Garritan has announced the release of the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano, Basic Edition, a Downloadable Edition of the sample-based software piano instrument developed in collaboration with Steinway & Sons, maker of some of the world's finest pianos.

At the heart of the Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano, Basic Download Edition is the warmth and brilliance of the venerable Steinway Model D grand – overwhelmingly the "piano of choice" for the world's greatest performers. The Steinway concert grand piano chosen for the sample set was hand-picked by Steinway & Sons. According to Garritan, this new downloadable instrument is a delight to play and is offered for $99.99.

The Basic version is the ideal instrument for students, professionals, amateur musicians, and educators alike. This version offers a single under-the-lid perspective; yet it doesn't lack features or performance, delivering the full, rich and beautiful Steinway sound on your desktop, laptop and even some of the new netbook computers.

Powered by ARIA Player, Garritan's 64-bit Sampler/Synthesis Engine, developed in collaboration with Plogue Art et Technologie, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand runs on: Mac OS X 10.4 and higher and Windows XP/Vista (32 and 64 bits). It runs as a standalone, plug-in (VST, Audio Units, RTAS), as well as with supported notation programs.

Among its many features: pedaling support, sustain and sympathetic resonance using convolution-based DSP modules, adjustable mechanical noises, adjustable velocity curves, adjustable polyphony, a variety of historical tunings with Scala file import, built-in MIDI playback and audio recording in standalone, ambience reverb, 3 band EQ, Graceful Copy Protection (no cumbersome dongles or complex challenge responses) and more. Advanced programming also makes this a truly "playable" and responsive library.

Pricing & Availability

Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand, Downloadable Basic Version is available now for $99.99.