Spectrasonics rumors...

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Worth saying, so I said it twice

[wagtunes]

Or was this just one of those "F it! I don't care if the whole KVR hates this. It's what I want to do" projects?

Fixed that for you

I guess the number of people who need good sounding keys to play jazz, blues or pop is much greater than the number of those who love patching cables in virtual modulars.

Here's the problem. What he's done has been done a gazillion times already. There is no innovation here. There is nothing spectacular here. And at that price?

The innvoation may be in sound quality, playability, musical qualities etc., something that will be appreciated by actual piano palyers.

Horses for courses, do you get it? Not any virtual instrument must be aimed at hardcore synth tweakers. I also have zero interest in this Keyscape but I'm sure it will be a quality product.

Fine. Here's the other problem. Let's just look at actual keyboard players. Hell, I've been playing piano since I was 5.

A dedicated keyboard player probably already has all the keyboards that they could possibly want. I know I do. Pianoteq alone takes care of all my piano needs. Other keyboards I get from Kontakt, EWQL and similar libraries. I have more keyboards than I know what to do with.

There is no way I shell out $400 for something that I've already got plenty of.

My point is this. They are competing with a mega product market. Whereas Omnisphere was truly unique and world class, this is just another keyboard collection. I can't care how good the quality is. It can't be that much better than some of the fine products already out there IF better at all.

So again, just looking at people who write for and play piano (I even wrote my own piano concerto) I honestly don't know what these guys were thinking coming out with yet another keyboard library.

Sure, the die hard Spectrasonics fans will probably buy this and then even some of those may pass. But to think that every pro who plays keys is going to buy this, unless they just have money to burn, I think is being overly optimistic.

In short, I do not think this will be a big seller for them. And maybe they don't even care if it is or not. Maybe this was a labor of love for Eric. I don't know. But I just don't see many people, keyboard player or not, getting excited over this.

I know I'm not.

And I've been playing for 53 years.

[Cinebient]

To say it clear....i´m not dissapointed by Spectrasonics as a company because they are awesome but i just was hoping for another thing and keys might be one of the last things i need more of.
The price is not bad i think since i payed even more for Una Corda, Attack EP 88 and Emotional Cello f.e.
If you integrate this into Omnisphere where you can use all the FX, synth engine, multis, splits, midi cc crossblending patches while you perform etc. it´s for sure interesting for many people.
Spectrasonics products are still belongs to the best for live recording/performances when you like to use software.
But these days the market offers already too much of it for me and i was quite shocked that they release another huge rompler mainly instead of something really unique with the latest and greates performance option including multi-touch support, MPE, 14 bit midi etc.....
I´m sure it is a cashcow for Spectrasonics and media and film composers will use it (even overuse it to death maybe).
It really seems to be an awesome instrument but feels just not up to date for me these days.
So i still wait for Sculpture 2, U-he synths and Moog apps to tease my future synths expectations

[recursive one]

Fine. Here's the other problem. Let's just look at actual keyboard players. Hell, I've been playing piano since I was 5.

A dedicated keyboard player probably already has all the keyboards that they could possibly want. I know I do. Pianoteq alone takes care of all my piano needs. Other keyboards I get from Kontakt, EWQL and similar libraries. I have more keyboards than I know what to do with.

There is no way I shell out $400 for something that I've already got plenty of.

My point is this. They are competing with a mega product market. Whereas Omnisphere was truly unique and world class, this is just another keyboard collection. I can't care how good the quality is. It can't be that much better than some of the fine products already out there IF better at all.

So again, just looking at people who write for and play piano (I even wrote my own piano concerto) I honestly don't know what these guys were thinking coming out with yet another keyboard library.

Sure, the die hard Spectrasonics fans will probably buy this and then even some of those may pass. But to think that every pro who plays keys is going to buy this, unless they just have money to burn, I think is being overly optimistic.

In short, I do not think this will be a big seller for them. And maybe they don't even care if it is or not. Maybe this was a labor of love for Eric. I don't know. But I just don't see many people, keyboard player or not, getting excited over this.

I know I'm not.

And I've been playing for 53 years.

How many analogue emulations were there before Diva? How many supersaw/Virusy synths were there before Spire? Craploads. But both Diva and Spire are hugely successful products because they've reached the new level of sound quality. If you do an old thing better than it was done before you may be successful

I've heard things like "why on earth that Omnisphere doesn't have a decent piano" numerous times. Now we have the Spectrasonic plugin which adresses exactly this and people are saying "why do we need these pianos"

[VitaminD]

I don't think they are listening to their customers. Everybody wanted a Stylus RMX 2.

I didn't. I wanted an analog toaster sampler. Preferably one that hummed the Doctor Who theme.

But ohhh welllll..

[dredd i knight]

Well, being a keys player with a bit of a fetish for good EPs, I just watched the whole vid and I'm pretty blown away by Keyscape. I've always wanted better pianos and EPs for Omni, so mission accomplished there in spades - the possibilities there are what really have me sold. Like many, I was really hoping for Stylus RMX2, but I'll take this over a guitar or vocal instrument. I'm just hoping that there's a loyalty discount for guys like me who own every Spectrasonics plugin ever made.

+1
Couldn't have put it better myself!

[wagtunes]

Fine. Here's the other problem. Let's just look at actual keyboard players. Hell, I've been playing piano since I was 5.

