iGrand Piano for iPad is Now Available

[Brian @ IK Multimedia]

A concert-quality piano app for the iPad



IK is pleased to announce the release of iGrand Piano, a concert-quality piano app for iPad that features 17 different world-class sampled pianos.

iGrand Piano offers a virtual gallery of sampled pianos including grands, baby grands, uprights and specialty pianos such as a detuned saloon piano and a vintage gramophone piano. All the pianos were meticulously captured via high-definition sampling across multiple velocities, and offer true-stereo sound, extremely low latency, and a level of playability and expressiveness that's on par with the best sampled pianos on the Mac and Windows platforms. iGrand Piano is the premiere iPad piano app, unparalleled when it comes to sound quality and variety.

IK offers two excellent options for playing and controlling the instruments in iGrand Piano, including iRig® KEYS, a portable 3-octave MIDI controller for iOS and Mac/PC; and iRig® MIDI, its CoreMIDI interface for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Also, registered owners of iRig KEYS or iRig MIDI get to unlock an additional bonus piano inside iGrand Piano instantly.

Features:

• 8 world-class, multi-velocity stereo grand and upright piano instruments (including one that is unlocked by registering the app). You can also unlock an additional bonus piano by registering an iRig KEYS or iRig MIDI
• Free version contains two pianos, but can be upgraded to include all the others
• Expandable library of 9 additional studio-grade instruments instantly available via in-app purchase
• Intuitive instrument edit controls including Ambiance, Lid, Brightness, Release, Tuning and Transpose
• Included MIDI Recorder with overdub capability
• Export performances via E-mail, File Sharing and AudioCopy
• Large visual metronome with variable click volume and adjustable tempo
• Easy-to-use instrument editor with transpose to adjust ambiance, tonality and tuning
• Virtual MIDI and MIDI Program Change support
• Low-latency for real-time playing
• Designed in concert with iRig KEYS portable MIDI keyboard and iRig MIDI interface
• Free version also available

Price and Availability
iGrand Piano is now available at the App Store for the price of $19.99. Purchasers of iGrand Piano get a selection of eight top-quality pianos (including one that's unlocked after registering the app), and can add the other nine through in-app purchase of the Piano Expansion pack. A free version of iGrand Piano is also available, featuring one high-quality grand piano sound, and users have the option to add more pianos to it later.

Download iGrand Piano for iPad from iTunes
Download iGrand Piano FREE for iPad from iTunes

[DrApostropheX]

This looks really cool (AudioCopy -- hooray)!

One question: are the piano instruments the same ones from SampleTank for iOS? Or are these different instruments from Sonic Reality (or whomever) that are not included in SampleTank?

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

This looks really cool (AudioCopy -- hooray)!

One question: are the piano instruments the same ones from SampleTank for iOS? Or are these different instruments from Sonic Reality (or whomever) that are not included in SampleTank?

Thanks! It is nice to get things in the app right out of the gate...

iGrand Piano has many piano instruments. It includes the two main grand pianos from SampleTank iOS but with additional velocity layers and extra samples. In addition, it contains several other grand and upright pianos recorded by IK Multimedia in our studios that are released here for the first time. All instruments use stereo samples and multiple velocities.

[DrApostropheX]

Thank you for that answer. This has just moved into the must-get category for me

[Karmacomposer]

This is on my get this list, along with possibly your new midi keys.

Mike

[iPlogger]

This is pretty exciting. My favorite part of SampleTank has been the Rock Piano. To get a full set of pianos from Grand, Upright, Baby...this is definitely on my 'to-buy' list. I downloaded the FREE version this morning and brought in my portable M-Audio Oxygen 49 to work so I can try this out later today.

There also appears to be some good MIDI integration right from the start, too.

[ObiWonder]

Thanks for all the kind words!

This is on my get this list, along with possibly your new midi keys.

Mike

iGrand Piano + iRig KEYS will be awesome! I'm PSYCHED for iRig KEYS!

[iPlogger]

I don't think I'll get a chance to try this at work. Got some fun stuff I'm working on and a meeting in an hour.

What is the polyphony? SampleTank on my iPad 1 seems to have 32 note polyphony which hasn't always been enough. I've had notes cut out when using the sustain pedal.

[Dimitree]

is an iphone/ipod version planned too?

[shanecgriffo]

230 or so mb seems not very big for so many pianos! Is that just the initial 9 or are all 17 included in that figure? (it said the in- app purchase pianos are available 'instantly' which to me implies they are pre loaded and just unlocked on purchase ..?) also how much is that in app purchase?
And finally how do they sound/feel to play ..anyone? Thanks

[Scott Murrell]

---And you can close the lid!!

