Hi Judith, I haven´t tried Ivory. Although weary of piano sounds by nature I was blown away with Akoustik Piano when it came. Preferring piano to grand in most applications I haven´t found anything else that quite matches AP, the Steingraeber sounds just like the real thing to me. After releasing the key the tone still lingers on inside the piano body just like IRL. And it´s well tuned but not too so, which gives it that... warm close live feel. Since you´re composing for feature film I´m sure the piano would come in handy at times, Then again I´d say the same thing if you made pop songs... As some other people have stated there are other pianos and grands that have that easily tweakable sound. But if you´re going for the natural piano sound, (especially the quieter nuances that I find ideal for film work) you really shouldn´t overlook NI´s contribution before making your mind up. All the best /Erik 2x1.8, 4Gb RAM, OSX 10.4.7 PPC,HD Accel 3, PT 7.1cs9, L7.2.3 _______________________________ Erik Häusler Future Love Productions AB Stockholm erikhausler@mac.com

Erik Häusler <erikhausler@...> wrote: > > Hi Judith, > I haven´t tried Ivory. > Although weary of piano sounds by nature I was blown away with > Akoustik Piano when it came. Preferring piano to grand in most > applications I haven´t found anything else that quite matches AP, the > Steingraeber sounds just like the real thing to me. After releasing > the key the tone still lingers on inside the piano body just like > IRL. And it´s well tuned but not too so, which gives it that... warm > close live feel. > Since you´re composing for feature film I´m sure the piano would come > in handy at times, Then again I´d say the same thing if you made pop > songs... > As some other people have stated there are other pianos and grands > that have that easily tweakable sound. But if you´re going for the > natural piano sound, (especially the quieter nuances that I find > ideal for film work) you really shouldn´t overlook NI´s contribution > before making your mind up. I am an avid Ivory user ... love it. But I have two points. Firstly, with Ivory, if a phrase requires the sustain pedal to be held down for a longer period of time than normal, there is an accumulative build up of white noise with every new note ... with normal playing this is not a problem but, on rare occasions I need to do this and the white noise is very apparent ... does anybody else experience this? And secondly, if you love non perfect warm mellow piano, take a look at the very inexpensive Malmsjo piano. It is wonderful in its woody mellow imperfection!! Often I compose pretty lullaby-esque music, and when played on this piano - I defy anyone to hold back a tear =) Perfect. Richard =)