re: compare Synthoghy Ivory with East West Pianos
Ivory pianos sound great, but I choose to use them almost exclusively because they feel much, much better than the East West Pianos.
East West Pianos for some applications do sound far better than the Ivory pianos, but you have to use the full versions of the pianos to realize the superiority. Otherwise they kind of get that Kurzweil out-of phase sound. However, they still feel clunky to play compared to the feathery Ivory feel.
i.e. I don't think it would be possible to do a piano track on any other piano plug-in - and then have it played (even close to the original performance) on the East West Pianos. (I use a Yamaha Motif.)
They have only a few adjustments you can make, so I'm fairly sure it's not operator error. They seem to need to have a better pianist doing the programming.
The East West sounds are amazing, but I hope they upgrade the playability of the Plug-in.
I would still recommend buying it. It's quite an amazing product.
They also have a 50% deal every once in a while on it.