try a free version with some free sounds before buying a real product.
 
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