Cinesamples Piano

[Lorriane Nasuti]

Im curious as to what you feel you lost in the import process. Is the net result a better instrument? Any idea why these guys with 8 layers and under don't release for Kronus? any indication if Korg will go to 16 velocity layers? Seems like one of the easier software tweaks they could make as disk and RAM memory increases.

The Kronos does support 16 velocity layers, mono or stereo samples using both oscillators in the Program. It is also possible to use one OSC for normal sustain notes and the other for release samples or pedal down samples, so it's quite capable. And you could always create a 16 vel layer piano as one program and the pedal down samples in another, brought together in a Combi. With Set List, switching between the modes is transparent.

As far as what you lose, if there's scripting, that's not reproducible though somethings can be emulated. Release samples (keyoff) are a bit problematic in that they really need to have their amplitude based on how long the note is held, which they don't do. In general, I don't use release samples because of this. The important thing is you do get the full sound with no real compromises.

Now that's funny! I hope to finish downloading the samples tonight and do look forward to running them through my particle separator. Where's my white lab coat? Probably on the hanger next to my powder blue tuxedo and the ruffled shirt.

The company still produces unique content though, and Abbey Road Classic Upright Pianos fits that description. Running in Kontakt or Kontakt Player, it uses 17GB of sample content and can be used as a standalone instrument or as a plug-in inside any major DAW.

There are two pianos but three main patches : Challen, Challen Tack and Mrs Mills. The interface is pleasing to the eye and reminiscent of a vintage recording console, with all the major controls on a single screen. For any of the three models you get three mixes and these are represented by the three sliders in the centre of the display.

To the left are three further dials, the first of which is Sample Start and which lets you alter the amount of attack in the notes by setting how quickly or how late into the sample the sound begins. Set low, you get very attack-heavy notes, and set higher, a softer effect.

These are, after all, vintage instruments. In the centre, a velocity curve readout can be manually adjusted by dragging with the mouse to change velocity responsiveness, and there are presets available.

Within Kontakt, the instrument's content is split between 22 interfaces. Sixteen of these represent the Hollywood sessions, five are from the MGM recordings (Mute, Nail, Bell, Strum and Knock), and one is a sine wave and pink noise generator which can be used to fortify the piano sounds. The library also provides 10 Multi interfaces which combine some of the prepared techniques with a sine wave from the generator.

All of the interfaces offer a choice of mic setups comprising three separate close-mic options, a room configuration and a preset mix called Full. Any or all of them can be selected and it's also possible to mess with their phase, stereo width, pan position and volume level; to swap left and right channels, and change reverb send amount and pre/post assignment. Furthermore, each mic option has its own panel of EQ controls, so creating a custom sound mix is easy to do.

It's pretty common for virtual instruments to include a rack of effects, but a menu of reverb types is the only thing of that kind that RPP has to offer. In this instance, however, it could be argued that because the piano has been 'prepared', effects processing isn't strictly necessary.

The pianos themselves are very controlled, responsive and clean. Despite their modifications they still sound more like pianos (or at least keyboard instruments), than crazy effects, and in that respect they differ from the ambient soundscapes that some score libraries offer as patches. To provide some examples, the Metal Bar patch is quite like a slightly detuned harpsichord; Putty Harmonics has a touch of marimba about it, and Finger Mute is like an electric piano.

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The studio where the recording sessions took place had already hosted its last proper recording date, but Cinesamples discovered that the piano in the corner - a Steinway Model D - originally came from the legendary CBS 30th Street Studio, along with a pair of Neumann M49 mics - the same kit that was used on the Miles Davis classic, Kind Of Blue.

All controls for Piano In Blue are accessed from one, pleasantly retro-looking interface. The most important of these allow you to enable and adjust the relative levels of the three different mic positions - two Neumann M49s near the lid of the piano, two B&K 4007s at its tail and two Sennheiser MKH20s at a distance.

Flicking another switch enables you to select similar mic positions, but this time recorded to a Studer A800 MkIII 24-track tape machine, and with adjustable tape noise level. Pedal Noise level is also provided as a dedicated control.

A very welcome extra is the provision of a series of impulses taken from Bricasti's fantastic M7 reverb hardware and this helps make Piano In Blue very self-contained in sonic terms. While the recording doesn't capture the actual sound of the original CBS studios, Clinton Recording Studio's main room is very highly regarded in its own right.

The option of using the 'to tape' version is a real bonus, though it does come with a dose of audible saturation distortion during more strident playing. However, this for many will be part of its appeal, and make Cinesamples' creation a bit less 'sensible' than a number of its peers, providing real warmth and heaps of 'vibe' when required.

CinePiano, like CineHarps, includes a new Perspective Mode feature that allows for changes through microphone positions. When you activate Perspective Mode, a slider appears that gives a smooth crossfade between the microphone perspectives. The slider is automatically mapped to the Mod Wheel, giving instant control of the relative depth of CinePiano.

Cinesamples added a new feature called Pedal Behavior to CinePiano. When you play a note on a real grand piano with the sustain pedal down, quickly releasing and depressing the sustain pedal does not allow the dampers enough time to stop the strings from vibrating completely. CinePiano effectively models this behavior for a much more lifelike performance.

The Character knob acts as a macro knob, controlling multiple parameters at once. This can be used to change the play style from intimate to aggressive and everything in-between. When set to intimate, the velocities are biased towards the lower dynamics, with a low dynamic range (see Dynamic Range Knob below).

The Soundboard feature emulates the sympathetic resonances of the soundboard and other strings. This effect is only active when the sustain pedal is down and can be turned off by pressing the power button.

The Dynamic Range knob acts a bit like a MIDI-controlled compressor. This knob doesn't impact the velocities, but instead changes the actual volume of each note. A low value reduces the volume difference between the softest and loudest dynamics, and a high value increases the difference.

The RR Borrowing knob employs surrounding notes as additional round robins. A value of 6 results in up to +/- a tritone of borrowing providing up to an additional 12 round robins per note. A value of zero only plays one round robin per dynamic level. Higher values result in more round robins and more tonal variation. The default value is 0.

The Velocity Curve control can be used to dial in exactly the dynamic you are looking for. Bias Forte makes it easier to play louder dynamics, and Bias Piano makes it easier to play soft dynamics. Linear allows the velocities to pass through unaffected. The Velocity Curve control can also be used to compensate for a MIDI keyboard with an undesirably hard or soft action. You can custom-draw a velocity curve by clicking and dragging with the mouse.

Concentrating on the lower range, they sampled sustains and staccatos on the two house grand pianos to enrich your mock-ups and add unique character and detail to low-end passages. Kontakt Full v5.3.1 or higher required (The free Kontakt Player is not supported).

We were provided a unique opportunity to preserve an important piece of musical history in its final days. Word had come to us that the historic Clinton Recording Studios in midtown Manhattan was forever closing its doors, destined to be transformed into a modern condominium complex.

In 1981 Columbia closed its doors and this piano was brought to Clinton. In addition to the grand two of the original Columbia Nuemann U49 microphones made the journey also. These were two of the five (or six) microphones originally used on the Kind of Blue date. We were fortunate enough to sample this special grand using these two original microphones.

Many thanks to regular contributors Shannon McDowell, Medway Studios, ThaLoops, Richard Hasiba, blortblort, Triple Spiral Audio , Wolfgang Gaube, Sounds2Inspire, Tonedeff, ModeAudio, Jonathan Litten, George Napier, Biswadeep Ray, Yonatan, Reynn, IzOhm, and HLplanet for supporting Rekkerd!

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