STUDIO GERMAN UPRIGHT 1904

iano with character and style

• Vintage Character and Style

  • C. Bechstein upright piano built in 1904
  • Vintage character
  • Recorded at Stage B of Synchron Stage Vienna
  • Eight microphone positions for a multitude of timbral variations
  • Advanced release sample technology
  • Pre-configured main presets, signature and FX presets

  This C. Bechstein upright piano was built in Berlin Kreuzberg in the early 20th century. Its distinctive vintage character, owing to its generous proportion of resonating wood, was captured with a multi-microphone setup at Synchron Stage Vienna’s Stage B.

  The upright’s very smooth action allows the finest gradations from pianissimo to fortissimo. In the main playing range its sound is more reminiscent of a small concert grand than of an upright piano. With its clear and accurate tonal development it conveys the intimate atmosphere of a small concert hall. The instrument’s mid range is very pronounced and focused, while its ageless character clearly asserts itself in all registers.

  Brought to Stuttgart by pianoforte maker and dealer B. Klinkerfuss, Württemberg’s sole representative for C. Bechstein and J. Blüthner, the instrument has always been in residence with families in the Stuttgart area. It was played by pianist and film composer Mick Baumeister, co-creator of the Hornberg breath controller, at different stages of his life. The upright was owned by Martin Friz who taught a young Mick improvisation on this instrument. Decades later, Mick purchased the piano from German actor Holger Daemgen’s family, and – as he puts it – it never ceases to inspire him and to find “the truth”.

8 microphone positions

In order to capture this unique instrument with all its character, our sound engineers have used several configurations with high-quality microphones that offer a wealth of possibilities for individual sound shaping.

Miking

1. Close 1 - Condenser (Neumann KM184 Sphere, X/Y) - Standard Library & Full Library
2. Close 2 - Ribbon (Royer SF24 Blumlein) - Full Library Only
3. Close 3 - Condenser (Neumann U87 Ai Cardioids) - Full Library Only
4. Mid 1 (Sennheiser MKH 40 ORTF behind the piano) - Full Library Only
5. Mid 2 (Schoeps KFM6 over the piano) - Standard Library & Full Library
6. Main/Room Mic - Decca Tree Stereo (DPA 4006) - Standard Library & Full Library
7. Main/Room Mic - Decca Tree Mono (DPA 4006) - Standard Library & Full Library
8. Main Surround - Stereo (Sennheiser MKH 800) - Full Library Only

Even if you don't create a surround mix, you can achieve a more varied sound image with more spatial depth by enriching your stereo mix with the signals from the room microphones contained in the Full Library.

Individual sound design

The "German Upright 1904" is played with the free Synchron Pianos Player, which offers numerous options for shaping your sound and your playing experience. In addition to the multitude of variations by mixing different microphone signals, the software offers a full mixer with a variety of effects such as EQ, compressor, saturator, algorithmic reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, rotary and much more. The volume of body or string resonances as well as pedal noise can be changed directly in the Play main window. You can even customize EQ settings, volume, tuning and dynamic range for each individual key in the edit window.

A host of mixer presets offer a wide variety of characteristics, directly accessible in the main player window, from concert and intimate settings to pop, ambient and vintage sounds. Various signature and experimental FX presets round out the preconfigured sonic gems the German Upright 1904 has in store.

Sampling Precision

To capture the sound of the instrument with all its subtleties, our engineers deployed a highly precise motion-control system based on a solenoid that controls a noise-free “robot finger”. The micro-controller moves the finger with super-human precision, providing flexible curvatures for down-strokes and release movements, the latter corresponding with the preceding note length and various release speeds.

Library Content

Standard: Samples 63.556 | Download Size 18.8 GB | Installed Size 18.8 GB

Full: Samples 127.112 | Download Size 40.3 GB | Installed Size 40.3 GB

Video

System Requirements

This product requires activation!

You can either "soft" activate the software on your computer without addditional hardware or transfer the license to an iLok USB dongle which has to be purchased separately. The iLok dongle can be used to run the protected software on different computers. Your licenses can be easily manged using the iLok Licence Manager. To protect your investment against theft or loss we recommend the iLok Zero Downtime protection with TLC.

An internet connection on any computer and a free user-accout at www.ilok.com is required to authorize the product. In order to download and install your software products and sample libraries authorized via iLok, please use the Vienna Assistant.

Please check with the software manufacturer which iLok version is required at least if you want to use a hardware iLok!