VSL has announced that it is now shipping the Vienna Imperial, the Vienna Symphonic Library's new virtual grand piano plug-in instrument.

The venerable Bösendorfer Imperial 290-755 that the VSL team hosted at the Silent Stage for two months was equipped with the famed piano manufacturer's CEUS technology, which allowed for precise and extensive piano sample recordings. 1,200 recorded samples per key represent a magnitude of sampling detail that has been unthinkable up to now, according to VSL.

The implementation of meticulously recorded pedal-up and pedal-down notes in up to 100 velocities, comprehensive sympathetic resonances, and multiple release samples make the Vienna Imperial one of the most realistic sampled pianos ever created.

No less importantly, the Vienna Imperial is easy to use. The Basic View of the user interface lets you choose between three recording positions (close, player, and audience). The Advanced View gives you quick and easy access to more control options such as convolution reverb, EQ, pedal noises, sympathetic resonances, stereo width, MIDI sensitivity and more. But don't get fooled by the slick interface – under the hood is a new proprietary piano engine that has been specifically designed to drive this massive amount of sample data and processing power.

Features:

• Up to 100 velocities per key, 1,200 recorded samples per key.
• Audience, player, and close microphone recording positions.
• Powerful proprietary piano engine.
• Multiple release samples for different note lengths (supports authentic staccato/staccatissimo performances).
• Repetition samples for pedal-sustained notes.
• Sympathetic resonances for sustain pedal up and down positions.
• Adjustable pedal noises.
• Easy to use interface with unique velocity histogram.
• Convolution reverb featuring three halls of the famous Vienna Konzerthaus.
• Equalizer.
• Dynamic range control.
• Lossless sample compression for using less hard disk space.
• RAM Optimizer to unload unused samples out of RAM.
• 24-bit/44.1kHz, stereo.

The Vienna Imperial Collection is not divided into Standard and Extended Libraries like other Vienna Instruments Collections. The Standard package includes the full set of samples along with the software instrument/engine. The Library contains 500 GB of uncompressed sample data in 44.1kHz/24-bit. Due to a specifically developed optimization process, the Vienna Imperial engine decompresses the samples in real-time, so that they take up only 50 GB of space on your hard disk.

Pricing & Availability

Priced at $875 / €645 (incl. VAT), Vienna Imperial is available now for Windows, Windows x64 and Mac OS X (Intel Only) in VST, AU and RTAS formats.

Introductory Offer: Users of VSL's Bösendorfer Imperial collection get a €150 / $200 discount when purchasing the new Vienna Imperial collection through July 31st, 2009. Please note that this introductory discount can only be honored when you order the Vienna Imperial collection at VSL's web shop.