A dedicated keyboard player probably already has all the keyboards that they could possibly want. I know I do. Pianoteq alone takes care of all my piano needs. Other keyboards I get from Kontakt, EWQL and similar libraries. I have more keyboards than I know what to do with.

There is no way I shell out $400 for something that I've already got plenty of.

My point is this. They are competing with a mega product market. Whereas Omnisphere was truly unique and world class, this is just another keyboard collection. I can't care how good the quality is. It can't be that much better than some of the fine products already out there IF better at all.

So again, just looking at people who write for and play piano (I even wrote my own piano concerto) I honestly don't know what these guys were thinking coming out with yet another keyboard library.

Sure, the die hard Spectrasonics fans will probably buy this and then even some of those may pass. But to think that every pro who plays keys is going to buy this, unless they just have money to burn, I think is being overly optimistic.

In short, I do not think this will be a big seller for them. And maybe they don't even care if it is or not. Maybe this was a labor of love for Eric. I don't know. But I just don't see many people, keyboard player or not, getting excited over this.

I know I'm not.

And I've been playing for 53 years.

How many analogue emulations were there before Diva? How many supersaw/Virusy synths were there before Spire? Craploads. But both Diva and Spire are hugely successful products because they've reached the new level of sound quality. If you do an old thing better than it was done before you may be successful

I've heard things like "why on earth that Omnisphere doesn't have a decent piano" numerous times. Now we have the Spectrasonic plugin which adresses exactly this and people are saying "why do we need these pianos"

Yes, there is no question that Omnisphere is lacking in the piano department. But I never cared. If I'm doing a track and need a piano, I go to my pianos. I don't need piano integration into Omnisphere.

Granted, this may be the one saving grace of this library, that they can use these sounds in Omnisphere and then process them using their great FX.

But damn, that's a hell of a lot of money to pay just to have decent pianos in a product that already costs $500, something that should have been included (at least to some degree) in the first place.

So if anything, assuming that this one selling point is enough to push people over the edge, this just smells of a very bad cash grab to me.

Fortunately, with all the pianos I have, they won't be getting my money.

[JonSolo]

Some thoughts-

1. The subtle countdown on their site leading to this product ACTUALLY FITS the product quite well.
2. Having a gathering to celebrate how this came together really sets the tone for the product.
3. Seeing that it is a keys rompler at first made me go "meh".

but...

4. Watching the demo- the sounds are fantastic! This will fit perfectly in live and studio settings and must be a dream for people who have the chops to really make it shine. They sound good by themselves, solo if you will, out of the box. May become an industry standard.

I think somewhere down the road I will be getting this product. $399 is not unreasonable for what it is, but it is an expensive investment that would require determining IF and WHERE it fits into the needs of your setup.

[nordickvr]

After 10 years of development, I am very pleased and proud to announce
the Spectrasonics Banana DJ is finally here:

woohoo!

pros : Omni integration.
cons : this thread definitely less funny.

[beely]

Yes, there is no question that Omnisphere is lacking in the piano department. But I never cared. If I'm doing a track and need a piano, I go to my pianos. I don't need piano integration into Omnisphere.

We get it. This product is not for you. You don't need to keep re-iterating your point, you've said it already, plenty of times. Message received, loud and clear.

And I'm sure your feelings are shared with a lot of people. But please also understand that they are other musicians out there, with different tastes and needs as you, or ones who don't already have every keyboard under the sun, or who like that fact that they could replace a whole mess of different stuff with one plugin, or who value Spectrasonics' quality over other brands - or any of many different reasons. Those people are the people who will buy the product, and probably who it's intended for.

[Cinebient]

If i don´t would own some EP and piano libraries i would buy it for sure.
I listened to all the demos and saw the video 2 times and it really sounds awesome.
There are also some special instruments you won´t see in other libraries....at least not in this quality.
I think it is now a love/hate thing for me....
Maybe i should sell my other libraries and use this one then for everything
Another good thing is whatever updates Omnisphere will get, this instrument will always be a part of it.
But then i also have Falcon where you could do so much more with those libraries....
It´s not such an impulse buy like Omnisphere 2 for me but after the first dissapointment it turns out to be more interesting than i thought.....(had that with Icarus too)!
At the end i will love it maybe

[Aryaroman]

Funny. Keyboards crossed my mind at one point (yeah, sure...) but didn't bother to suggest it, because at the time it felt like such a boring option, I thought it wasn't even worth mentioning and forgot about it until now that it turned out to be true.

Well, lame product announcement aside, at least this thread was worth it.

[Numanoid]

To install all Spectrasonics products a user will need 199GB disk space (64+80+40+15)

And they suggest users should be using SSD's

512 GB SSD's are still quite expensive

[AnX]

So basically, if you dont need it, its crap
If its not what you were hoping for, its crap.
If you cant afford it, its crap.

Great kvr logic

They will sell shit loads to pros who want it. The kvr market is a pitance. Im sure Specs are not worried in the least about comments here.

[Numanoid]

So basically, if you dont need it, its crap
If its not what you were hoping for, its crap.
If you cant afford it, its crap.

Who can blame them: Users were looking forward to something more exotic than a key lib with parts of UVI toy museum inbuilt

That's what the pro's need

Toy Piano - Classic
Toy Piano - Glock
Toy Piano - Rand
Toy Piano - Saucer Bell