Dueling Pianos: Alicia's Keys vs. Synthogy Ivory

[maneatingtoilets]

Why cant I find a comparison with AK and Synthogy's Italian grand? They are priced much more equally. I think I prefer the Synthogy in this though. Maybe. Can the sounds be altered at all?

[EmmittTill]

The bass notes are so much better on the Ivory sound.

[MetalSlab]

Strange how Ivory sounds so much more mechanical even through it's the same MIDI file being played. Must be some sort of algorithms going on with the Native Instruments plugin to give more natural dynamics.

[muratner]

Synthogy wins

I think..

[sk8rdad]

Sorry.. too mechanical. Chopin would personally punch you in the face for this if he were alive today!

[u0000]

This test is misleading. The problem is that if you want to make a test you should have a Human pianist playing and not simply execute a midi file. The Chopin perfomance is ugly, without any interpretation and it sound like a clock.

A Human skilled pianist adapts his plays according the sound he hear caming out the instrument. So the sound nuances and the overall felling dipends how the pianist "interact" with the instrument. You might ask a pianist do your best with both and then compare.

[lamekia28]

I think ivory is a bit thin I like the fullness and warmth of alicia's.

[normantran2011]

It depends on what kind of tone you want. Alicia's Keys sounds warmer but veiled, whereas the Ivory is bright and clearer in color. I personally like Alicia's Keys because I like a darker more mellow sound.

[crohnsappleadams]

Would have rather heard the NI against the Bosendorfer or Steinway, but even on Ivory's lesser instrument, it's not hard to hear who's the winner. The NI sounds artificial and not particularly dynamic.

This was exactly the test I needed to hear to determine where my money is headed.

[LogiMusique]

Ivory articulates better on the staccato of the highs, whereas Alicia's Keys did better on the lows, less damp.

@digitalmusicdoctor Thanks for the video!

[LogiMusique]

Ivory articulates better on the staccato of the highs, whereas Alicia's Keys did better on the lows, less damp.

[AOMCuselessvideos]

It's hard to say which 'wins', the two virtual instruments are based off of different piano's. Alicia's Keys is based off of a grand piano in which there are only 3 of, so it's gonna sound different. I personally prefer Ivory, but Alicia's Keys is still excellent, and is not any 'more' or 'less' quality than Ivory. It's just different and applies to different people's tastes.

[JudgeFredd]

Which DAW has been used for this demo ? Thanks !

[steveproducer]

alicia wins....

[Beriol9]

I've a question about that... it's needed a foot peadal in order to have the sustain or there is an option with the software or something? Because I'm thinking of buying it but I don't have a pedal, just my old keyboard...

[shaolin95]

For this piece, AK takes the nod for me easily.

[71603oneday]

Alica Keys sound is warmer then Ivory's. I would perfer Alicia version when playing a bold song were the low notes are meant to be super expressive or while playing a song in a minor key. Although Alicia version is not as clear when the high end is played and the note don't ring an pop as well. 

[cyberhmoob]

Ivory's is realistic, Alicia Keys is more synthetic in nature and has been processed to sound good.

Realistically Ivory would work well for me and my music. Alicia Keys is already processed:( Even the dry mode.

[ebpianodude]

It sounds to me like Alicia Key's piano is mellower than the Yamaha ivory version, which gives the this particular piece a bit more color. At the same time I like the Synthogy Ivory Yamaha a bit more because I can hear a much fuller tone which makes the piece sound clearer.

[sjdj408]

Like the commercial, Ivory sounds Claritin clear..... would like an A/B with Ivory II

[cvl85]

Alicia keys sounds so Yamaha

[KUPHSER]

alicias keys has more body to it, the keys ring out more naturaly and dont sound so mono

[UNDIVELMUSIC]

ivoryyyyyy

[jake11375]

Alicia's Keys are definitely a better fit for this style of music. Piano is all about preference of the player though...

[CharleyHale]

Use them both, AK is great for soft and Ivory is good for punching harder. On AK its very hard to play loud, but soft velocity is killer. Great video thanks. Beautiful song too well played!!!

[ancientwhale]

@CharleyHale Not that it matters much but thats a midi file...

[strifeMUSIC1]

@ancientwhale

How can you tell? Just curious? From the sound? What gave it away for you?

[MultiWishmaster]

Это не Шопен!!! Где рубато? Ужас... а вообще я за Алису!!!

[AlenBeats]

if you don't know how to configure the vst alicia wins,if you know how to configure ivory,alicia sucks xd

[zzzxtreme]

non human recorded MIDI sux. this shootout sux

[aknowneemus]

Alicia Keys was/is warmer.

[noizereduction]

Yep, Ivory still has more of a "sampled" feel in the way the instrument can/cannot blend together in resonance - and it takes a lot more CPU resources, and has a much bigger library.

My choice was Alicia's Keys. I don't get sampling brands who need their "proprietary" plugin format, instead of just releasing a Kontakt 4 library. Kontakt 4 is way ahead of the current competition in scripting possibilities. Companies should be working harder to release scripted Kontakt libraries.

