Review: VI Labs Modern D

At first glance, another piano sample library might sound as exciting as sorting socks. I can hardly blame you. It feels like three new piano libraries are released every quarter of an hour. Luckily, we are here to introduce you to a library that is well worth a closer look. The VI LABS Modern D.

The Modern D is our impeccable simulation of the world’s most well-known concert grand…

Another piano indeed

As crowded as the market for piano sample libraries is, there is – or was, if you don’t mind the spoiler – a piano-shaped void in the world of sampling: a truly playable, great-sounding, no-holds-barred Steinway sample library, of all things. Yes, Steinway grand pianos have been sampled many times. There are wonderful libraries that are great for specific purposes.

But for me, at least, there hasn’t been a Steinway library that excels in different genres and styles of music. A library that is equally at home with soft and fortissimo dynamics, that has half pedalling, una corda samples, and all with the balanced and brilliant sound that we love Steinway pianos for.

As ubiquitous as Steinway pianos are in concert halls around the world, Steinway sample libraries are equally absent from my hard drives. Before the Modern D, my workhorse piano library was a sampled Yamaha CFX. Now I have two workhorses that together can satisfy all my virtual pianistic needs. 

Under the lid

Here are the specs:

• 34,615 samples composing 118GB wave data in a tidy 18GB file
• Five stereo phase-aligned microphones
• Real deeply sampled resonance
• Complete control of up to 4 pedals including sampled Una Corda
• New MIDI panel with unique split controls for both timbre and volume
• 2,500 release samples per mic including staccato releases
• Runs in the free UVI Player

On top of that, VI LABS also recorded half pedal, muted strikes, silent strikes, repetition strikes, pedal and key sounds. Everything but the kitchen sink.

All of these parameters can be adjusted to your liking from the front page of the GUI:

The parameters for defining the half pedalling thresholds are very useful. They are easy to overlook, but they can help you tailor the pedal response to your liking. You can also adjust how the piano reacts to your playing in the Midi Response Graph. A great feature of the Modern D is that you can adjust not only the response to incoming MIDI, but also the gain response for each of the 127 MIDI steps.

It’s worth spending some time tweaking these curves to suit your needs. For me, though, the default values work very well. If your midi piano is a little less balanced than mine, or if your touch is on the hard or soft side, you can adjust this here.

Two other features are particularly worth mentioning: tone and timbre. If you are not quite sure what the difference is, you are forgiven. You might want to cheat and take a quick look at the manual to find out. Unfortunately, a manual is about the only thing this library doesn’t have. So let us use our ears instead.

Tone lets you move seamlessly from a mellow to a bright sound. The middle point gives you the natural sound of the instrument, and it’s a nicely balanced and round tone. If you want to cut through the mix, increase the tone towards the positive numbers. One penalty point to VI LABS for not offering a Ctrl-click to reset to default. Otherwise, this is a great feature for quickly changing the tone of the instrument in a non-destructive way.

Timbre does exactly the same thing. But differently. Very differently. This effect is more drastic than Tone. You can get a very muffled, woolly timbre at negative values, or a tinny sound, almost like coming through a telephone speaker, at positive values. So this is more of an effect, while Tone is more subtle. But both are great for adjusting the sound of the instrument to suit a variety of contexts. For natural sounding adjustments to the tone, use tone. For drastic effects, use timbre.

In addition to these features, the Modern D has an onboard EQ, a width control and several types of reverb. I suspect that most people like to roll their own EQ and reverb in most cases. The ones that come with Modern D are perfectly fine, if a little basic. But if you want to use them, you are golden.

The microphone positions are very well chosen. The sound changes drastically between the microphones. You can create a warm, deep sound or a bright, brilliant sound. If you are not careful, you can also create a dull sound that does not sit well in a mix. Take the time to learn the sonic characteristics of each set of microphones. It will save you a lot of trial and error later. In the absence of a manual, VI LABS explain the microphones nicely in their Overview and Walkthrough video here:

Modern D comes with a number of presets. They offer great starting points for different styles, from jazz to pop to cinematic. The ‘Complete Classical’ preset offers probably the most balanced and versatile sound, suitable for a wide range of situations. The reverb in this preset is not to my taste, so I turn it off. This is my very dry practice piano sound now. Whenever I want to practise on my digital piano, I load this preset minus the reverb, and it sounds like I am practising on a grand piano in a small room.

To use Modern D for music production, you need to place it in a larger room, and add reverb to taste. Fortunately, the Modern D is very reverb-friendly, which helps to keep the mixing process short and pleasant. 

Working with a new workhorse

This much can be said right away: The sound of this library is outstanding. They have captured the real sound of a Steinway in great depth and amazing quality. The playability is also fantastic. The instrument responds instantly and beautifully to your playing. There are no hiccups, bad samples or noise that I could find. The dynamic range of this library also plays an important role here. VI LABS claim that individual notes have a dynamic range of over 50db. And you can feel it immediately when you play the Modern D.

This library is equally at home in quiet passages as it is in thundering loud strettas. It’s also very responsive to the subtle nuances in between the extremes, which makes it a lot of fun to play. Compared to other sampled pianos, Modern D reacts to even small subtleties of your playing.

Now I have to confess that when I read the specifications for this sample library, one thing made me sceptical. The recorded instrument is a Steinway Model D Concert Grand Piano. It’s a 2021 instrument from the New York factory, with the serial number 616803 to be precise. As the name suggests, a Model D Concert Grand is suited to the acoustics of large concert halls. It has the dynamic range and projection to fill large rooms with sound. For smaller rooms, Steinway has other models on offer. The Model S, also known as the ‘Baby Grand’, is their smallest grand piano. There are also models A and B, which are often used in studios. And a few more.

So where did VI LABS record this Modern D library? In a studio. An intimate one. I was a little worried that if the space was too small, the instrument will overpower the room. But VI LABS have chosen the recording venue with great care. The resulting sound is dry, very dry. But it has an amazing dynamic range and a lot of nuances without even a hint of strained acoustics. I don’t know why it works. But work it does. These are recordings of the highest quality.

I wrote above that I used to use a Yamaha CFX as my workhorse piano library. This particular library was recorded in a large recording studio. One that can accommodate a large orchestra plus choir. I will probably keep it as my orchestral piano when I want the sound of a concert hall recording. The VI LABS Modern D is my new go-to library for solo pieces, jazz, piano practice and anything that requires a more intimate setting than a large concert hall.

Find out more about the VI Labs Modern D