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Synthogy has just announced that the Italian Grand expansion for Ivory is now available with its own playback engine so that people can have it without having to buy the basic Ivory bundle. List price, I think, is about $169.

http://synthogy.com/news/announcements/n03xx08b.html

Works well with DP!

Don't...TEMPT me Frodo!

Dang it. I just bought a PA system for my business today. Now I'm looking at this and realizing it might just work for me as my first virtual grand.

Hmmmmmm...

Sweetwater: $159.97

Yeah, well, thanks for the heads-up, too!

n

npatton wrote:Don't...TEMPT me Frodo!

Dang it. I just bought a PA system for my business today. Now I'm looking at this and realizing it might just work for me as my first virtual grand.

Hmmmmmm...

Sweetwater: $159.97

Yeah, well, thanks for the heads-up, too!

n

Works well as standalone, too!

(sorry-- )

The surprising thing was that the ads have been in magazines for a couple of months now, but I don't remember them actually officially announcing it at Winter NAMM (though they might have done so at MusikMesse).

One of my former co-workers (who also worked for Kurzweil for many years) was their first official hire (outside the founders, who are also from Kurzweil), a year or two ago. I had suggested to him at the time that a lot of people seem to be mostly interested in the Italian Grand and that they might sell a lot of copies as a standalone. They must have heard that from a lot of people . At any rate, with more hands on deck, they're able to do more now. The Kurzweil programming quality shows in their app.

As many people feel the Italian Grand is the best programmed of the bunch, and as the Fazioli isn't covered by others (although General Music models it in their DRAKE-based PM/sampling-hybrid digital piano series), this should help keep Synthogy in good shape regardless of how the competition plays out with Akoustik Piano, True Pianos, and others.

I forget whether the new package with the upright piano (amongst others) came out yet or not. I think that one got announced last fall.

mhschmieder wrote:The surprising thing was that the ads have been in magazines for a couple of months now, but I don't remember them actually officially announcing it at Winter NAMM (though they might have done so at MusikMesse).

Yeah-- I guess it's now actually released from what I can tell. I missed their ads (only got an e-mail from them yesterday), but it's nice to see them give a marketing heads up that it was on its way. A couple of months of ads seem to be a very reasonable amount of leeway to start saving those pennies.

mhschmieder wrote: One of my former co-workers (who also worked for Kurzweil for many years) was their first official hire (outside the founders, who are also from Kurzweil), a year or two ago. I had suggested to him at the time that a lot of people seem to be mostly interested in the Italian Grand and that they might sell a lot of copies as a standalone. They must have heard that from a lot of people . At any rate, with more hands on deck, they're able to do more now. The Kurzweil programming quality shows in their app.

As many people feel the Italian Grand is the best programmed of the bunch, and as the Fazioli isn't covered by others (although General Music models it in their DRAKE-based PM/sampling-hybrid digital piano series), this should help keep Synthogy in good shape regardless of how the competition plays out with Akoustik Piano, True Pianos, and others.

I agree that they did a very nice job with it. People will scrutinize and compare out of necessity, but there's no question that Synthogy has put itself firmly on the map with these pianos.

mhschmieder wrote: I forget whether the new package with the upright piano (amongst others) came out yet or not. I think that one got announced last fall.

The press release says "it will be shipping March, 2008"... but I'm not seeing it listed on major music merchant websites yet.

I'm sort of torn with the uprights because Propellerheads' "Abbey Road Keyboards" fascinate me as well. I imagine that any need for an upright for me would probably be more Beatle-oriented-- but both of these be a try-before-you-buy sort of thing. I don't have any P-heads stuff, but I'm very pleased with Synthogy's DP friendliness. That alone is half the battle.

Sometimes it's fun to play an upright. It's a different vibe. I'm looking forward to Ivory's four models, although they're a bit on the pricey side and wish they might be purchased 'a la carte'.

Frodo, if you're interested in Reason's Abbey Road collection, you might also find the Reason Pianos of interest, which include various versions of a Steinway K upright as well Steinway and Yamaha grands . Purchasing Ivory at about the same time, it took me a while to get into poking around all the possiblilities afforded by the Reason Piano collection. I was initially a bit disappointed in them vis a vis Ivory, but lately have grown to really enjoy them. Discovered that the 'preset' bank didn't have reverb programmed into the patches, for example; big difference in enjoyment when I added some.

The Reason Pianos were also recorded with a different approach than Ivory, and being able to dial in floor and room mics etc. gives you some very interesting variations. Love the 'extra wood' patches mixing in the underneath mics.

Reason plays well with DP, is a snap to set up, and perhaps the biggest advantage to having it is that you can play the Reason Pianos on a Macbook etc. without having to use an external hard drive like you essentially have to do with Ivory.

Tobor

Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful insights, Tobor. They are very helpful, indeed.

I feel like npatton-- too many choices and not enough cash!

Has anyone heard the new upright from Ivory?
How does it compare to the Propellerheads or Rain Piano?

Thanks -

D.

OortNYC wrote:Has anyone heard the new upright from Ivory?
How does it compare to the Propellerheads or Rain Piano?

Thanks -

D.

There are no mp3 demos yet on Synthogy's site-- so it might be a little early to do fair comparisons.

I wonder if anyone who attended this years' trade shows has had a chance to hear the Ivory Uprights?