REVIEW - Kontakt Alicia's Keys piano samples based on Yamaha C3 Neo

[DirtyJewbz]

HOW ARE YOU NOT FAMOUS?!

Your music is absolutely beautiful.

[maneatingtoilets]

Great. But I really, really hate noise gates. I couldnt hear some things because they where getting cut off. Even if it was just psychological, it annoyed me.

[JoshuaHults]

freaking awesome i like it !

[acjei]

dam nice playing!!!!!

[vishalxyzrepsol]

Does anyone know what does he play at 12:00 is it , improvisation or is it from some musical piece?

[cierny]

Torley, may I ask what kind of hardware, specialy which Audio Device are you use to produce no latency sound?

[aedrianum]

¡Hay que tener huevos para usar esa camisa! Saludos.

[Eclipsepoland]

no skin without gay color?

[JosephAS1]

@Eclipsepoland ??? gay color!?, dude the color doesn't have nothing to do with the great qualily of the library, also is not gay, is just female!

[Eclipsepoland]

@JosephAS1 i know i was not saying something bad about samples used in this plugin so dont impute mi that

I was talking about the COLOR only

[JosephAS1]

@Eclipsepoland hehe, I know... I wan't scolding yo man! ._.

[LGyama2]

Your demostrations are always excellent thanx. Please can you tell me which sound card do you have. It sounds wonderful.

[nstygatr]

Great playing. Kind of reminds me of some of my favorite Tori Amos tunes, (hope that is a compliment) as well as some of the new age type stuff.

Have you used the AK as a plugin to record with?

Thanks for taking the time to demo the product.

- C

[smcauley4]

Torly,

I have this piano running on a Mac Pro Xeon, through a MOTU2408 sound card, but have problems with drop outs and clicks, I notice a few in this demo too, is this something you have had a problem with when playing AK?

thanks Scott.

[badfox88]

I kept thinking my mouse was over the video.

[ShavedCheese]

What upright piano did you say you used?

[chokladfabrikensve]

You remind me of Masuka from Dexter, haha! Great playing and great demo of a GREAT product!

[DustinNesom]

Torley... what VST player are you using to run this? Do you need Kontakt?

[kaputasri]

I bought this, it's great. You influenced me to buy this. NI should make you a part of there marketing team. Thanks to you they got another customer. Thanks Torley for the excellent review, btw amazing playing.

[Grodpojken]

What song on 10:00? to about 10:27

[Kawshun911]

hey awesome vid. can someone tell me how to record alicias keys (kontakt?) to your pc.. as like mp3 or something ?

[FrickerHenry]

This is truley an amazing , heart-felt upload ...

Jsut wondering does the sound of the piano come through the computer speakers or the midi controller's speakers ??? :)

Thanks Again, :)

[FCO0710]

@FrickerHenry

midi controllers do not have speakers

[FrickerHenry]

@FCO0710 Mine does ... it is a digital piano with speakers but is also a full midi controller what happens then ??? :)

[Mixikyr]

@FrickerHenry Then it's not a midi controller, many keyboards have midi outs. Midi controllers are USB.

[usmmahnke]

Torley or anyone,

How does Alicia's Keys fare compared to NI Akustic Pianos. I was never a big fan of NI's AP. I like the sound of my S90es piano better. With NI's AP I always felt that there was something wrong with the lower 3 octaves. They just sounded slightly out of tune (a little honky-tonkyish).

[joe44850]

This video should be a template for how to demonstrate a product. He gave a great overview of features, talked about the good and bad, then gave us lots of audio demonstrating many different presets. NICE!!

[ZadZadrack]

BRILLIANT,SUPER-FANTASTIC,ASTO­NISHING,SOFTWARE AND DEMONSTRATION. I think, this Pianist should be cloned and sold with each ALICIA-KEYS software. lol. Brilliant pianist. Thank you for a great demo. I am going to buy Alicia's Keys to add to my Existing NI Komplete 7 Elements.

[ThePencil901]

failure that they only use 4 velocities.

[zapzzapzzapz]

.. Smear the flowers .. LoL :D

[MiztaSeoul]

any torrents?

[misterlestrade]

How much do you charge for piano lessons!!! I've had a Keystation 88es for years and could never make it sound like that!!! cmon torley, money is not an object!

[pianoman763]

Mwahaha I can proudly say I have played the actual piano that is used in this! :D

[MattBlackParis]

almost 3,000 individual samples in 12 velocity layers equivalent to 17 GB of uncompressed WAV audio, huge...

