UJAM has announced the release of Virtual Pianist RELIC, describing it as a modern take on the classic upright piano.
Making musical instruments approachable and accessible for all is UJAM's mission. The German-based company has reached artists worldwide with its collection of full-featured plug-ins that cover emulations of percussion, guitar, bass, piano, synthesizer, and more.
Virtual Pianist RELIC is based on the sound, playability, and character of a vintage, imperfect upright piano. Designed for song accompaniments and lyrical rhythm elements in a band arrangement — in styles ranging from John Lennon (Imagine) to Tom Waits, from Coldplay to Rihanna.
The acoustic upright piano has been used for centuries across genres and musical applications. Today, it is often heard in indie, singer-songwriter, pop, rock, and ambient works. RELIC makes it easy to apply the tone and mood of a traditional upright piano throughout any modern digital music production workflow.
Key Features of Virtual Pianist RELIC:
- Five characteristics from Subtle to Full to Tonk.
- 30 styles, over 180 complex phrases.
- One- and two-handed accompaniment, arpeggios, chords, runs, low chords, and fills.
- Dynamic 'busyness' control creates additional rhythmic elements.
- Three voicing modes (simple, universal, complex) with different harmonic complexities.
- 30 Finisher effects, 30 ambiences (delay and reverb programs).
On the development process of Virtual Pianist RELIC, UJAM co-founder Peter Gorges had the following to say:
First off, our team selected a beautiful, well-burnt-in upright piano and kept it in our studio for months. Weeks went by just tweaking the tuning, playing with microphone setups and other things until everyone was happy. Only then it was meticulously recorded and added into the Virtual Pianist instrument framework.
There's a reason why Virtual Pianist isn't called Virtual Piano, and that is the sophisticated built-in Player, which is at least as important as the piano itself. Our style and piano expert Derek von Krogh created a signature collection of bespoke style performances for RELIC, as he's done with every Virtual Pianist before. The moment we married the piano and the pianist was a true revelation, as both elements just clicked together beautifully — you'll be able to experience that in every phrase, in every preset.
Based on professional piano models for every musical genre, UJAM now offers four completely unique Virtual Pianist options:
- Virtual Pianist VOGUE: Session pianist, acoustic grand piano for pop and rock.
- Virtual Pianist SCORE: Cinematic pianist, classical grand piano for big emotions.
- Virtual Pianist VIBE: Jazz keyboardist, electric piano for soul to hip hop.
- Virtual Pianist RELIC: A wide range of sounds and musical styles, from electric piano to grand piano, from pop and rock to soul and RnB, from film scores to ambient tracks.
Price: $149/149 €.
