Best Service has announced the imminent release of Galaxy II - Grand Piano Collection, the successor to Galaxy Steinway 5.1, extended with the Vienna Grand Imperial and the 1929 German Baby Grand. It is now powered by the Native Instruments Kontakt 2 engine with a specially designed user interface, allowing simple, but flexible sound configuration and creative sound design.

Galaxy II was recorded at Galaxy Studios and Hansahaus Studios using high end and vintage microphones by Brauner, Neumann and Bruel&Kjaer and state-of-the-art equipment by Neve, SSL, Focusrite and Digidesign.

Facts and features:

• Galaxy Steinway 5.1 (Steinway D in Real Surround and Stereo).
• Vienna Grand Imperial (96 key Boesendorfer with incredible low end).
• 1929 German Baby Grand (vintage Bluethner with a beautiful, singing tone).
• More than 6000 samples in 24 Bit.
• Up to 13 velocity zones for a wide and smooth dynamic range.
• Real sustain resonance and release with multiple velocity.
• Real Una Corda Samples (Soft Pedal).
• Sympathetic String Resonance with real overtones.
• Adjustable Hammer –, Pedal-, Damper- and String noises.
• Sostenuto and Redamper.
• Specially designed user interface.
• integrated Help-Window.
• Direct control of all important functions in the main menu.
• Detailed editing in 10 special menus.
• One-button control of tone colour, warmth, low end, loudness and dynamics.
• Adjustable Stereo width and position.
• Flexible and easy to use velocity editor.
• Specially designed compressor for typical pop-piano sounds.
• Warp-section with 4 FX-machines for drastic sound design.
• Pad machine for generating spheric and atmospheric synth pads.
• Convolution-reverb with lots of rooms, halls and ambiences.

Galaxy II - Grand Piano Collection, priced at €249, will be released this month. Powered by Kontakt 2 Player it will be available for Windows and Mac OS X Universal Binary in VST, AU, DX, RTAS and stand-alone formats. Upgrade options for Galaxy Steinway 5.1 users will be available (€99).

Various videos of Galaxy II are available at www.galaxypianos.com