I'm looking for a recommendation on the VST and the best virtual instrument for that VST. Yes, I know that I can listen to samples on Youtube even if I can't get a trial, but we all know how limited that is. So that's why your opinions are still more valuable. This will be for live playing and not recording. In case it matters, I will be running this on a high-end i7 processor running Windows 10 with lots of memory, L1 cache, and SSDs. And also in case it matters, I'm an audiophile who apparently still has a lot of his high frequency sensitivity and hearing and will mainly be using this with high-end headphones and headphone amp.īTW, don't worry if I don't like it after I buy it based on a recommendation here. And it's not like I'm expecting to like the sampled VST I end up with. (And if I really don't like it, I might hold a drawing for a free VST w/ virtual instrument! ) But since I'm expecting this to be my first and last sampled VST+instrument that I buy, price is not really a consideration. I'm not expecting to start collecting these puppies. If you have a large dedicated SSD (PCIE preferably, 256GB or more) I recommend Garritan's CFX Concert Grand for classical and romantic era.

The 'Full' samples will need about 133GB of space. I use the 'compact' version of the samples (you get both Full and compact options when you install the software) and this only needs 24.5GB of space and loads faster. Since I will have dedicated SSD space and CPU/RAM to spare, I'm assuming your recommendation is for the full blown Garritan CFX Concert Grand over the 'compact' version or the VI Labs Ravencroft 275, then? If you want a VST that works really well for classical and has an even smaller footprint than Garritan's CFX 'compact' (only 6GB of hard drive space) and more forgiving CPU/RAM requirements, check out VI Labs Ravenscroft 275. Yes I prefer Garritan's CFX (Full and compact) over Ravenscroft 275 but just by a tiny bit.

Ravenscroft 275 vs pianoteq 6