[CelticProgeny]

What the hell, they're both fantastic and can be manipulated to suit whatever style and/or articulation is required for any given piece and/or environment.

Bravo.

[juansava]

it would be great to see both playing the same part , since the part of teh yvory has so much dynamics... peronally like nore the aliacia keys , I have been waiting for a full rich chocolate piano for a while , and this is the first time i get it....

JD

[pensessedecouleur1]

@juansava

Chocolate piano... haha pervert

[RBNPRODS]

@pensessedecouleur1 LOL

[jacosmith86]

I prefer the softer tone of Alicia's keys here.

As with most Chopin, I prefer this song to be played a bit more tempo rubato. This sounded very quantized.

[biescc]

Definitely alicia keys, way better, hands down

[kipp0man]

Alicias keys sounded more nautural and wins it for me, but they are both impressive. thanks for posting.

[futsol55]

I think Alicia's Key's wins. I just wish my cat didn't shed so much...

[Tweeekz]

This must be adjusted to "concave" on the Alicia's Keys. I have used it alot and I know how the piano sounds on the standard settings.

And as YoungEagleDopeBeaz said, one is a grand concerto piano, while the other one is a soul piano.

[thoolson]

Ivory's superior, and if it needs "dampening", it's easy to do.

[Adeptmind]

@thoolson No doubt, alicia's keys sound like they are missing some of the higher harmonics which is what makes it sound original. I wish the mic placement during recording wasn't so evident on both though

[IndraKeys]

I don't think you can judge like this...

Some pieces are more beautiful on Alicia's piano, others are more beautiful on the Ivory one...

But I like the more dampened sounds of Alicia's

[Keyframe3D]

Ivory sounds great! Performance could use some more dynamics in it to show off the two though.

[andrewmusicnyc]

ivory sounds soo real. Love it.

[matvelius]

3 things are making it hard to compare: 1) a fairly mediocre performance (all those notes that randomly stick out, as if the player is trying to make Chopin sound like jazz, 2) the overall velocity levels of the two VSTs are different - Alicia's Keys sounds more mellow because of this, 3) A.K. has more reverb on it, thereby sounding "sweeter"

[0blacone]

I must say despite the many people saying alicia's wins, i think the Ivory is winning... Alicia's is sooooooooososososososoo dampened, so bubbely, and i think the ivory one is a bit more clear, however you can change a lot of the settings to these pianos so... i dont know :/

[makerKID5]

@0blacone I agree the Ivory piano is definitely brighter

[valkoth]

Sounds way to.... straight... otherwise I think Alicia's wins.

[trulynot]

They are not volume matched so of course the louder piano is going to sound more impressive.

[vasilisthevoice]

finally i ended up to synthogy 1.5 ,all sounds are wide realistic beautiful.but in cubase sometimes my midi controller does not respond...anyway i think i ll fix it some way

[sabotage1111]

to me alicia wins...the sound has more weight and sounds more real

[stepbeyondprod]

I'd like to see this test again with Ivory 2.0 substituted for Ivory 1.5 I don't work for Synthogy. I'm just curious... I'am considering picking up Alicia's Keys for an alternative... being that it only cost 100 bucks... Great demo...

[stepbeyondprod]

I have Ivory 1.5 and I do like it. Here's my 2 cents. Ivory is one of the older Piano soft instruments. Ivory 1.5 has up to 10 velocity layers... quite impressive for the 5 some years ago that it came out.... Alicia's Keys... a brand new product has 14.... I think Alicia's Keys has a warmer tone to it and I'm willin to bet those extra 4 velocity layers are the softer ones... not the louder ones... However... Ivory 2.0 will be coming real soon and it is slated to have 18 velocity layers

[NovaxMusic]

Yuck! This comparison is moot since you've used MIDI data with no dynamics. To hear what these piano's really sound like you need to have someone play something, not import in something that sounds robotic.

If you want to hear these pianos compared head over to "Synthogy Ivory vs Alicia's Keys" They have a beautiful song to compare it with also.

[EnzoScifo]

@NovaxMusic You are right about this being a MIDI-file, but you are wrong about that there is no dynamics. You can clearly hear that there are dynamics in the MIDI velocity pressure. Are you saying that all MIDI-notes have a "fixed-all-127-velocity"? That's not correct.

I can agree on that the MIDI-file could need some serious tempo editing (ritardandos etc) to make it more alive and yes, it could use some more extreme velocity dynamics, but it's not as flat in MIDI-velocity as you put it.

[avianerr]

Both of these programs sound amazing. They both have their place, depending on what you're going for.

