KeyPleezer launches crowdfunding campaign for LivingRoom Upright Piano Complete Edition

KeyPleezer has launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to let musicians, composers and producers support and pre-order their final development stages of the LivingRoom Upright Piano Complete Edition, a deep-sampled character upright piano for Kontakt, among other formats.

Apart from the Complete Edition a less complex Intermediate Edition is also a part of the campaign and the available Indiegogo "Perks" for backers of the project. An Indiegogo perk is the equivalent of a Kickstarter "pledge" and has the function of letting a backer support the project while receiving a single or multiple items upon campaign completion. In this case you are getting either the Intermediate, Complete Edition (in downloadable forms) or Complete Edition Packaged USB (box shipped to your house).

Features of the Complete Edition include:

• Intimate & detailed sound.
• A fraction out of tune here and there, for maximum realism (not broken nor "honky-tonk").
• 3 close microphone positions for a multitude of nuance possibilities while retaining intimacy of sound character.
• 14 Velocity/sensitivity recordings, 2 layers of sustained notes per key (7 layers for pedal off, 7 Layers for pedal on).
• Acoustic recordings reproducing string dampening, mechanical key release sounds, piano body & string resonances and pedal action sounds.
• Made for Kontakt sampler 5.0.1+ (for backwards compatibility), SFZ and EXS24 (re-named 'Sampler' in LPX 10.4.2+).
• Dynamic Range adjustment for velocity triggered volume range for all formats.
• Advanced piano playback engine developed for Kontakt.

For more features, please refer to the Kontakt section below.

The LivingRoom Upright Piano Complete Edition is aimed at being an alternative to more pristine sounding pianos and aims to offer a very natural sound with slight imperfections, without for that matter being out-of-function or busted. The 3 close microphone positions give you a wide range of options in the stereo image and tone/response of the sound.

KeyPleezer say:

The original instrument is a large-body character upright piano from the early 1900s, from a local Swedish piano maker and sounds quite rustic and natural with lots of personality and some imperfection, without for that matter being busted or out of order, suited for rock and pop as well as for composing for film or TV or replacing a pristine grand piano if your composition or production needs a different timbre and tone. The piano is just slightly out of tune giving an extra distinct realism over impeccably tuned pianos, without reaching a state of being unusable in a mix.

Formats & Features

The SFZ format is an open source format that can be loaded into many DAWs and a lot of samplers, but using the free sample player Sforzando you can play the Complete Edition's sustained note samples and some of the acoustical extra layers and get the piano's main sound character in your songs.

Smart Control enhanced patches for users of Logic Pro X, GarageBand or MainStage will also be available on final completion. The EXS format is also importable into internal samplers of major DAWs such as Ableton Live. The full functionality of the internal piano parts however, is being developed for Kontakt sampler only.

Kontakt format includes a custom piano playback engine and features:

• advanced polyphony voice handling for each key.
• String dampening & Key release acoustics - multiple recordings for each key regarding original note velocity and time elapsed.
• String dampening 5-8 layer matrix - both Staccato (shorter shocks) and normal (longer held notes) sounds for accurate release acoustics.
• Piano Body and String Resonances recorded through Impulse Response / Convolution Reverb for added realism.
• Open-close panels/lids adjustment for sounds ranging from a "living room sound" to a clean intimate uptake.
• Analog-style user interface with performance view and mixer with adjustments for each mic position.

The crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo went live on April 25, 2021. Prices are discounted from that of the final product. As a backer you'll receive around 10-20% off depending on the time, edition and delivery type, which are digital downloads and physical box with USB file delivery. Perks also come in a finite amount of available units and change prices somewhat throughout the campaign timeline. A continuous blog on the campaign page itself will follow the project progression and any changes that may occur to delivery dates and specifications.

To find out more, watch the project pitch video, listen to audio demos and read the full instrument & project presentation, head on over to the KeyPleezer Indiegogo campaign.