[odaxelagniaproject]

@MattBlackParis 7, not 17 :P

[benthemiester]

You seem to be getting a pumping effect and a click on your audio. Maybe due to a wrong compression setting or a gate, not sure whats causing it, or click.

[OifelOifel]

those 7 dislikes are just because of some people can't cope with the pink interface...

[giza182]

pretty and pink????????

[alphasxsignal]

What keyboard controller are you using?

Im thinking about buying a StudioBlade system to use with software.

[MCMorrise]

@Skarlos131 If you have a MIDI controller with buttons or switches, you can assign CC #64 (the sustain pedal MIDI message) to one of them in your workstation program. But you can buy very durable sustain pedals for under $25 (Google the M-Audio SP-2), and a sustain pedal is worth the investment.

[joostsmith]

nica piano sound

[Skarlos131]

If I don't have a pedal, can I somehow simulate it?

[luisdent]

have you noticed any of the double repeated note problem that the galaxy vintage d has where a second note overrides the first causing a drop in volume abruptly?

[JonesJoplin4ever]

which piano are u using? a midi one? yamaha as well??

[Saphothere]

@JonesJoplin4ever

Torley uses one I just picked up a few hours ago. The M-Audio 88es, it's just a midi controller.

[JonesJoplin4ever]

@Saphothere I'm going to buy it! seems like u can do so many things with it

[jipbannon1]

Sounded better on my system with the reverb disabled.

[sonofhendrix]

does it have sympathetic resonance.

[sonofhendrix]

is this better than the turepiano that is free in sonar 8? or is it as sophisticated?

[esperantomusica]

This is so radical!!! Alicia doing this type of things!!! her own program

[thoolson]

What kind of keyboard do you use, is it m-audio? Semi weithed?

[sebastiancruzmusic]

Damn you're good Torley! Thanks to your demo I've bought the pack as well. Keep up the good work! Cheers, Sebastian

[lesliejs]

awesome stuff. listening to you is inspiring and also somewhat depressing (going to take more work for me to play like that!). I definitely am more leaning towards buying the NI package now, your review is way better (they should give you a cut!).

I use a prokeys sono61, keys are semi-weighted. Running it with a core2 duo 1.8ghz and 4gb, just didn't cut it. I ended up buying a refurbished smaller laptop for music only. I have the NI Komplete 7 elements which has poor standard piano/keys library

[sonofhendrix]

@lesliejs wow i cant understand why a 1.8ghz core 2 could not handle this... are you sure it was not clicks being caused by using multi cup? you should try setting it to use one core only.

[cpalmaresc]

Is--this--a--Keystation88es???



[usmmahnke]

Torley,

Thanks for the video. Just a few questions if you don't mind. 1) How did you ever get used to that horrible 88 M-audio controller? 2) I really like the idea of going all virtual. I noticed the CPU meter barely showing while you were playing. Could you enlighten us maybe about your PC/Mac set up? How powerful does it have to be to go all VST? Will a Core i7 2600 with 12 GB RAM be enough to play that piano plus drums etc. etc.?

Thanks,

Matt

[HerrKnitler]

@usmmahnke

Yes, no problem. My old pc laptop with Dual Core at 1,7 GHz and 2 Gb of ram which was somewhat on the low end when I bought it can still handle quite a lot.

[PDXGT3]

Torely! Nice work. I'm ordering.

[rafael1801maragogi]

i gotta get this software, it is one and kontakt is another? alicia keys is included in kontakt?

[Deerector]

Where is the sound coming out of? The speakers on the digital piano or do you have a speaker hooked up?

[neveronyx]

@Deerector Yeah sound of this magnitude is coming out of speakers on a digital piano. Of course.

... ARE YOU SERIOUSLY RETARDED.

[Deerector]

@neveronyx maybe half retarded, but your mothers a total reject

[neveronyx]

@Deerector Ohhhhhhhhhhhh you're twelve.

[Deerector]

@neveronyx I am not.. Im 32. why do you say that?

[HerrKnitler]

@Deerector Because you act like 12 when you call someone retarded...

[Deerector]

@HerrKnitler I never called anyone retarded. I would never say that to anyone.

[101Licious]

Great sound for a VSTi. But it needs muuuuch main memory.

Nice review as usual !!

