I know what you’re thinking… “another piano?”
Piano is one of the most diverse and universal instruments around.
No wonder so many companies give their own versions of sampled, modeled, and synthesized pianos.
Today we are checking out one from Imperfect Samples based on the Braunschweig Upright piano.
let’s check it out
So what is the Bruanschweig Upright and is it really Imperfect?
This is a very detailed sample based instrument for Kontakt and EXS from Imperfect Samples.
They pride themselves on capturing the “realism” and “ambiance” that seems to elude many professional piano libraries.
I won’t even lie to you, I had no idea what a Braunschweig Upright was, or how it should sound!
From their website it is said to have a “more distinct sound character far more intimate than a grand piano”.
There is a regular version (5gb) and a pro version (15gb) of course the pro version has more layers, 14 as opposed to 8 in the regular version.
The pro version also comes with another mic perspective, whereas the regular version only includes 1.
Both include staccato samples, as well as piano fx, a fantasy, and a space piano instrument.
I am reviewing the pro version today.
Quick Specs
- content:15gb of 24bit samples
- format: kontakt, exs
- price: $59 – $149.95 depending on which version you buy
How does it sound?
I REALLY like the sound and tone of this piano.
For me, I’m always looking for a good piano, and most of the ones I’ve come across are perfect for huge concert style productions. But many times in my music I need something a little more “normal” sounding.
Most pianos that I’ve played with are perfect, in a sense, they are too perfect in the fact that I am always trying to find ways to make them “sit in the mix” better.
Sure, those types of pianos can be good for classical orchestration mock ups or huge piano centric pieces, but what about those of us that just want a great sounding piano that supports the rest of our music?
That’s what I love about this, it’s fun to play, something about it just sounds “real” to me, not like a “software piano” but just like sitting down and playing. Sure there is a little bit more ambiance integrated into the samples themselves, but I don’t find that a bad thing.
Overall this has more of a mellow, darker sound to it, and I really like it. The detail is very deep, the release samples can be heard, the drop and hitting of the keys is there, it’s just fun to play.
I also like that there aren’t a bunch of controls, sometimes you just want to load up a piano and play, without having to worry about tweaking everything.
This is a simple interface, with a great sound that has tremendous detail…at least to my ears.
What’s the bottom line?
This is easily my favorite piano library to date, funny because the interface and options to tweak are so simple.
That’s a good thing in my book.
The sound I get out of it just makes me want to play and play, even though I’m not a trained pianist.
Sure you can find libraries with more velocity layers, and other types of samples, but the process and method of sampling on this instrument is unmatched.
To me it always seems like everyone wants to sample a Steinway Grand or many of the other popular piano models.
I like that this instrument is different, both in sound, and even the actual source instrument that was used to create it.
I give this a 5 out of 5 subs, it really impressed me from the first time I installed it.
Sure the pro version is 15gb, and it takes a while to download, but it’s so worth the wait.
Go over to Imperfect Samples and checkout the demo song, from someone that can actually play!
Trust me, they are amazing: Braunschweig Upright
let me know what ya think below
Nice, I love it. The notes sound rich and have a warmth to them….And the price is right.
@Priych, thanks for checkin it out, that’s how I felt, really nice sound, my favorite piano so far.
The sound is ok, not the best sounding piano samples, but then again hard to hear the true quality via, the internet. The price is definitely right for those need some piano sample sounds.
@Teacee, piano sounds are definitely personal preference, but I will say I’ve tried tons, and I like these the most. Let me rephrase, this company makes pianos that are useful across many applications, not just when you want a “pristine piano”. Most piano libraries sound amazing, by themselves, but are hard to fit in with other products because they’ve been sampled in an un natural way, no ambiance, and a lot of the “sound” of the actual piano is usually hushed. But yeah, the price is right and trust, this video doesn’t do them justice, they really must be heard lol.
I like the sound. Its not clear like a Steinway which is a good thing to me. Also it sounds very warm. I will be adding this to my studio shortly. Thanks for the heads up on this bro.
@madbull1971, exactly man, that’s why I fell in love with it, the sound is just different, different enough to make it very useful for me.
dude you need your own cable show.. like on bet… cool piano
@01halo, I wish man! That would be dope! Thanks for watchin lol.
I kind of like the range of voices from punchy hard to warm smooth sounds coming from that axe.
@MoCity, thanks for checkin it out MO
Hey bro, you are right about this piano sound. It has a really nice character to it.
I just did a track using this piano. You can check it out here.
Track is called “Spaced-Out (DejaVu)”
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=992204
Thanks for the heads up on that piano I think I will be getting a lot of mileage out of it.
@Madbull1971, I told you bro! Make sure you bookmark the BetterMusicDistribution.com page, he is trying to bring a lot of overseas small developers products here to the us, support him!
Link up top just in case you missed it 🙂
@saintjoe, Bookmarking it now bro. Thx.
@Madbull1971, no doubt fam.
I WAS ON YOU TUBE AND THIS DUDE MADE A MOTU BPM CONTROLLER MAN YOU HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT
@mehdo, yeah I saw him when he was building it, he documented the progress on the mpc forums. It’s very dope.