What's your staple piano sound?

Hey guys,
Just thought it would be interesting to discuss an instrument which is very integral to a lot of our tracks.
Whether you use sampled or the real thing, interesting either way!

I’ll start, I tend to go straight in with Native Instruments ‘Alecia’s Keys’. Very classy/classic sounding piano.
I’ll then layer in Spitfire Audio’s felt piano, for a bit of warmth/dirt/goodness.

Isaac

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Only one is never enough is it? :))
The world we live in: always wanting more because we can…

I always use “Upright Piano” from NI Complete. I always use the Piano with Overtones patch and drop the velocity by -30 in Cubase as this is a very warm sound to me.

2 piano tracks is just the tip of the ice burg :grin:

Perhaps we need a thread just to talk about layering, but that could go on far too long!

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Nothing better than an upright playing softly! I used to use NI’s Upright all the time, I now use ‘The Gentleman’ which I think is just the updated version tbh.

Me too! I love the clean crisp sound of Alicia’s Keys, though I had to work a bit on the eq, reverb to get what I wanted and for a down and dirty / up close and personal piano I use Imperfect Sample’s Braunschweig Upright Piano.

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My first “go to” piano library for a long time is “Giant”. But very often I’m replacing it during the production :grinning:
Actually, NI “Definite Piano Collection” is great!
I don’t have Felt piano library, just a small patch from the “Labs” range, but it’s really great!
And I agree about NI “Upright piano” - it’s really cool! I guess, NI replaced it with “Gentleman”, but I think, that actually good old “Upright piano” has more character.

Yeah agree about the gentleman losing some character! I do find the ‘Giant’ a bit too clinical for me. But I do use it for its crispness in the low end. Works great for aggressive low end hits.

Agree, I just used to sound of “Giant”. Sometimes I use it in orchestral works because of it’s bright low and high registers.
Now I’m saving money for “Olafur Arnalds Composers Toolkit”. Piano there is gorgeous :innocent:

YES, I’d love that. I’m a massive fan of his so I’m literally obsessed with the stuff they’re doing with him. :heart_eyes:

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Yes, I love his music too! I had a discount during spring sale, but I didn’t have enough money at the moment. :pensive:But I’ll buy this library anyway, sooner or later :blush:

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I mainly use Cinesamples Piano in Blue, especially for jazz tracks. I also use Alicias Keys for more neutral sound and Imperfect Samples Braunschweig upright for even more character.

I use mostly Alicia Keys and the Grandeur.
Really love Alicia Keys. Blends well with other instruments

I use both Ivory and VI Labs Ravenscroft 275. It all comes down to what you want them for but I find the NI stuff just doesn’t cut it when you want something to actually sound like a piano. They are ok if you’re after a piano sounding instrument to bury in a mix but if you’re interested in solo piano stuff definitely take a peek at the Ravenscroft (it’s beautiful) or Ivory’s American Concert D.

Alicias Keys for me. I probably use these for 70% of my piano parts. Very diverse range of sounds. It may seem like an obvious thing to say but a sustain pedal is pretty vital for a realistic sound.

I use Eastwest’s Pianos. Normally the Steinway as it’s the most well-rounded, but the Yamaha is great for pop and the Bosendorfer has some awesome lower end. The only thing I find is that the mid range is often a bit muddy.

EZkeys not mentioned? It sounds great at least to me,and it has so much ready made patterns,also not huge RAM-wise

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I know that not many knows ‘Gran Coda’ Piano By Sampleism But I really recommend it, especially for cinematic music.
I use it a lot, Here is my demo for it :

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Sping ?! ?!?!?! :slight_smile:

I dig Alicia’s keys, but I find myself often going for NI’s New York Concert Grand, it seems to reveal itself nicely in my mixes.