[Scott Murrell]

---I think companies add a lot of variations to sounds to try and please everyone but I'd like to see all of the space alloted to one really nice piano or one really big Moog or one really big whatever. So a company says, we're not giving you Farfisas,Clavs or anything else just one kick a** B-3 with Leslie whose speed you can control via midi. It's for your iPad and it's $19.95, it's also 400 pounds lighter and several thousand dollars less expensive. I'd buy it! Same with a real sounding grand piano or string section or whatever...Just me...
I got the free version and it's okay, maybe it's my controller that's letting me down on the sound so I won't say anything negative about it...

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

I don't think I'll get a chance to try this at work. Got some fun stuff I'm working on and a meeting in an hour.

What is the polyphony? SampleTank on my iPad 1 seems to have 32 note polyphony which hasn't always been enough. I've had notes cut out when using the sustain pedal.

There isn't a set polyphony that I can quote from a spec sheet, as it varies by device. Getting 32 from SampleTank on your iPad 1 is actually very good. We do test in a way that is based on getting good performance out of iPad 1 and iPhone 4, so it is good to hear that it is working well as we'd want and expect.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

230 or so mb seems not very big for so many pianos! Is that just the initial 9 or are all 17 included in that figure? (it said the in- app purchase pianos are available 'instantly' which to me implies they are pre loaded and just unlocked on purchase ..?) also how much is that in app purchase?
And finally how do they sound/feel to play ..anyone? Thanks

SampleTank is roughly slightly more than four times the size of iGrand Piano and has over 1,000 sounds. This has the 18 pianos at 1/4 the size and I think we did well to get it into a reasonable size with the sound quality it has. We do know that people sometimes mention the large size of SampleTank and iGrand Piano should be a good size to performance ratio. Oh, and the size of the app doesn't change when you unlock the additional pianos.

[iPlogger]

shanecgriffo, once expanded, the app is just a bit over 300 MB installed. If it's like SampleTank, then, yes, the app contains all of the samples pre-loaded and in-app purchase simply unlocks them.

From the sound of things, I don't believe all 17 pianos are individually sampled pianos. For example, I can hear the same exact distinctions between the Grand Piano 1 and Rock Piano 1. Some samples have a slight twang or overtone at a certain velocity for both.

Scott Murrell, what didn't you like about this app?

Here is my take on the app. First off, I have actually been wanting a device for years that just focused on pianos. From various grands to uprights so I could have many choices to choose from depending on the song style. So this app definitely perked me up. Until recently, all of my synth equipment was from 80's/90's so piano sounds were rather dated sounding and no good acoustics.

I have been quite impressed with things so far. Some pianos I can get carried away with, and I found that happening here. I could not stop playing. I was on a pretty basic controller, too (the M-Audio Oxygen 49) but was really enjoying being creative. Overall, I have been very happy with the samples and looping.

Though after a long enough playtime, I did start noticing a few minor issues. The samples are not all even. One of the pianos in SampleTank unnerves me that at a low velocity, for a certain range of keys, a fairly distinct hiss kicks in, making it essentially useless (though another one of their pianos does NOT have this issue so I use that one all the time instead). So I have been keeping my ears open to velocity discrepancies. I have not noticed anything as glaring so far. Just some ranges/velocities may have a weird twang or thwump at the attack. It's not glaring and would be fine in a live situation.

I have noticed some phasing or...I don't really know what you call it, but something strange I am trying to track down. My style of playing I tend to play octaves with my left hand. Usually gives it a nice, bigger sound. But I've noticed some of the octaves actually get thin sounding and lose that punch a bit. It was noticeable playing as I'd have some nice, low end and suddenly that thick low end dropped and just kinda felt lost. Listening to the individual sample, the attack on some notes have a slightly different sound to the strings at the beginning.

And my last comment is about polyphony. It seems to be 32 note polyphony which I have found to be lacking, or at least to have (what I consider to be) a less than stellar stealing algorithm. With the sustain pedal on the whole time, hit and hold an octave in your left hand, and then keep hitting three notes with your right hand. By the 5th strike of your right hand, the bottom notes start disappearing. I use this often in something like 6/8 where I hold the bottom octave and play a three note chord with my right hand for every 1/8th note. My question is why does it steal notes from my HELD notes. This is a lazy algorithm to use first played, first-to-go. My suggestion is to examine note offs and use those FIRST to decide which notes to steal. I am using an original iPad, so maybe there is more polyphony on a newer iPad.

I know I spent most of the time writing in-depth about specific issues, but honestly, I am so far EXTREMELY pleased. I registered and somehow ended up with two more pianos. Maybe iRig MIDI gives me an extra piano, too. I felt the samples I've heard so far are more meticulous, detailed and focused than what is in SampleTank. Though I realize one of the SampleTank pianos is IN this app as well.

Oh...I also was not as impressed with the editing options as I was hoping. Things like brightness and reverb certainly make a difference, but for the most part, I felt the default settings were the best.

Anyone else tried it so far? What are your thoughts?