Galaxy Instruments Definitive Piano Collection
 

http://www.galaxypianos.com/images/b...tive_piano.jpg

I think it deserves its own thread.

Lots of audio demos on this page.

Available october, 1st !

Definitive Piano Collection

It looks like these are replacing the Kontact pianos. Definitely a step up. They sound really similar to Addictive Keys to me. Very warm and dark. None of that midrange honkiness you find in a lot of other libraries.

Thanks for posting. I like "THE MAVERICK" on the first demo... Fantastic.

However, all forte sections sound rather hard... Hmmm....

I saw this on NI's website. I was so confused because it didn't even show anything about being new! I knew I never had seen it before.

I thought it sounds pretty real. What about you guys?

I like The Maverick!

I like how it sounds

Wait! Galaxy is now under the NI umbrella?

First it was Scarbee (best samples available in that genre) and now it's Galaxy (best samples available in that genre)?

And are these going to be part of the K omplete 10 upgrade? If so that alone makes it worth the effort. The Galaxy vintage piano is my go-to among MANY libraries. Top notch stuff.

Looking forward to checking out these pianos and compare Maverick to my current favourite piano Orange Tree Samples Rosewood Grand!

They really sound very good. Will check them out when they are released.

Answering my own question: yes, these are the Galaxy samples. Is it ALL the samples from the Galaxy Vintage library? Who knows.

I really wish more libraries included multiple microphone positions. I have the Galaxy 1929 German Baby grand and it's got a nice tone, but sometimes I wish it had a close mic option. Other libraries, may have the opposite problem. This is where Addictive Keys is great, but I think they could have done a better job on the samples themselves and the modelling IMO. I'd basically just love to see something like Ivory+multiple microphone positions, or Galaxy pianos+multiple microphone positions.

The Garritan Abbey Road piano seems like the only product on the market trying to fill this void and I'd definitely like to see more competition there. Maybe Garritan will release and Abbey Road upright and do the same thing for the Baldwin upright at Abbey Road that was used on Lady Madonna. I'd love to see that one get sampled in Studio B with a bunch of different mic'ing options.

Check out the production voices production grand.

Really digging the sound of these so far. Very atmospheric and soulful. Galaxy certainly know their stuff!

But is it just me or do the three pianos sound pretty similar in character, especially The Grandeur and The Maverick? Does not necessarily has to be a bad thing, just wondering...

I only know what was then called the Galaxy Vintage (which I believe is now the Maverick) and it was absolutely top-notch. If you think they sound similar then they probably do. Their process for recording them is likely similar, it's only the pianos themselves which are different, and they may not be drastically different to begin with.

The Galaxy Vintage D is still available and has nothing to do with The Maverick.

These 3 pianos are all new recordings, based on different piano models.

That's not the impression which was given. I wonder how these new recordings will compare to the "Galaxy" recordings. Those are tough competition.

+1 The absolute best piano available. I use it on every single TV show (when piano is needed) and have had several engineers comment they love how I mic my grand and the tone. (HA HA!) She's a CPU hog though if you use most of the functions.

I did. Would you say that those audio demos are indicative of the actual product?

They're recordings, which is what we'd be making if we had the piano, so they should represent the product we'd be able to create ourselves. But sometimes soundcloud makes a mess of things.

How do you feel about the demos? To be honest, I'm not crazy about them. There were elements of the piano which were outstanding - perhaps even unparalleled - and some which instantly gave it away as a sampled piano and unfortunately it only takes one sign and then the listener is done. Also, the lower mids were hazy and soft and out of character for the rest of the piano. That's always a tough register for any piano but I'd expected more cohesiveness.

Does anyone know which pianos these are? These names like "maverick" or "the gentleman" are annoying.

I was wondering the same thing. The site never lists that info.

I've been happy with my Imperfect Samples stuff since they first came on the scene, but these have a way of surrounding you as a listener that I hadn't experienced from my current roster of libraries. I've never sat at my desk typing away a forum post and just fell into the passive listening state when demoing piano VIs.

If these become a part of the smaller version of Komplete I'm sold on that purchase.

I only hope that these are on the level with the Galaxy-branded pianos. "Vintage" with all of its options enabled (pedal and string noise, key offs, etc.) can sound frighteningly realistic, fooling just about anyone. NI, however, has a history of taking great sample libraries and removing some of the options which made them great (and total number of sample layers) after they adopt them into their catalog.

Available now.. I bought it and downloading now.

Let us know how you're getting on with it. kfhkh

Don't forget to comment after playing ;).

Yes, well it was a quite big download (3-5 Gb per piano) so I got it all down yesterday while watching Champions League, will install and try today. Will post my thoughts about it.

Thanks man !

Just curious, who were you watching ;) ?

Malmö FF who met Olympiakos, since I'm from Sweden. I follow PSG too, with Zlatan.. but he didn't play that night. Didn't have time to test the pianos yet, came home very late.. look forward to the weekend when I can really sink my teeth into this one.

Sure, PSG did great no matter what. Let's hope Malmö will go far heh !

Alright, take you time :). According to the audio demos I'm sold, and I plan to get it in november, for my birthday but it's always good to know what others think.

Definitive Piano Collection
 

Hi all,

I just found out about this thread regarding our newest pianos and thought I chime in;) So I'll try to clarify some of the questions above:

First of all, we're not exclusively "under the umbrella" of Native Instruments, but some of our ideas are appealing to them and that's why the collaboration makes sense for both of us. As soon as there's something that's not matching the NI portfolio plans, we'll still do it:)

Regarding the Vintage D: It is still available (and will be in the future) as it is a different piano and has no relation to the Definitve Piano Collection. The three new instruments have been created completely from scratch and are only available through Native Instruments.

Comparison to other GI Pianos (+ The Giant): We've used our Kontakt engine and even extended the dynamic range and sample amount, as well as including a resonance function and optional transient shaping (+ new presets). It's in no way a "dumbed down" version of our previous releases.

The instruments behind the names: For The Grandeur we've recorded a large and open sounding Steinway D, a totally different flavor compared to the Vintage D. The Maverick is sampled from an old Bechstein grand (1905) with lots of character and I find it to be very inspirational. If I press a single key, it instantly wants me to play with it for a while (but maybe that's just me). The Gentleman is based on an old Bechstein upright (1908) with all original parts and "special" grand-like mechanics, so lots of dynamics.

I hope I could answer your questions and if not, please let me know. If you have tried our new instruments, we're happy to hear how they feel and play for you guys.

Cheers,
Stephan
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