NEED TO KNOW (Click image for larger version.)
What pianos are in it? “Modern” is a new Yamaha U5, “Vintage” is a 1914 A. M. Hume, “Barroom” is a 1915 Packard, and “Tack Piano” has metal tacks in the hammer felts. (Click piano names for audio examples!)
Do I need a fast computer? On Mac or PC, you need a 7200rpm or faster hard drive and at least 1GB of RAM. See synthogy.com for detailed system and OS requirements.
Plug-in formats: AU, RTAS, VST, and standalone mode.
Why sample an upright instead of a grand? Uprights often have more character and “period” vibe. Think speakeasies, ragtime, vintage jazz, or rocking out on the only piano your school didn’t keep locked.
Do I need the original Ivory to use this? Nope — Ivory Uprights stands on its own as a virtual instrument.
PROS
Totally authentic upright pianos. Distinct personalities of vintage and current models. Lots of editing flexibility.
CONS
Required iLok key is not included - it must be purchased separately, or you can add the license to one you already have.
INFO
$299 list/approx. $279 street, synthogy.com
Synthogy Ivory raised the bar for high-quality sampled grand pianos. Ivory Upright Pianos is an equally ambitious sequel, weighing in at roughly 50GB with over 5,000 samples and up to ten velocity layers.
Ivory Uprights fills a great void in the high-end sampled piano world. In the past, I’ve slapped EQ and effects on grand piano sounds to emulate uprights, but that only goes so far. Bass strings are shorter and thicker on an upright, requiring a greater degree of “stretch” tuning, as well as producing more inharmonicity and faster decay of high harmonics. The soundboard of an upright is also smaller and the iron frame is lighter, creating a different tonal character. These aren’t characteristics you can easily duplicate with effects.
The four uprights on hand (see “Need To Know” above) give you a high degree of variety, which is only increased by the excellent sculpting abilities in the Ivory interface and included presets. Read this review at keyboardmag.com for info on the new “Creaks & Clunks” (piano noises) layers and the upright soundboard models.
I liked the “Modern” Yamaha best for most uses. It’s fun to play, and like many Yamaha upright and grand pianos, its bright, dynamic sound sits well in pop and rock mixes. However, it also has less character than the other models, which are just right for less run-of-the-mill circumstances. The 1915 Packard model was custom-detuned just enough to create an authentic barroom sound, but not so much as to sound like a “honky tonk” ROMpler preset. The tack piano is less detuned, but equally loaded with personality, brighter than the Packard, and just the thing for scoring gritty film cues. The 1914 Hume (which is not detuned) offers another vintage flavor — warmer than the Yamaha, but less like a grand in sound. Next to the Yamaha, I’d be most likely to use this piano. In some rock contexts, I like it even better, as it’s perfect for lending instant indie attitude to a song — think Ben Folds or Coldplay before they got huge.
While it’s hard to argue that everyone needs a premium virtual upright the way everyone needs a good virtual grand, it is about time a developer put the care into the former that we’ve come to expect from the latter. If any of your piano tracks have wanted for a certain intimacy and grit that your grands haven’t quite delivered, Ivory Uprights should be your first listen.
Web-Only Supplemental Info
PRESETS AND KEYSETS
Each sampled piano has up to 20 programs, which feature up to 10 keysets and 10 velocity levels. The keyset level allows you to select how many samples you wish to load. You can choose between four, six, and eight velocity level keysets for each piano, and up to ten for the “Modern” and “Vintage” uprights. Most keysets come in two versions: one optimized for normal playing and another with alternate velocity switch points that favor soft dynamics. There are also keysets that contain just the five hardest dynamic levels, and others that have just the five softest.
CREAKS & CLUNKS
All of the programs incorporate the usual Ivory plug-in features, but there are two new additional options that are unique to the Ivory Upright Pianos release — the Creaks & Clunks layer and Custom Upright Soundboard Emulation DSP.
There are two Creaks & Clunks keysets. They’re found in the Synth Keyset area, which is also where you’d add a string or pad layer to your piano sound. The first, called simply “Creaks & Clunks,” has all of the noises that were recorded from the pianos — one mapped to each key. This keyset was programmed to let you choose which sounds to add, by selecting “No Piano Keyset” and playing the noises on a separate overdub track. You can also use “Creaks & Clunks” as part of any piano preset, but when you do, it produces more noises than are realistic.
That’s why the alternate keyset, “Random Creaks & Clunks,” was created with live performance in mind. In this case, each incoming note message gets randomly assigned a noise, or no noise at all, leaving space in the mix. Noises are also randomly delayed, so that not all noises will occur exactly when you strike a key. The effect is often like sitting at a creaky old upright while you play. Sometimes, it added to the realism for me; at others, I found it distracting unless I dialed its volume way back. While it adds to the fun factor of playing Ivory live, I’d selectively overdub “Creaks & Clunks” — rather than layer “Random Creaks & Clunks” with a piano keyset — for any serious recording. That’s how Synthogy intends these keysets to be used.
NEW SOUNDBOARD MODELS
The new Custom Upright Soundboard Emulation DSP adds to Ivory’s Sustain Resonance options. It consists of five new upright models — ranging from clean to resonant — that simulate resonance created by the soundboard and harp when the sustain pedal is pressed and the dampers are lifted off of the strings. While the DSP certainly adds realism, you can alternately use the original Ivory soundboard models (i.e. soundboards of grand pianos) with Ivory Upright Pianos for a bigger-than-life effect.
Visit author Geoff Grace's site here.