It should actually be an option in the Installer. Scroll down some.

Sorry about that, I can see that our description on how to get the free version isn't exactly crystal clear depending on where you're coming from.

You can either add it on the Studio Grand website:
http://www.xlnaudio.com/products/view/35

Or in the Online Installer by clicking the Register Product button in the top menu. If you don't own any products you will automatically reach the Register Product page when running the Online Installer. But since you didn't I'm guessing you already do own some products.

We'll try to make it easier to find, sorry for the inconvenience!

/Majken - XLN Audio

The free grand piano sounds very good to my ears.
I have AD and several of the ADpacks, when I moved to the new online installer etc.. I failed to get to the 64 bit version.
It plays without a problem in Reaper64 with the bridge, but I need to figure out, how to upgrade to 64 bit version, without having to download GB's of content
Other than that, I give a thumps up for the piano

Ok, thanks, I found out.

Very few presets to try out with the free version, hmm...

Well im glad it didn't trounce EZKeys which I just bought.

They force you to cloud-crap now? No offline install?

Well... no install for me then.

Offline installers are available:

http://www.xlnaudio.com/en/myaccount-myproducts/offline


However XLN doesn't link to this page from the regular My Account page. This shouldn't be that hard to add, XLN!

Offline installers are only available for older products. There is currently no offline installer available for the new Addictive Keys products.

/Majken - XLN Audio

Must say, its a lovely freebie. From my distant memory the piano sounds a bit better than the EZKeys demo - though maybe thats just a reflection of how much I hated the demo detuning in the other so I might not be comparing fairly (did they ever change the demo?).

Interface is a nice mix of immediacy and tweakability

Sounds good and is certainly very playable / musical - I ditched a lot of the sampled pianos for being too sterile - this sits nicely with my Pianoteq 4 (Stage) and Yamaha CP1 (hardware) - well mapped to the key velocities too.

XLN folks - any chance of a similar demo of the upright and Rhodes?

Just tried this out and am very impressed. Love the flexibility of choosing from a selection of microphones and then individually modifying the sound of each one. The fx section is great with the delay/reverb slider. The temperament section has loads of interesting tuning presets.

The cloud sync memo recorder is a very cool idea. Push the record button, record a phrase, and it uploads to your own server to be played back and shared. Great for quickly putting down ideas and rough sketches to be further developed later.

The piano and microphone choices sound excellent to me - but I'm not a real piano purist and am more into affected sounds in general.

Yes please I would love to demo that rhodes.

The feature is there. I beta tested it. Seen the placement myself. I also own AD. They are very similar. If that one feature is all that is important to you then yeah u might not see them as the same. As someone who does not use midi drum loops its a non issue and something I didn't even consider.

I assume you are supposed to run the new installer like you would with AD that is a very good question.

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing. EZKeys is being sold as a songwriting tool because of the midi component that is stuffed with comping phrases and licks that can be easily adapted to any key. Presumably, non-keyboardists can put together entire tracks using this. It is this, not the actual piano, that is its selling point.

Does AKeys have this? If it does, they are marketing it all wrong, because if none of the informed consumers of KVR got this message, no one will. What it sounds like you are saying is that there is some kind of built in MIDI component, perhaps for use as a sketch pad, or saving phrases, but not developed to the extent EZ Keys is.

AD, on the other hand, is stuffed with useful MIDI stuff, which is very intelligently laid out, intuitive, and very easy to use. Auditioning, saving, and drag 'n drop are all easily implemented right in the UI. Whole rhythm tracks in minutes. Brilliant.

Cheers

-B

Addictive Keys does not come with a MIDI library of loops and phrases that can be used to build songs or song ideas.

What it does have is MIDI previews for all included presets where the preview can be drag-and-dropped into the host. There's also a memo recorder where you can record a phrase and then drag-and-drop that into your host.

So yes, there is MIDI functionality in Addictive Keys, but no, it does not currently have a MIDI library with building blocks like Addictive Drums does.

/Majken - XLN Audio

Well, that's a no-no. Please consider always offering offline installers. It's just good practice. Not every DAW is linked to Internet.