Modern times call for a modern virtual piano: Highly detailed and intimate, clean and crisp, a new piano sampled with the finest gear in a modern space, able to shine or blend in as desired. A realistic precise response using any controller, plus sophisticated controls and presets with tweakability rarely seen in a virtual piano. High res graphics, deep sampling and scripting but easy on the system. We're happy to introduce the Modern U, sampled from a brand new popular studio upright piano with a modern approach. It's just an upright you say. Why sample an upright instead of a grand? Prepare to be amazed.
We love uprights too, and the Modern U is sampled and treated with the same level of care and extreme detail as we'd give to the finest concert grand library. Uprights have traditionally been a compromise over the more desirable grands, but for many situations their unique character just can't be beat. The large studio uprights, or 'upright grands', are a perfect balance in qualities of both piano types. With the line blurred between upright and grand, it’s easy to ignore the distinction and simply enjoy this great piano. Crystal clear hammer attacks, six microphones, unique Sordino soft pedal, Muted Strikes, staccato Release Trails, real Resonance and many other features all bring this modern upright to life. If the usual piano tones are too usual and it's time for the unique, the Modern U may be the one. This is truly a pianist's virtual piano.
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Six discrete phase-aligned fully mixable microphones with interactive mic display. Modern mics and gear with diverse perspectives cover every way of recording an upright front and back, close and far.
Real deeply sampled resonance for both pedal down and sympathetic resonance types. Powerful scripting recreates real pedal resonance behavior adding complex depth and sustain to the tone, all fully adustable. Over 23,000 samples composing 55GB of wave data in a small 6GB file. Huge library, small footprint thanks to lossless compression and complex scripting. This also means fast loading and efficient CPU usage. |
Complete control of up to 5 pedals including our new Sordino pedal. Repedal and adjustable Half pedal features included. Sostenuto, Soft pedal, plus Muted Strikes and Sordino all make for a highly expressive piano.
New MIDI panel with unique split controls for both timbre and volume. High resolution discrete tables and controls allow custom curves for any response imaginable. Many presets included, or create your own. 1,400 release samples per mic including staccato releases that respond to the quickest playing, no articulations needed. Release samples capture the resonant ring of the upright piano and are crucial for realism. |
When recording piano in the studio, you want options. Different mic setups are needed to work for any playing style or mix, not limited to one basic tone. While studio grands are normally close/mid-miked lid open from the top, studio uprights opened up sound great miked in front or back. There are varying approaches in miking uprights vs. grands since their designs and projection patterns are different. Our goal was to capture this piano with extreme detail in every mic, all with a modern theme, made available through our mic choices and features.
Six discrete phase-aligned mic setups capture the piano from all perspectives front or back, close or far, with a wide or narrow image, all with a clean high end tone. Select mics from the menu, and the interface updates showing those mics as set up on the real piano. Tones from close and intimate, wide and distant, with warmth or brilliance, all can be acheived with these mics. Load and mix the mics you want in any combination. Every mic is time-corrected so even the distant Room mics have no extra delay; all mics respond and mix incredibly well together. This is the Modern U virtual piano studio.
Pianists are well accustomed to the sympathetic resonances that develop in acoustic pianos and their importance to the sustain and how chords resolve. This binds the separate strings together as one instrument. Sympathetic Resonance is heard in harmonically related keys held down while others are played, and Pedal Resonance occurs as all strings vibrate together when the sustain pedal is down. With the large soundboard and long strings, the resonance effect is strong and adds body and length to the sustain.
Both pedal down and harmonic key pedal up resonances are sample-based and not synthesized in any way. We believe this important part of the piano's tone is best emulated only with samples from all mics. The Modern U features multi-layered resonances for a complex evolving sustained tone. Precisely sampled and scripted for both types of advanced resonance simulations, they respond naturally like the real thing. Resonance amount for both types is adjustable, and Sympathetic Resonance has its own polyphony setting.
One distinct advantage grands have over uprights is their soft, or una corda pedal, which can alter the tone as well as the volume. While the Modern U has a traditional upright-style soft pedal, we've also included our fully sampled Sordino pedal which creates a softer attack and muted tone. This adds another layer of tonal color normally found only on grands. It's really like having two sets of hammers in the same piano you can switch in real time.
Also known as a moderator or celeste, the Sordino pedal places a strip of fabric between the strings and hammers mellowing the tone as if it were a softer hammer. A feature more common in historic pianos, this is not like the heavy felt practice pedal found on many uprights which substantially mutes the tone. The Sordino effect is more similar to the grand's una corda which shifts the action to use a softer part of the hammer with a different voicing. Deeply sampled including its own separate release samples and pedal noises, Sordino can be used in real time in place of the soft pedal or alongside the soft pedal for double expression capability.
