The first review for Ivory II Grand Pianos comes to us via Audiofanzine.com in France, and the results were unequivocal:

"Exceedingly impressive!", "A complete success", "Pros: Everything Cons: Nothing".

"With Ivory II's release, Synthogy reinforces its leading place amongst virtual piano makers."

"Ivory II Grand Pianos receives Audiofanzine's "Best Choice Award".

The full review (in French) can be found here.

An English translation should also be posted soon on Audiofanzine's site. For now, the writer has been kind enough to provide us with some translation from his conclusions below:

Ivory II Grand Pianos - Review Excerpt from Audiofanzine.com France by Jean-Stephane Guitton

Conclusion

You have to consider two different things: the perception/listening of the instrument while you're playing it, and the perception/listening once you've played and recorded it. In the first case...the response to your own touch, to your musical intentions, all the subtilities of your interpretation are perfectly respected and reproduced, and the numerous sound design options allow you to really adapt the pianos of Ivory II to your personal taste. As an instrumentalist, you know how hard it is to play a real instrument that doesn't match your requirements and doesn't respond the way you want it to, even though you've practiced again and again... With Ivory II, from this point of view, there's nothing to worry about, everything can be tailored to your needs...

And there's the other listening, once you've recorded and mixed your piano part. In a word (or two): exceedingly impressive! The pianos' realism is incredible, first in the classical domain with the two concert pianos, though you can easily match the sound of Tori Amos or George Duke with the Bosendorfer, and a jazz or intimist sound with a few settings on the Steinway. The Yamaha, with its reknowned brilliance and attack... will be perfect in any rock, modern and other contexts. The use of a good convolution reverb can also add a lot to the sound. The conjunction of the high number of layers and the new interpolation technique makes it quite impossible to find gaps in volume, pitch or timbre, at any velocity. And with regard to the Sympathetic String Resonance, it's an unquestionable plus, that gives a kind of life to samples that are "rigid" by default.

When Ivory I was released, almost all piano players were shouting: "Finally!", and I did too. Ivory I was my first call piano (and Ivory II will now be) when I need perfect, realistic, and perfectly in tune concert pianos that can be easily tailored to various requirements... With Ivory II release, Synthogy reinforces its leading place amongst virtual piano makers, showing a savoir faire that is way more than a skilled assembling of samples.

A complete success.

Pros: Everything

Cons: Nothing