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Concert
Grand Pianos
To take full advantage of these types of
sound libraries, it is recommended that you have at least 32 megabytes
of RAM in your sampler. Of course, the more RAM and polyphony you
have, the better.
About these Grand Pianos
We chose two outstanding Yamaha grand pianos for this project, a
model C7 and a CFIIIs. The Yamaha C7 is a seven foot concert grand
recorded in the "piano room" of a top-notch recording
studio. The Yamaha CFIIIs is a nine foot concert grand recorded
in a concert hall type sound stage used for recording film soundtracks
and classical music. We refer to the CFIIIs as a "C9"
for simplicity in sample program naming. Both pianos have distinctly
different qualities from each other as well as from other pianos.
We chose the Yamaha pianos because they are very versatile for different
styles of music from classical to pop and jazz. Also, their consistency
of tone and rich sustain make them ideal for use in a sampler. Thus,
even the smaller sized versions still sound great, which is rare
for a piano library. Two separate stereo dynamic levels as well
as sustain pedal down samples are presented on this disc in various
megabyte size configurations to suit the available RAM in your sampler(s)
at any given moment. Pianos of sizes 8 to 128 megs or more can be
loaded provided your sampler has the RAM to handle it.
These pianos will actually respond differently depending on which
keyboard controller you are using. You may need to make adjustments
in your keyboard's response curves, or even your choice of keyboard.
Of course, 88 weighted keys is recommended whenever possible for
the most realistic piano-like response. Adjustments can also be
made in your sampler for volume, dynamics and other settings. Some
variations have already been made and you can select from available
bright or dark versions. But, since there are so many possibilities
in response to specific keyboard set-ups, some of the fine tuning
of dynamics and tone is up to you. Consult your sampler's owner's
manual for more options in customizing the programs. You can often
save your program tweaks to a floppy which can be loaded after each
time you load the corresponding piano from this CD-ROM. Or, you
may save your program edits along with the samples to a hard drive.
Stereo vs. Mono versions and Flat
vs. EQ
These pianos where miked to sound great in stereo. When at all possible,
use the stereo versions with two channels panned hard left and hard
right to achieve the quality intended. (Although there are a few
mono version programs for convenience, they are significantly less
representative of the quality we were after and therefore not abundant
on this library.) These pianos were also recorded with a minimum
of processing leaving open the flexibility of using external processing
like compression, EQ, reverb and so on. The same processing one
would do when mixing a real piano within a piece of music could
apply here as well. If you like the way these pianos sound relatively
flat (as they are), then less external processing will help keep
your stereo separation and piano sound pure.
Note from the producer
Hey, you have at least 32 megs in your sampler, right? One of my
favorite pianos to use is the 30 meg C7 with sustain pedal down
(on the Akai, Partition: F/Volume 1). Try loading that one up and
see what you think. The 16 meg version in the next volume is also
nice if you have less available RAM. Even the 8 meg version is good
to use if you want a quick piano to load or if you have serious
memory limitations. The forte dynamic loads are great when you need
to "cut through" and the mezzo-forte loads are nice for
a darker, rounder tone. The two dynamic cross-switching versions
are great when you need a wider response between soft and dark to
bright and aggressive tones. There are programs with smooth dynamic
transitions and some that are more distinctively switched. So, use
your ears and pick out the ones that sound and play well for you.
When creating a top-notch sample CD, it's important to start off
with a really good instrument. The Yamaha C7 lives in a popular
Los Angeles studio and is a favorite of many well known recording
artists. For the recording, we used three different stereo miking
setups with Neuman and AKG mics, and three different stereo mic
preamps, API, Neve and Focusrite. Then, we blindly picked the best
sounding combination to create the sound. The result is a bright
and punchy stereo grand which I happen to like a lot.
We had the opportunity to sample the CFIIIs nine foot grand immediately
after an orchestral session for a very famous soundtrack (sorry
we can't say which one). We just left everything as it was, including
the mic setup and mix, and went straight to tape with it. At the
very end of the CD-ROM you can load the sound of my finishing the
last session and walking back into the control room through the
rather large hall. We included this program just for fun.
So, between the two pianos and the various RAM sizes, dynamics and
sustain pedal samples, you have a wide selection to choose from.
Selecting the right piano for you is subjective. We worked hard
to make these pianos sound as good as possible, no matter what size
you are using, and were very particular in the selection of multisamples
and program parameters. You may also notice that the sustain depth
and length is better than on most sampled pianos. We had our editing
staff re-do the loops three times to get it right, and ended up
using some very exclusive, proprietary DSP software and hardware
to do the job.
If you don't happen to have a seven foot grand in your living room
(or even if you do), I hope you'll enjoy this virtual re-creation
of these instruments as much as I do.
Thanks,
Dave Kerzner
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