VENICE GRAND D-274
This free wavetable expansion for the GSi Gemini features the sampling of a
gorgeous
Steinway Model D grand piano built in 1972. This 50 years old beauty
was originally ordered by renowned piano player
Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
«He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. According to The New York Times, he was perhaps the most reclusive,
enigmatic and obsessive among the handful of the world's legendary pianists.» (from Wikipedia).
The piano features his own signature inside, right on the frame under the lid, with the date of 1973, the year he selected this piano for his concerts.
This piano is property of italian music shop
Bettin located in Padova, Italy. If you happen to visit the store, ask them about
"il vecchio".
The sampling process took place during the months of August and September 2021 by GSi using a custom piano
sampling robot, built in collaboration with Crumar, that ensures a precise velocity response across the entire keyboard.
Thanks to our custom auto-sampling software that drives the robot, called the
WLF Editor,
the process is fully automated and runs completely unattended. Of course, more than one sampling session was performed, each time trying different microphone positions and combinations, until we found the one that gave us the best results.
The final sampling process took about 7 hours overnight for over 6 GB worth of samples.
The end result is the selection of a total of 570 MB worth of sampled material consisting in 261 stereo samples, with velocity layers ranging from 12 to 8 per key according to the keyboard zone.
Samples are not looped, so the natural decay of the instrument has been preserved, and no EQing nor any other kind of post-processing has been done since the sampled material was so good that didn't need any further adjustment.
The recording has been done using only 4 microphones, two large diaphragm wide-cardioid condenser mikes right above the dampers, plus two small diaphragm condenser mikes positioned at human ears height in front of the open side of the lid.
Once loaded into the Gemini, the GSP-01 sample playback engine adds a layer of
physically modeled resonances that enrich the sound by adding the missing interactions between notes that naturally happen when playing a piano but can't
be reproduced just with samples.
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VERY IMPORTANT:
Before attempting to install this wavetable expansion,
make sure you have the last firmware installed!
