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Investing in Ivory


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Hi,

 

I've been doing my homework and the general consensus seems to be that Synthogy Ivory is the best set of piano vstis out there at present. I also see there are a few products waiting to be released by Synthogy (Italian Grand 1.7 and Upright pianos which also uses the 1.7 ivory engine).

 

So, my questions are these:

 

1) I work on a MBP and these sample libraries are HUGE, so how can I be portable with my pianos? I've tried running EW Gypsy off a firewire 800 drive attached via a belkin fw800 expresscard (yes, I have the old MBP without an onboard fw800), and it is all glitchy and messed up when playing back or performing. That issue might be another post entirely, but I'm sceptical about investing in another big library if I can's use it without issues (if anyone knows why that is, I'd love to know why!)

 

2) Is it worth waiting for the Italian Grand 1.7 and does anyone know if a 1.7 version of the main three pianos is coming out? If so, presumably it's better to wait...?

 

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

 

*EDIT* I see that the three main pianos are already 1.7, so that's one part of the Q answered.

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A couple of things.

 

1. To get Ivory to run under Leopard you need ilok. Not a big deal but some people find it a pain to have a USB hub with the ilok dongle stuck there.

 

2. I've run Ivory off a Lacie 250 Gb, 7200 firewire 400 drive successfully for a year without any problems or compromises in the sound.

 

3. I have stopped using Ivory since getting Logic 8 since the included Steinway Studio piano from the Orchestral Jam Pack is good enough for anything but classical piano recordings, which Ivory isn't good enough for anyway.

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I just installled the Yamaha C7 from the main Ivory disk, and then put the Italian Grand on. I have a 250 gig drive in my Mac Book Pro, so I don't mind taking up a little hard drive space.

 

Of all the Ivory pianos, the I.G. is the most versitale and amazing sounding. I simply love it.

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Everyone will have there own opinion. I actually find the NI Akoustic Piano to have better samples. The sustains are longer, the resonances more realistic. Also Akoustic has built-in convolution reverb that sounds really good.

 

However, NI is notorious for their engines to be bloated and CPU hogs. But I'm not sure Ivory is any less of a CPU hog.

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I have a 250 gig drive in my Mac Book Pro, so I don't mind taking up a little hard drive space.

 

Of all the Ivory pianos, the I.G. is the most versitale and amazing sounding. I simply love it.

 

Adding a 250gig hd might be a way of easing the necessity for an external drive so much - has it worked well for you so far? I assume you switched the 250hd for the one you got with your MBP? I'm a little wary of opening up my laptop to do so though...

 

I agree, the Steinway within Logic is good, but often I need a different type of piano and eq-ing/adding effects just takes away from the naturalness of the sound. Listening to the demos at Synthogy just leaves me thinking I HAVE to get these pianos. True, they don't have the nuances of foot shuffles, creaks and squeaks etc. that you get with live recordings, but they sound good to me.

 

I've heard the Clinton pianos on Giga for uprights and they were nice so I'll be interested to hear Synthogy's uprights when they come out.

 

I think I'm going to have to troubleshoot my FW800 expresscard by Belkin as I really shouldn't have issues streaming samples from and ext hd based on other peoples' experiences.

 

THanks for the responses

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yeah...I replaced the 120 drive that came with my MBP..

 

http://www.mcetech.com/msperformance/

 

it was a PAIN in the ass. Personally, I'd pay a tech at the Apple Store to do it next time. A zillion little screws, and there's got to be a 'secret' trick to unlatching the top/bottom cases.. It's NOT easy.

 

I don't think I'd install ALL of the Ivory pianos on the laptop tho...too much data. Frankly, I use the Italian Grand 95% of the time. It's got nice soft 'classical' patches, as well as big, bright rock ones. and it's insanely responsive. Hell..I prefer IT to my 7'4" Samick....

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Thanks for that link.

 

Sorry, I know this is going off-topic, but based on the table there, it seems you can only get a 250gig drive at 5400 - is that enough for audio? I have a 7200 100gig drive that seems to serve me well but purposefully went for that (despite being worried about heat issues) because I thought it was necessary for audio work.

 

I'll keep in mind what you said about the IT being the best of the package.

 

Cheers

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uhm...you shouldn't -ever- be recording audio to your internal drive on a laptop if you can avoid it, unless you have no choice...I carry a small FW drive with me for my Logic Projects on the MBP....

 

I do the same. I meant more for audio apps and plugins that stream samples more than anything. Out of interest, because I've heard a lot of people warning against recording to the same drive, why is it? Presumably it's a bottleneck or system stability issue?

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Well...a 7200 rpm drive is always going to better than a 5400 rpm one for doing streaming samples and stuff, but, you can tweak the DFD settings to compesate.

 

as far as recording to your internal system drive....Recording audio is brutal..fragments the hell out of a drive. Drives work very hard...but OF COURSE< that's what they are DESIGNED to do!!

 

I'm just of the camp that your 'recording' drive should be used for NOTHING but recording, and your OS/System drive should be just that. Of course, for those with laptops, you have no choice but to load your programs/samples etc onto it (unless you want to haul around a bunch of other drives..)

 

The MBP is one sturdy mofo, and can take just about anything you throw at it. I've not encountered any issues with Ivory, EXS, or anything else running of the internal drive, especially while using a FW drive for my Logic Projects.

 

just some good workflow habits to get into, I guess.

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