Note that these aren’t just EQ tricks to make the same instrument sound softer or brighter. Have a listen to just four of the 28 C7 variants: “Grand Piano”, “Cinematic” and “Rock” and “Rich Ballad”: Oh yes, that “Rock” C7 is going to be a favorite, I thought. Then I turned the “Color” knob clockwise, and out popped a brash, in-yer-face rock ‘n roll monster. But when I pulled up the “Rock” variant, the bottom end that had been somewhat muted in the “Grand” and “Cinematic” models popped out. In fact, the tone is uniformly rich all across the entire 88-note range, although I initially felt the low end could be a little brighter at higher velocities.
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It’ll make you glad you opted for a full 88-key controller. The first thing that impressed me about Keyscape’s C7 was how mellifluous the highest octaves are. Some sound fine in the middle but lack complexity in the low notes or have high notes that turn into dull “plinks”. Whenever I try out a new piano library (sorry, Spectrasonics), I first listen to the lowest and highest octaves, as it’s in those extremes where many sampled pianos’ weaknesses are exposed. In fact, the only commonality among them is that they all have keys. One could argue (as Spectrasonics vigorously does) that Keyscape shouldn’t even be called a “piano library”, because only three of its many instruments are actually acoustic pianos. Like Trilian, Keyscape offers a surprisingly broad array of instruments. In truth, the breadth of instruments does not equal Trilian’s, but it’s not an entirely unfounded comparison. Some are saying Spectrasonics has done for keyboards what Trilian did for basses – an all-in-one solution. Keyscape seems to have something for every piano application. Soft, hard, dry, airy, compressed, lo-fi, and spacey treatments that turn one instrument into 21 – not counting stacked variants such as the C7 layered with an electric harpsichord, upright piano or electronic pianos. And there are so many variations on the C7 theme in Keyscape that you’d hardly know they were all based on the same instrument. But to be fair, this particular C7 has been highly customized by its owner, a master piano technician. I was somewhat reassured to find that the featured instrument is a not-so-exotic Yamaha C7, second only to the Steinway D as the world’s most-sampled acoustic piano. Afraid that it might be too eclectic for my tastes, I wanted to make sure it included some bread ‘n butter instruments along with the more exotic offerings. We also got to see the list of instruments included in this bundle.Īnd what an eclectic list it is, made up of vintage classics, modern classics, rarities, and everyday workhorse keyboards. We learned that the library had been ten years in the making.
Then the videos started popping up and we got to hear Keyscape for the first time. The virtual instrument world was and is awash with pianos. It seems as though every piano ever made has already been sampled. Bundled pianos in Sampletank and in the Kontakt factory content. Cheap high-quality pianos from the likes of Sampletekk. We’ve already got terabytes of Kontakt-based pianos! We’ve got Ivory, long considered the last word in sampled acoustic grand pianos. Pianos? We don’t need no stinking pianos, they said. What nobody saw coming was a collection of keyboard instruments.Īnd frankly, once the new product was revealed, there was a lot of disappointment expressed on the forums. Others imagined orchestral, vocal or percussion instruments. Fans of Stylus RMX hoped it was Stylus 2.
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Online music software forums lit up with speculation as to what the new instrument might be.
So despite the cheesy teaser, genuine buzz did indeed follow. A company that introduces a new instrument on average only once every four years.
A company that at the time only had three products on offer, all of them highly-regarded top-tier virtual instruments. This was the initial Facebook clue that tipped us off that something was coming.Īlthough an over-used and rarely-effective advertising ruse, this particular non-announcement still made me sit up and take notice. The teaser came in late August and caught most of us by surprise: OK, you know it’s probably going to be good, it’s from Spectrasonics! But you’ve already got gigabytes of piano libraries on your disk so do you really need another one? Find out here.