EastWest introduces Quantum Leap Pianos ($495), a detailed collection of the world’s finest grand pianos. These include a $225,000 Bechstein D-280 Concert Grand, the same kind of piano engineer/producer Ken Scott used to record Elton John, David Bowie and Supertramp. EastWest invited Scott to engineer the close-miked Bechstein recordings to provide users with a cutting, dynamic pop-rock piano sound in addition to the other piano sounds included in the collection. Other pianos featured in the library include a Steinway D Concert Grand, a Bösendorfer 290 Concert Grand and a Yamaha C7.
The library was recorded at EastWest Studios—formerly Cello Studios and site of the legendary United-Western Studios in Hollywood—with three user controllable microphone positions for each piano. Every sample was recorded in a proper piano environment with vintage Neumann microphones, a vintage Neve 8078 console and Meitner analog-to-digital converters.
The Quantum Leap Pianos library offers 270 GB of content recorded at 24-bit/44.1kHz resolution. According to EastWest, using lossless compression, the instruments, if all installed, occupy 140 GB of hard disk space.
Users can install one, two, three or all four pianos on a computer’s hard drive. Three microphone positions are included per piano. Ten to 16 velocities are offered per note (and again in soft pedal, sustain pedal and soft sustain) and every piano offers 16 distinct staccato velocities.
Repetition samples are taken from 180bpm performances for a true repetition sound and are not simply an alternate take. EastWest states that the software detects true repetitions. Pedal resonance was recorded for every note at multiple velocities, as well as with the soft pedal down. Proprietary resonance was captured on the Bösendorfer.
True multi-velocity soft-pedal samples with and without sustain pedal are also included, as well as release samples with software envelope follower.
For more information, visit www.soundsonline.com.
