Garritan has announced that the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano - Professional Edition, a software instrument developed in collaboration with Steinway & Sons, maker of some of the world's finest pianos, has started shipping and is available now.

The musical world has long acknowledged the Steinway piano as the benchmark for excellence in engineering and craftsmanship, and Steinway & Sons has recognized the need for a virtual Steinway piano that would come as close as technologically possible to the beauty and complexity of this legendary sound. Steinway & Sons was directly involved in the development of this virtual piano and chose Garritan to accomplish the extraordinary technical and artistic challenge in setting a new standard: a virtual concert grand piano with the unmistakable vibrancy and tone of a true Steinway Model D Concert Grand piano.

At the heart of the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano sample library is the warmth and distinctive sound of the renowned Steinway Model D – overwhelmingly the "piano of choice" for the world's greatest performers. The Steinway concert grand piano chosen for this sample set is among Steinway's finest Model D's – newly voiced, regulated, and meticulously tuned by a master Steinway technician. The piano was hand-picked by Steinway & Sons and delivered for recording to one of the finest venues in the world, The Troy Music Hall.

The Professional version offers the most features of the superb Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano series and is ideal for professional studio and live use. It offers five different listening perspectives, including a player perspective from the bench, a classical recording perspective, an under-the-lid perspective, a stage perspective and a close audience perspective. The Standard version, which was recently released, offers two perspectives and a Basic version for students will be available soon.

Meeting Steinway's demanding standards in every aspect, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano uses unique technological innovations to provide "unequaled" realism -- flawless tuning, multiple listening perspectives, complete resonance modeling (both sustain resonance and sympathetic resonance), virtuosic pedaling (damper, una corda and sostenuto), soft pedal samples, multi-stage natural-sounding releases, adjustable-velocity actions, adjustable mechanical noises, historical tunings and Scala file import, MIDI playback and record in standalone, ambience reverb, 3 band EQ, proportional sustain pedaling, Graceful Copy Protection (no dongles or challenge response) and superb responsiveness and playability. This high-end user experience is rounded out with an aesthetically pleasing interface, with simple, user-friendly controls, and presented in beautifully elegant packaging

"This was a very important project for Steinway & Sons," states Gary Green, Vice President Business Development and Customer Satisfaction. "We have long recognized the need for a Steinway sampled sound set that would best reflect the complex architectures of the Steinway sound. We also understand the importance of quality samples and their use by amateur music enthusiasts, as well as prominent producers, composers, recording studios and other venues. We were extremely fortunate to have Gary Garritan work with us on this technically and musically complex project. While both Steinway & Sons and Gary Garritan recognize that nothing can replace the actual Steinway piano, we are extremely delighted that there is now a sampling product that comes closest to capturing the distinctive Steinway sound that we are proud to endorse."

More Virtual Steinway models are expected in the future.

Pricing & Availability

Powered by the new ARIA Player, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand runs on: Mac Intel OS X 10.4 and higher and Windows XP/Vista (both 32 and 64 bits), Standalone and Plug-in (VST, Audio Units, RTAS), as well as supported notation programs.

Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano – Professional Version is available now priced at $399. The Standard Version is also available for $199. The Basic Version is expected to be released soon ($99).

Compare the versions here