PROS
Very affordable. Incredibly CPU-friendly. Sound quality rivals most hardware digital pianos. Built-in MIDI recorder in standalone mode can mix straight to various audio formats.
CONS
No Mac version yet. No sostenuto at this time.
INFO
$68.95 download; $79.95 boxed,
acoustica.com
NEED TO KNOW
What piano was sampled? A Steinway D concert grand.
Do I need a fast computer? Pianissimo is kind to even average systems. On a dual-core PC running at 2GHz or higher, expect ten percent CPU usage or less!
Plug-in formats: VST, standalone mode.
Who’s it for? Anyone who wants a premium piano sound to sit in their mixes, but is leery of the CPU and wallet drain of the big-name libraries.
For computer-based musicians on the eternal quest for better software pianos, Acoustica offers Pianissimo for Windows. At $79, it’s priced lower than most dedicated piano software. It wasn’t shipping when we did our “Ultimate Software Pianos” roundup in Oct. ’08, but now that it’s here, let’s see if it competes with the big boys.
The heart of Pianissimo is 250MB of sampled Steinway D. Pianissimo reportedly uses four different samples to cover the various velocity levels on each key.
The sound is enhanced by samples of mechanical sounds (such as the hammers and damper pedal) and by modeling of the sympathetic resonance between strings. Reverb presets range from subtle to cavernous.
Change the lid position, and you can see it in the piano graphic onscreen. Below this image are sliders for hammer noise, reverb (with a drop-down menu of types), and master volume, plus a Tone Controls button that opens up a smaller window with velocity curves, sympathetic resonance, chorus amount, and a three-band EQ. In standalone mode, a big bonus is a simple MIDI recorder that’ll actually generate a stereo audio file of your recording in your choice of formats: MP3, WAV, WMA, or Ogg Vorbis.
How does the sound fare against the competition? That’s tricky, as it’s hard to tell just who the competition is. To my ears, the sound is superior to much of the current crop of hardware digital pianos. It cost less than any product in our Oct. ’08 roundup, and hundreds less than some of them. Yet it easily gets into the conversation as a viable option. What’s more — and this could well be Pianissimo’s key appeal — is that it’s remarkably CPU-efficient. If your computer has to run a DAW with other instrument and effect plug-ins simultaneously, Pianissimo shines: You’ll likely get a far better piano track than by recording your stage piano or loading a generic piano preset in a soft sampler, and at such small CPU cost that you won’t have to turn up the latency.
Software this lean and mean is bound to have limitations. Classical pianists will miss the lack of sostenuto pedal support, and the soft pedal merely makes the velocity curve harder so you get lower volume — it doesn’t switch to a set of soft-pedal samples like in pricier software pianos. Likewise, lid position is a simple tone control that doesn’t change the sample set. Of course, additional sample sets would mean a higher price and higher CPU demands. With that in mind, Pianissimo is an ideal option for those of us whose music PCs are already dealing with a multitude of tasks, but still want piano tracks that stand up to critical listening.
Audio Examples
1. TBPianissimoEnemy: Ballad improv using Pianissimo's "Concert Grand" preset.
2. TBPianissimoMovie: Upper register with restrikes; "Cathedral" reverb setting.
3. TBPianissimoRock: Rock piano, adding more hammer sounds.
All recordings (c) Tom Brislin, used with permission. tombrislin.com
About the Audio Examples
The
first is in an improvised ballad style, over my
composition "Enemy". The sound here is the first Pianissimo preset
(Concert Grand Piano). I used the "very heavy" velocity curve to get
the most dynamic response. I've left the EQ untouched on this and the
other two audio examples. There is a bit of hall reverb on this one.
If you listen closely, you can hear the pedal mechanical sounds. You
can adjust the amount of pedal noise to taste.
The
second audio clip is an atonal figure which showcases the upper
register of pianissimo. Rapid restrikes were smooth and percussive. I
used the more extreme "Cathedral" reverb setting to showcase the sonic
diversity in Pianissimo.
The
third audio example is a bit of rock piano. I used Pianissimo's
built-in MIDI recorder that you'll find in standalone mode. One
feature of the recorder is the ability to record left- and right-hand
parts in separate takes, which is what I did here. Any sustain pedal
use by either take will affect both parts, as if you were playing them
together