Soft Imperial vs Hammersmith Free
Soft Imperial wins on immediate warmth; Hammersmith Free demands more setup but rewards with deeper expression. Soft Imperial delivers a beautiful, intimate, and quiet sound without fuss. Its character is highly praised, providing an inspiring tone right away. There are few negative reports about its sound or performance.
Hammersmith Free offers exceptional expressiveness with its deep velocity layering. Reviewers consistently note its realism and quality among free options. However, users report installation difficulties and the need for the Kontakt player.
Choose Soft Imperial if immediate, intimate warmth is critical. Choose Hammersmith Free if deep velocity response and nuanced realism are paramount.
Products Compared
Insights from Real-World Use
Soft Imperial
- Praises Soft Imperial as a beautiful, free, intimate, quiet, and unfelted instrument.
- Positive evaluation of the tuning simulator feature.
- Describes Soft Imperial's beautiful sound, soft dynamics, clear tone, and not being felted.
- Highly praises Soft Imperial's beauty and value as a free instrument.
- Achieves a very intimate, quiet, non-felted soft piano sound, which is a great quality.
Hammersmith Free
- The inclusion of studio impulse responses is a valuable and appreciated feature of the Hammersmith Free.
- The Hammersmith Free's Hamburg action provides a unique, desirable bite not found in other Steinways.
- Hammersmith Free (Hammersmith Free) sounds almost as good as the more expensive Pianoteq.
- Hammersmith Free is one of the most realistic free pianos available.
- Hammersmith Free is excellent for a free piano, offering many beautiful impulse responses.