Piano Ensemble

One Hall. Four Pianos.

We brought an array of four Grand Pianos into our favorite modern orchestral hall and sampled them all together. The sound of the ensemble is unlike anything else - spacious, airy, ethereal, and human. A solo piano can sound beautiful, profound, intimate, but something really unique happens when you get a group of top-notch pianos and pianists playing together. It’s a whole new kind of warmth and texture, with a wider and smoother timbre.

The Piano ensemble includes 3 microphones (close, decca, and wide) along with special effects recorded by the ensemble and custom synths created with the samples. With 127 dynamic velocity layers, Soundpaint offers the ultimate in expressive playing. From the normal sustains to the plucked piano strings… from the soft, ethereal tremolos to the harsh, sharp clusters, there are no limits to the colors and textures the piano ensemble can create.

Get started instantly with the preset programs. Quickly load the mics of your choice and dial in the perfect mix in the main programs. Dive into the parts to isolate the sound you need, or create something new.

The Close microphone array has the most definition, although it does not sound like a regular close mic in a normal piano library. There is still a lot of space, and the humanity of the musicians with their slight imperfections comes through beautifully. In contrast, the wide microphones have much less definition, but present the sound of the ensemble ringing through the hall in a a glorious, deep cloud of sound. The decca (tree) microphones provide a good balance - not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

The Piano Ensemble also includes specially-sampled staccatos to give a more realistic edge to short notes. We had the 4 pianos pluck the strings, creating perhaps the only epic harpsichord-like sound ever… It can actually sound pretty creepy, especially with the natural human imprecision and variation of having 4 musicians trying to lean into the soundboard and play in unison (we should’ve got more pictures of that!).

The Tremolo is also haunting and beautiful. The musicians repeated the note at random, slow intervals. It creates a sustaining sound far beyond what a piano is usually capable of, soft and ethereal. The four person clusters are great for jump scares, impacts, obscure rhythms, and even sound design. We recorded them long and short - if you slow down the long clusters in the TIME rack module, you may be surprised what you can make.

The glissandos, long and short, up and down, were played inside the piano, plucking across the strings themselves. Alone, a glissando on strings can be really beautiful, but with 4 pianos, it sounds colossal. The waves of glissandos can crash down with great weight, and you can quickly create a harsh, even overwhelming sonic sphere. The rhythmic banging brings even more mayhem, but you can control the chaos with TIME.

The custom synths created from the sounds of the piano ensemble cover a huge range of timbre, from the post-apocalyptic sound of Ashes to the mystical Cathedriano. Hear the piano morph into a lush soundscape with Grand City, or morph it manually in Soundpaint with the Touch of An Angel. Ring out the piano strings into eternity with Momentia, and pull the attacks even longer in Dark Space. Or, go really far out with Vanjealous! These custom synths sound great on their own, and they can be used to add definition, space, sustain, or otherworldly qualities to the regular ensemble (as regular as a 4-piano ensemble can be).

We have experimented with unique instruments and larger-than-life ensembles many times. Experiments like this lead to all kinds of possibilities and even more inspiration. 4 pianos may not sound so large, but it really is a unique sound. It’s less intimate than a solo piano, but there is a rich impreciseness to the ensemble. It does not necessarily sound stronger than a solo piano, but it sounds deeper. It is hard to describe, so we hope you will take a listen for yourself! Plus, getting that many pianos in the same room is a very rare opportunity. Fun sessions like this are one of the joys of modern music and technology, and we know you will feel that passion when you play the Piano Ensemble, too!

Soundpaint is a new-generation sample engine that brings you closer than ever to the instruments with new sound morphing technology and infinite dynamic layers. With a slew of internal effects and simple organization, Soundpaint makes it easy to combine and create brand new sounds - instantly. It runs in all DAWs and supports all major plugin formats (VST, VST3, AU, AAX).

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