Production Grand

Production Grand is a high-quality piano sample library for NI Kontakt 4.2 and above, consisting of eight microphone perspectives and over 120,000 samples of a Yamaha C7 grand piano recorded in a world-class recording studio. The library is 437.5 GB in size*.

Production Grand is ideal for Studio Production, Stage Production, Film Score Production, Performance and more:

• 430 GB*.
• Format: NI Kontakt 4 and Kontakt 5.
• 8 Microphone Perspectives.
• Ships on USB 3.0 Hard Drive.

Digital download included with purchase: A courtesy download of the 16-bit Modern/Clean Edition of the library is included to get users started before your hard drive arrives. This is a download link emailed immediately after purchase. The download requires an authorized file that is emailed within 24 hours. The download is in 55 parts consisting of 250 MB each.

Production Grand Features:

• 12 velocities pedal up samples.
• 12 velocities pedal down samples.
• 12 velocities release samples.
• Authentic Pedalling: adds sympathetic resonance and realistic pedal control.
• Authentic hammer mechanism noises (labeled: Pre-Attack).
• User controllable recording noise for added studio realism.
• Recorded with world-Class microphones: Coles, AKG, Classic U87s, B&K, Crown etc.
• A/D converters used: Burl Mothership.
• Microphone preamps used: API and Neve.

Microphone Perspectives:

1. Player's Perspective: Player's perspective that is near binaural. When you put on your headphones with this perspective, it will sound like you are there playing the piano. The player's perspective was recorded with a Crown SASS-P MKII.

2. Hammer Microphones: I'm a big fan of hammer microphones. With the hammers recorded you will get plenty of attack and a more aggressive sound.

3. & 4. Inside Microphones: This is the sound most people associate with piano recordings. We decided on two sets of inside piano microphones: vintage Neumann U87s (they say West Germany on them.) and the modern Rode NT2As. This gives the player the ability to get that classic piano sound or the modern wider-range sound or both.

5. Outside Microphones: Just outside the piano we used really expensive Neumann M149 modern tube microphones. The engineer called these the "Golden Sound" microphones. This microphone pair has a classy sound and a more balanced tone than the inside and hammer microphones.

6. & 7. Room Microphones: In an attempt to give you modern and classic choices, we used Coles ribbon microphones and AKG C414s on the rooms. The ribbons sound like... ribbons... smooth and velvety. Ribbons take EQ well; another reason to include them. The AKGs sound true to the piano's tone in the room.

8. Under Piano Microphone: Underneath the middle of the piano we used a PZM (pressure zone) microphone to give a clear centre image to the sound.

Microphones:

• Room Microphones: Coles Ribbon, AKG 414.
• Hammer Mics: B&K.
• Inside Mics: vintage NeumannU87, modern Rode NT2A.
• Outside Piano: Neumann M149.
• Piano Bottom: PZM.
• Player's Perspective: Crown SASS-P MKII for near binaural experience when played.

System Requirements:

• Requires NI Kontakt 4.2 or Kontakt 5 or greater.
• A computer that meets the minimum Kontakt requirements.
• 80 GB of free hard drive space for minimum installation.
• 210 GB of free hard drive space for the Kontakt compressed files as delivered on hard drive. The 210 GB format will serve the majority of users.
• Optionally, 440 GB of free hard drive space for full uncompressed installation.

Solid State Drive or Raid Drive recommended for more than 2 microphone perspectives at one time.

Note: Compatible with the full version of Kontakt 4 or Kontakt 5 only. Not for use with Kontakt Player.

*430 GB represents the fully uncompressed library with three different bit/sample rate versions: 24-bit 96 kHz, 24-bit 44.1 kHz and 16-bit 44.1 kHz. As of December 1 2012 testing, Kontakt lossless compressed files compressed from 437.5 GB to 207 GB. The Kontakt compressed format performs well on modern systems (i5 and i7 Intel chips and greater). Users can optionally resave to uncompressed files if performance issues occur. Specifications subject to change (with or without notice) as updates and improvements are made.