IK Multimedia Pianoverse Piano Virtual Instrument Now Available
Pianoverse piano virtual instrument
IK Multimedia has released a new piano instrument plugin, Pianoverse, a new virtual instrument that they say combines the world’s finest concert-grade pianos with inspiring, cinematic effects.
Pianoverse offers an initial series of 8 instruments. All the samples were recorded using proprietary software in a bid “to capture each piano’s true sonic DNA”. The specific piano models that were subjected to this apparently forensic process include the Yamaha CFIII Concert Grand, a Yamaha U5 Professional Upright, a Bösendorfer 280 Vienna Concert and a Steinway & Sons New York D-27 More are coming soon, featuring models based on a Bösendorfer 200, a Steinway & Sons Hamburg D-274, a Fazioli F278 and a Koch & Korselt Upright.4.
IK’s team spent years sourcing treasured pianos from the most prestigious manufacturers. Each instrument is hand-tuned and prepared by a master tuner and then sampled using multiple microphone setups and IK’s custom-built robotic system.
IK says that it went as far as to create a “sampling robot” to play the pianos being recorded. This is said to feature “an extremely precise and silent linear motor with an elastic actuator on top made to perform exactly like a human finger,” Blimey.
Beyond Accuracy and Sound – Pianoverse itself is based on a new engine that features redesigned round robin and voice management to aid authenticity. For each instrument, you can adjust the lid position, harp resonance, pedal noise and the noise of the piano mallets, and there’s three-pedal support.
All of these can be accessed within Pianoverse – though they’re priced individually, we should say – and more, such as a Bösendorfer 200, a Steinway & Sons Hamburg D-274, a Fazioli F278 and a Koch & Korselt Upright, are on the way.
And it doesn’t end there: each piano comes with two sets of mics, one of which has a ‘classical’ sound and the other a more modern, upfront tone. Both the piano and mic signals can be treated with EQ and compression, and there’s a final master channel with EQ, a VCA-style limiter and a stereo width control.
You can also choose to position your piano in one of a wide variety of virtual spaces – not only in a concert hall, but also a warehouse, a vault, on an iceberg, in a desert or even on the surface of Mars. Each space can be shaped in a variety of ways, and it sounds like there’s considerable scope for creating lush, ambient soundscapes.
Creative Effects – And that’s before you get to the 12 new effects, which can be inserted on three simultaneous slots: the first slot being a parallel send effect, while slots 2 and 3 are insert effects, there are four modulation sources, as well- two envelopes and two LFOs – that can add additional movement to these processors: animate and move the sound and create extreme effects when desired.
Pianoverse piano virtual instrument runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats and is available now as individual pianos, with an introductory price of $/€99.99* (instead of $/€129.99) per piano. All-access monthly and yearly plans are also available starting at $/€14.99/month or $/€149.99/year giving access to current and newly released pianos without limitation.
Find out more Pianoverse piano virtual instrument on the IK Multimedia website.