[rhodes70s]

Hey Torley,

Great Review, thank you very much. Did you manage to successfully update the Kontakt 4 software to v4.1? I had serious latency issues with AK (Still unresolved) as I can not update Kontakt successfully (Where the issues were supposed to be addressed). I was just wondering if anyone managed to update the software? I have had no luck even after multiple re-installations and workarounds.

Thanks again

[izaatmusic]

need maudio prokeys 88 for this!

[hayden50]

@izaatmusic not necessary, you can transpose octaves while playing on the midi keyboard...

[izaatmusic]

@hayden50 no.. i mean the weight where its heavier to the left..

[Augastalina]

How much are those softwares?....I mean how much is Alicia's Keys.....program?

[hayden50]

The Audio samples on the NI website failed to impress me,but after watching your review,I'm definitely going to buy this...it'll replace my art vista grand.

[Lindahl]

Great review!

[777kayfo]

hi i need your help i have kontakt when i play in my keyboard i dont siten

[Albigatnz]

Thank you somuch!

[ZetaCron]

*watches NI Product Demo video* "Eh, sounds good ~ maybe"

*Watches video with Alicia herself promoting and commenting on it* "Eeeehhhh ... sounds great .... Mmmaaayyybe"

*watches Torley's review* "Holy crap! *Mine!*" XD

Thanks for the review. I'd still be um-ing and ah-ing if wasn't for this vid.

[netmaniack]

You look like a good Man, i like You'r performace. Keep it going. :)

[surrealdirector]

Thanks for a great video. Sounds like an excellent library for $100! What do you use for a DAW?

[olivercarlehed]

That totally looked like Chick Corea playing, with that hawaii shirt :P

[undefeated1000]

what keyboard are you using

[DrToneControl]

@DJPeteJames

I have Akoustik and the new NI versions. AFAIK The samples are the same, but they sound different, so I assume they've tweaked them quite a bit

[dragon18525]

i wish i had 6gb's i could kill with this vst. i have like 50gb's free room on my hdd xD

[Joeymazz28]

what's up with the clips on here?? that sounds bad?

[Joeymazz28]

what's up with the clips on here?? is that the program?? is this thing a huge CPU hog?

[lulu91]

I love it 8:59-9:25 :)

[JohnF30Music]

this officially renders real pianos obsolete

[Lgw1984]

I always watch Torley when I want reviews instead of watching people who have been paid for saying that "plugin X 2" is better than the outdated "plugin X 1".

I think my ears are enough accurate to say if a product is shit or not :)

Torley, KEEP GOING WITH THOSE REVIEWS, you made me save lots of euros of shitbuying :)

I will make a new webpage: TorleyIsTheShit(dot)com

[Darkvinx88]

can you tell me the brand of your keyboard/midi controller? :D thanks

[MyPassionsss]

Oh, I really enjoyed your tutorial Mr. Torley!:)

[NielsShoe]

To use it as a vst just open the VST in your daw its simple. I use it with Ableton Live 8 or you can run it on its own it comes with Kontakt player.

[derrickhill499449ir]

Can you use this as a VST plugin? And if so How? thanks.

[derrickhill499449ir]

Can you use this as a VST plugin? and if so how?

[NicoDeMalcur]

You're awesome, Torley. Thanks for the review. --And yes, this video was instrumental in my deciding to order.

[XVSProductions]

Very great review, love how you explain stuff (; Great job!

[rubynav]

I just got my Alicia's keys and I really enjoy your videos and how-to. thanks

[Ch3ckDaTechnique]

Hey, what kind of computer you have? When I use the Alicia's Keys my cpu over loads! big time.

[mcornis2]

you the man torley.

[moviemaker1000tyler]

how does this work? is it like a MIDI based software program? if so, can it be saved/programmed into a electric keyboard's database?

[xRisingForcex]

you are the cheesiest person i've ever seen on youtube

[John3701]

Torley, Thank you so much for this video, it really helps me out a lot! I have been waiting for the Ivory II software to come out so I could compare them, but for the price and sound, it's a no brainer to go this route. Thank you again, keep up the great work!!

[dayg0ohard]

Hey Torley,

I was wondering.. What kind of computer are you using to run this? Do you think it'd work fine on my 2.4 4GB MacBook Pro?

