SYNCHRON CONCERT D-274

Piano sound in the highest perfection

The D-274 concert grand piano is the top model of the flagship series of the world-famous piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons. The design of this beautiful, handcrafted instrument with its laminated wooden body and cast iron frame has changed little since its development at the end of the 19th century . With a length of 2.74 m and a weight of almost 500 kg, the D-274 still plays an important role in the international music business today, as it is used on an estimated 90% of all stages in the world and attracts its players and its audience equally under the spell.

The reasons for this are obvious, because the D-274 unfolds its full tonal expressiveness especially in conjunction with orchestras and impresses in particular with its assertiveness, which is hardly surprising with a soundboard area of ​​almost two square meters.

Last but not least, it was well-known artists from all epochs of modern piano music who played on a D-274 concert grand, from Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, Glenn Gould or Alfred Brendel to the stars of the present, such as Pierre- Laurent Aimard, Emanuel Ax, Hélène Grimaud and Lang Lang, to name just a few.

Assertive surround sound

Our in-house D-274 concert grand is a model manufactured in Hamburg, which was handpicked from eight different D-274 models by Stefan Mendl, founding member and pianist of the Vienna Piano Trio. Even in a city like Vienna, where excellent concert grand pianos are not exactly in short supply, our D-274 concert grand piano is considered to be one of the best-sounding of its model series, which has meanwhile been confirmed by many well-known pianists who have already had the opportunity to play the instrument. Our concert grand is part of the huge pool of instruments at the Synchron Stage Vienna, whose 540 m² reception hall is characterized by a particularly warm,

Sampling with the highest precision

Developers have constructed their own, high-precision system that silently transfers all movements to a “robot finger” by means of a magnet. This micro-controller controls the finger with almost superhuman precision and covers all touch and release curves, ie the different speeds when a key is released. The MIDI controlled system can constantly reproduce over 100 velocities and release samples, which vary depending on the length of the note and the release speed.

This innovation represents the top of our longstanding development of sample robot technology. A previous version of this robot finger was also used on the Celesta, which is part of our Synchron Percussion I Collection.

Individual sound design options

In addition to the multitude of sound design options by mixing different microphone signals, the D-274 concert grand piano also contains our specially developed Synchron Pianos software, which opens up completely new dimensions and inspires your creativity. In addition to a powerful playback engine, the software offers a musician-friendly user interface, which guarantees quick and easy access to all relevant parameters for sound adjustment. Shape your sound according to your personal preferences, e.g. B. by filtering certain keyboard areas or even individual keys, by subtle addition of body or string resonances as well as by the built-in algorithmic reverb, with which you refine the overall sound.

Steinway D - Presets

• Room Mix - (Standard Library): The classic Decca Tree stereo recording is characterized by a somewhat slimmer and less diffuse sound compared to the "Room Mix" presets.

• Decca Tree Multi Mic - (Standard Library): The classic Decca Tree stereo recording is characterized by a somewhat slimmer and less diffuse sound compared to the "Room Mix" presets.

• Surround to Stereo Downmix - (Full Library): These presets contain all available room microphones with various delay times, which provide more sound variety in terms of spatial depth perception.

• Surround - (Full Library): This allows the microphone signals to be sent to the available surround channels

11 microphone positions

Over  4,000 samples per key  and almost 20,000 samples per microphone position ensure breathtaking authenticity in our virtual D-274 concert grand piano. In order to record this beautiful instrument in one of the best acoustic environments in the world, we used various, sometimes very sophisticated microphone arrangements that offer a wealth of possibilities for individual sound shaping.

Microphone positions

• Standard Library : Room Mic (Mix) | Capacitor - Close 1 (Sennheiser MKH 8040) | Mid 1 (Sennheiser MKH 800) | Main / Room Mic - Decca Tree Stereo (L / R) | Main / Room Mic - Decca Tree Mono (Center)

• Full Library : All PLUS tapes listed above - Close 2 (Royer SF-24) | Tube - Close 3 (Neumann M149) | Mid 2 (Sennheiser MKH 8040) | Main Surround - Stereo (L / R) | High Stereo (3D) - Stereo (L / R) | High Surround (3D) - Stereo (L / R)

Key features

• Over 4000 samples per key for a maximum of authenticity and liveliness 

• Recorded with the surround sound of one of the best scoring stages in the world - Synchron Stage Vienna

• Maximum authenticity - thanks to the specially developed, high-precision sample robot technology, all tonal facets and even the finest nuances of the instrument could be captured

• Absolutely realistic feel

• Multiple microphone positions - for a multitude of tonal variations

• Intuitive, tailor-made synchron pianos software with a powerful playback engine

• Six pre-configured presets: "Concert", "Intimate", "Player", "Pop", "Ambience", "Mighty"

• Forte, piano (una corda) and sostenuto pedals

• Detection of half-pedal positions and "re-pedaling"

• "Sympathetic Resonance" (string resonance)

• "Body Resonance" (resonance of the body)

• Customized release samples, depending on the release speed (releasing the key)

• Detailed pedal noises for hold and damper pedals, depending on the pressure speed of the respective pedal

Scope of the library

• Standard Library: Samples 99.735 | Download size 31.7 GB | Installed file size 118.0 GB

• Full Library: Samples 219.417 | Download size 71.4 GB | Installed file size 266.3 GB