[vasilisthevoice]

please advice...which one should i install?synthogy ivory 1.5 or alicia's keys?

synthogy is 40 gb and i do not see that it is better than native alicia's.

thanks ! keep dreaming and make music ♪

[korsound]

@vasilisthevoice

when you install ivory you can choose to install only the piano's you want. I only use the German D now (about 14GB in total). So you don't need way more space unless you want to use all piano's right away. In my experience Ivory runs better/faster (specially on notebooks) and with lower latency than piano's with Kontakt (like AK), and also it loads very fast. I promise it won't disappoint you ;)

[ihasmario]

@vasilisthevoice in my opinion installing the bosendorfer from ivory as well as the fazioli ("italian grand") is all the piano anyone realistically needs. The bosendorfer has a very clear, twinkly sound, while the faziolis darkness replaces alicia's keys.

[vasilisthevoice]

please advice...which one should i install?synthogy ivory 1.5 or alicia's keys?

synthogy is 40 gb and i do not see that it is better than native alicia's

[NovaxMusic]

@vasilisthevoice It's all to do with the sound you want. Alicia's Keys is a Yamaha C3 Neo which Invory don't do. However on the other hand Ivory does more than one piano which, as you said, means a much higher size on the hard drive. Contrary to what korsound says, If you pick the one you want based on performance rates and latency etc you could end up with the wrong sound.

[Vlican]

great way to compare!!

[vulcano66]

Technically Ivory is very good, thing is though, Ivory (every single one of its pianos ) sounds very clinical, which i always found sad, because it was outstanding on the technical side.

I prefer Alicia's Keys because they have a more convincing and organic sound, one that comes closer to a real piano, very close in my eyes(or ears).

But maybe its a thing of taste aswell, i had ivory for a long time, but alas it got replaced by Alicia's Keys.

[korsound]

Can't compare like this... For Ivory you only hear the Yamaha C7. Try for example the Steinway D Concert Grand (my absolute favorite) in Ivory, and try setting timbre to -10 and keynoise to 2.5dB and it will sound way more intimate. Ivory is just incredible. There are so many parameters you can set in Ivory and very different piano's. Gotta say Ivory is absolutely the best I've heard so far and it loads really fast.

[ihasmario]

@korsound I agree. Ivory is phenomenal. I prefer the bossendorfer to the yamaha, however. The big difference between alicias and ivory is playability. Ivory adds a real weight behind keybed

[NielsShoe]

Good speakers for music are Bowers & wilkins pick the range that fits your budget good amplifiers for these are ARCAM amplifiers.

[ihasmario]

Alicia's Keys has a few really annoying things about it. C5 (or was it C6) is uncharacteristically bright (probably due to the frequency and the human ear and Alicia's playing) and actually sounds nice and aggressive while the rest simply come across as "permenantly mellow". The Ivory is bright and feels much more responsive and playable in my opinion.

It feels like I'm playing a piano with a blanket over the keys when I play Alicia's keys. IMO YMMV.

[dnt124]

I'm interested in playing Piano/keyboard and I think Alicia's Keys has a fuller sound. It has a rich tone to me.

[Gijsknol]

Good test ! I have alicias keys myself and i think if we look at the price comparison its a much better choice. The settings are much enough to change the piano sound completely and i think with classical pieces alicia's keys wins. much warmer sound

[SonicEther]

I found myself making a nasty face when Ivory faded in as I was browsing another tab... For me there's no comparison.

[RaldyV]

The Alicia's Keys sounds a bit fuller, while the Synthogy Ivory sounds a little thinner. You gotta love celebrity-based endorsements (Alicia's Keys/Alicia Keys... duh.)

[fingerblips]

Can you recommend speakers when friends are over. If I play Ivory through headphones it sounds rich. Through speakers it sounds like a tin can

[DiverseProduction]

@fingerblips not sure who you are asking the question to but for accurate reporduction of organic sounds like piano you should really buy some referrence speakers which don't colour the sound in any way, they just accurately replicate.

[DiverseProduction]

I love the metalic tone of the Alicia, it is truly wonderful!

[Paramite84]

Do not buy Alicia's Keys. Ivory 2 is coming this month and all of the existing products are updated. Ivory 2 Italian Grand will cost about the same as Alicia's Keys, but it has more velocity layers etc...

[flugelmaniac]

Synthogy is much better............but they both suffer from the usual 'virtual piano'

tonal uneven-ness........all of a sudden up comes a hard tinny note just where you don't want it.......they all do it and there's no way of adjusting the separate notes.

Synthogy might be the only one which works properly with sustain pedal....

I havent tested it yet........most virtual pianos don't work the sustain pedal properly

[Paramite84]

@flugelmaniac

Check out VSL Vienna Imperial. It's the most advanced virtual piano. For example, where Alicia's Keys haas 12 velocity layers, Vienna Imperial has 100... It's expensive though, but definitely worth it.

[dmoates420]

Wow! The Alicia's Keys sounds a little brighter and more dynamic to me. It really sounds good. That makes me happy i am a Kontakt 4 user and now i think I'm going to have to get this. haha. what do you guys think?

[andremzk]

unless its just the patches used, but i really like the alicia's keys. sounds little darker and warmer. thanks!

[mavs972]

Ivory's Steinway is my favorite piano between the C7, 290, and the Italian grand.