[Ilike2tubeittubeit]

Hi Torley,

I've bought Alicia's Keys and came across some odd things. For instance, while the piano is wonderful for playing softly, i.e. pianissimo... it seems to be impossible to play with force, i.e. ff. It really seems to be limited to the upside, velocity wise. ...so maybe not appropriate for Rachmaninov and that kind of stuff ?!

[kilyomama]

He forgot to mention that you need to build a seperate monster computer with at least a 3.0 dual core processor and at least 4 GB of RAM to run the damn software. This software sounds great BUT is a complete PIG on computer resources.

[smurferull]

Hey! Is there any Transpose on this vst?

[farley333]

In fact I'm huge fan of Akoustik Piano and fan of Alicia Keys. :-D Wahting that video I can't save myself from feeling that I'm gonna take my last money and go buy this library in few days. :-D Im seriously thinking to replace my flagship piano with that too. But last money. Eghrrrrr. Should I? :-D

[NielsShoe]

Got Alicia's Keys today Ive tried Pianoteq and true Pianos and Alicia's keys sounds far better. I cant tell you how CPU intensive it is I havent experienced any latency or crackle when playing fast. I run it on a Intel Core i7 3.5GHz With a Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro sound card. The other Piano VST lacked something but this one has the sound detail and warmth the bass shackes my floor really happy with it.

[theDracoIX]

I have another sampled piano, and when you hit the keys faster - and I don't mean like really fast and hard, just a medium speed - it creates this crappy buzz type effect on the note... is that because it's a low quality sample or is there a way to adjust the settings to prohibit this, maybe the velocity or something.

[NielsShoe]

Cheaper dont mean better I would rather have what ever sounds the best Alicias keys sounds the best so far but its hard to compare to the others without a usable demo.

[nujazzelectro]

Great review Torley! I'm getting one tomorrow!

[gerbilho]

Hi Torley. Have you tried Pianoteq? If so, how do you compare it with Alicia's keys?

I tried Pianoteq demo and think it sounds very good.

Thanks for the great reviews.

[RonDeanP]

Thanks for the great review.

Yesterday went out Guitar City and bought Alicia Key's Vsti right after watching you on Project Presets.

My studio and I are very happy.

[logixish]

Torley Is King !! Bravo

[skip198]

Absolutely wonderful. I do hear little dropouts every now and then though, presumably due to insufficient disk bandwidth. (?)

[skip198]

@skip198  Oops - I've just heard Torley acknowledging the clicks right at the end of the clip - sorry about that.

[ghus32]

torley your freakin awesome

[NielsShoe]

Sold

[Paramite84]

Oh, anyone looking for a cheap virtual piano: Don't buy this. In a month Synthogy releases their Ivory 2 products, including Ivory 2 Italian Grand. It will be cheap and much better than Alicia's Keys. For example, there's 18 velocity layers.

[MyPassionsss]

@Paramite84 Suggested retail price for Ivory Grand is $349. Do you really think that the new version will be cheaper? I don't think so...Beside that, they didn't release it until today so I suppose they are re-sampling again the whole material after listening and playing on AK piano...:)

[Paramite84]

@MyPassionsss

I was talking about Ivory Italian Grand, which is only one piano... Just like Alicia's Keys. ALL three Ivory products will be updated.

The new Ivory II product line will consist of:

Ivory II–Grand Pianos $349

Ivory II–Italian Grand $179

Ivory II–Upright Pianos $299

Yes, I do really think so. Besides, if you upgrade an old Ivory, it's even cheaper.

Personally I don't really care, because I have VSL Vienna Imperial. Everything sucks ass compared to it.

[Paramite84]

@MyPassionsss

Oh, Alicia's Keys certainly isn't bad. It's a good low budget virtual piano. The biggest problems are some what inconsistent velocities and some extra latency, which you can't completely kill. Even after upgrades.

[DrToneControl]

@Paramite84

It's not big budget, but not sure it's low budget. I guess this is like the "Fender USA strat" of piano libraries - good enough for professional use, but some may prefer to pay for a bigger sample set?

btw How can the samples have bad latency?

I assume the samples are lined up with the note start. You mean Kontakt doesn't run well on your computer? You're not alone. EASTWEST doesn't run at all on even my 8 core, so I'll live with K4.

[Paramite84]

@DrToneControl

No, this is low budget. You won't find a cheaper modern piano library.

The samples themselves have latency, because of the way they were edited. It gives a more natural impression when you hear it, but it sucks when you're playing it.

