Nucleus SoundLab has announced the release of MK Digital Keys is a new retro keyboard sample library that brings the 80s keyboard sound to your productions with this faithful sampling of Roland's MKS-20 keyboard synthesizer. MK Digital Keys is available in three format packages: Reason Refill, WusikEngine, and Kontakt/EXS/SFZ.

Back in 1986, there weren't many good ways to take a good keyboard sounds with you while touring. Sampled pianos were in their infancy, with extremely low sample rates and small ROM sizes. One answer to this problem was SAS synthesis. This unique form of synthesis uses no samples whatsoever, and produces a very realistic sound. Still, it's not a 'real piano', so these days the sound is more useful for its retro character.

MK Digital Keys brings this retro sound to your modern sampler, while removing original limitations like low polyphony and noisy outputs. This is a comprehensive sampling, with 6 samples per octave, 7 octaves, and 6 velocity layers per note. All 8 tones of the MKS are represented (3 pianos, 2 EPs, Clav, Harp and Vibes). All of this comprises a total of nearly 2,100 mono 24-bit 44khz samples.

MK Digital Keys is also built to be scalable. At times you won't have need for the full extent of the sampling described above due to CPU/RAM constraints. For those times 3 alternate smaller versions of each tone are contained inside - L, M and S sizes. The S versions weigh in at under 50 MB and can fit into even the most RAM-starved projects.

Details:

• 3.6+ GB of 24-bit 44khz samples.
• 8 different classic keyboard tones.
• 20 Combinators and 32 NN-XT patches inside the Refill.
• 78 WusikEngine presets, including 46 custom presets by Daniel Stawczyk.
• Kontakt/EXS/SFZ format pack contains raw .wav files plus patches for all 3 formats.

A wide variety of demo MP3s and a free Demo Refill is also available at the product page.

MK Digital Keys is available now. It is priced at $49.95 for a single format package, or $59.95 for the multi-format package delivered electronically. The product is also available shipped on DVD anywhere in the world for a $15 flat rate. Existing Nucleus SoundLab customers can take advantage of a 10% customer loyalty discount for the next 60 days.