Publisher : Production Voices
Format : Kontakt (5.8.1+)
Quality : Stereo/mono 96 kHz 24 bits
Description : Concert grand piano
Concert Grand is a premium 658GB (before lossless compression) 9-mic piano sample library sampled from the Steinway D New York 9′ Concert Grand piano and created for the full version of Kontakt (Kontakt Player is not supported).
If you listen to iconic classical or jazz piano recordings, it was most likely a Steinway D, the legendary king of the concert stage. For decades, performers have sought out the warmth and grandeur of the Steinway sound. This is in stark contrast to the bright pop pianos found in many recording studios. They are elegant and refined. Every engineer has their own approach to recording such a large instrument, and every musician wants to hear different aspects of the sound. That’s why all nine microphones are so important in the Concert Grand . You can choose different tones using the microphone arrangements that have been tried and tested by sound engineers for centuries.
Concert Grand gives you control over the sound in a way that no other piano library has ever had before. The ambisonics channel is a leap forward in terms of library flexibility. Concert Grand features everything that Steinway has to offer, including all of its overtones that are louder than most mechanical noises. We haven’t eliminated the imperfections – we’ve allowed them to contribute to the authentic sound of a grand piano.
Concert Grand is available in three variants: Concert Grand LE , Concert Grand Gold and the high-quality Concert Grand Platinum 96 kHz 24-bit to create a complete virtual sample library from the highest quality to fast-loading 44.1 kHz 16-bit samples, great for live performances, scoring, album recording, rehearsals and more.
Ambisonic 3D Sound
The ambisonics channel delivers a full 3D sound of a grand piano, allowing users to change the direction of the sound in any 360° spherical range up, down, left or right. The virtual microphone can be aimed at the piano, the room or anywhere in between. The ambisonics channel was recorded using a Soundfield microphone. Ambisonics is the most flexible audio format, allowing you to use just one microphone for 5.1 surround sound and beyond! The ambisonics output can be routed from your DAW for external processing using plugins such as Harpex and SurroundZone2.
Film and game composers, as well as sound designers, will appreciate the ability to bring piano sounds into virtual reality worlds with full ambisonics or surround sound, with very little effort compared to traditional sample libraries.
Premium Microphone Set
The choice and placement of microphones has a significant impact on the quality of your recording. Sound engineers around the world rely on the sound quality and timbre of standards like the U87 and 4006 microphones. B&K (now DPA) 4006 microphones are used in classic recordings for their realistic, linear sound. The Concert Grand sampling path represents the best of the best, from microphones to preamps and converters. That’s a bold claim, but it rings true in the Concert Grand . The 96 kHz sampling rate provides a clean, clear sound that contributes to high sound quality when using multiple microphones and multiple notes of polyphony.
• B&K 4006 – hammers
• Neumann U87 – inside
• Neumann M149 – outside
• Neumann U47 – outside mono
• Soundfield MK V – cover
• Crown SASS MKII – player position
• RCA 77 – under piano
• Royer SF24 – room
• AKG 414 – room
A studio mixer with 9 mic positions is impressive in itself, but the way Concert Grand handles this solution makes you feel like you’re in the engineer’s chair when you’re not on the bench. The mixer is a full SSL emulation with simulated SSL EQ and compression on each channel. Get the same control as if a piano was being recorded on different tracks in a recording studio. The Concert Grand mixer gives you studio album quality.
• Pan on each channel
• Solo left or right channels
• Invert stereo image on any channel
• Dedicated pre-fader reverb send per channel
• DAW multi-output send – send any channel to your DAW mixer
• Fully automated parameters
• Channel on/off clears samples to save memory
• Mono can be summed or left or right
• Solo and mute control
The iconic New York
Concert Grand is sampled from a 9′ New York Steinway Model D, made after 2010. The difference between the new and old Model D can be heard in the playing, hammers and overall timbre. Without a doubt, this is a majestic grand piano with all the characteristic sounds you would expect from this model. The timbre is not too harsh or shrill, like some Japanese models, but it still sounds good. The piano has a natural mechanical noise, which gives it an authentic sound. We have not hidden the shortcomings. You get a concert grand piano with all the controls a sound engineer needs to create finished recordings straight from the software!
Individual Presets
Concert Grand has some amazing presets to help you start playing and enjoying the library from the very beginning! These presets were created to sound great in a variety of styles and allow you to choose from 9 microphones.
The Ambisonic section also contains presets covering a variety of virtual microphone positions. There are traditional stereo microphone positions like XY and Blumlein, as well as creative microphone placements that add depth to the sound of a room. There’s a lot to explore in ambisonics inside Kontakt, but there’s much more to explore when using ambisonics in a DAW like Pro Tools or Logic.
The reverb section contains 29 impulse responses, each preset with the desired amount of pre-delay. Plate, studio , and hall reverbs are provided to enhance the piano playing experience. Each mic position also has its own reverb send, so the sound can be shaped based on the microphones you use. Many of the instrument’s presets use the built-in reverb function.
Features :
• 9 mic positions
• Ambisonic 3D sound control
• 658GB of samples before lossless compression
• 96kHz 24-bit native samples with optional 44.1kHz 24/16-bit
• Circular pedal noise repeats with normal and loud settings
• Real-time samples of mechanical keystroke noise
• Sympathetic resonance with on/off and volume control
• Recorded in a premium Toronto studio using a classic Neve console
• High-quality Burl Mothership A/D converters
• Premium API mic preamps
• 20+ pedal-on velocity layers
• 20+ pedal-off velocity layers
• 16 velocity release layers
• Advanced half-pedal control with locking