I personally own VSL Vienna Imperial (the best there is) and it runs just fine on my computer. ;) You should try a fast separate hard drive if you have problems with sample playback.

[Paramite84]

@DrToneControl

No, this is low budget. You won't find a cheaper modern piano library.

The samples themselves have latency, because of the way they were edited. It gives a more natural impression when you hear it, but it sucks when you're playing it. This is a commonly noticed issue. Look it up.

I personally own VSL Vienna Imperial (the best there is) and it runs just fine on my computer. ;) You should try a fast separate hard drive if you have problems with sample playback.

[DrToneControl]

@Paramite84

That's more revealing. I've seen a few comments about latency, and none referred to the samples specifically - I can see you've put more time into this.

I use PT hardware, so don't get much latency issues. I do get some dropouts in Kontakt though if I keep the pedal down, but I am pushing my luck with Windows 7 64bit. Sounds like a cheap addition to the 3 I have from NI, and since I'm a guitarist, I'm holding off buying the best piano stuff yet, and spending on amps instead! Cheers

[KeatsHandwriting]

Torley, man. You rock in every way. You've got to be my fav internet reviewer/celebrity ever. Keep up the positive vibes! :)

[audiocult]

excellent! thank you

[rokr432]

Torley,

Sounds beautiful. I'm curious however, what MIDI controller are you using? Do you have any reccomendation as to a good, realistic feeling (as in piano feeling) controller in the lower price ranges? (under 400$) Thanks, and keep going!

[Paramite84]

@rokr432

If you want a cheap and good midi controller, check out Fatar Studiologic VMK-188+. Though it's more like 500-600 dollars.

[DaColdFlash]

Does this piano sound better than EWQL's piano collection?

[vzm19glr]

Torley, you could atleast played a Alicia Keys song.lol

[vzm19glr]

Thanks Torley!! Without these reviews I wouldnt have a clue of what pluggins to buy so I always know what you review is good stuff! Thanks

[xphungsiwax]

can you please put a link for where you get your plug-in and softwares?

[DanielSilvestriProd]

Torley, you're great! A lot of people has to thank you for your unbelievable job!! :) I give you the old 5 stars, man!

[Torley]

@DJPeteJames "New York, Vienna & Berlin" are just rebranded Akoustik, yes? I like Alicia's Keys noticeably more on the whole for nuances and overall expressive depth.

[elgruposanti]

@Torley I use a roland xp50 as a midi controler for my samples its an old keyboard. Does using an old or cheap midi controler affects the quality of sampled sounds?????

[ClubdunnyTv]

@elgruposanti a midi controller doesn't effect the sound

[weaponEX]

everyone loves torley

[unriselyrical]

very awesome :) do you have a gate on your audio? there is quite alot of background noise that chops in and out i find...certain its not in the vst!

[Tweeekz]

@unriselyrical Yeah. its makes almost this whole video pointless.

This piano is great though

[Torley]

@Tweeekz @unriselyrical Appreciate ya being so observant, that was my fault not turning off the H4n's mediocre noise gate. I did however mute mic audio entirely for parts where I'm not speaking, and the PROJECT PRESET video is entirely all-computer audio.

[Chicago10281]

@Torley One day, you could be recording for either Capitol Records or Epic Records or Atlantic Records or Interscope Records or Reprise/Warner Bros. Records or go independent or start your own record label!

[hidkidd]

sounds amazing!

it's better than real piano!

[BrianWilliamGreen]

@hidkidd id always go with a good acoustic

[hidkidd]

aswsome piano sound!

[BillyVinciolo]

YOUR SUPER AT THIS

[Kaotik2k8]

wow sounds amazing, really sounds like her sound too!

[SakuraAvalonBleac25]

Awsome sauce ^^

[non7sens]

I could listen all day how you play.

[cabinda4ever]

YESSS! its like he read my mind.. I was saying "please, Torley review Alicia keys... please please please" and HE DID IT!

[Torley]

@cabinda4ever Time travel and foreseeing the future are specialities here in the Torleyverse. You're welcome! :D

[luckyguitar123]

@Torley Excelent review Torley. Hope you´ll review Ivory II one day. Thanks for the cool videos. BTW you look a little like Vince Masuka. XD

[DeXound]

@Torley

Oh God

U replies XD

[Chicago10281]

@Torley You did a fine job on this! Terrific Piano Playing! Can you do this with Sonar 8?(Piano Playing, That Is)