Not all pianos are the same!

In this chapter, we’re going to explore the difference between piano libraries designed to give us the full, Grand Piano experience we might hear in a Concert Hall and those made for a closer, more tactile approach. The Piano is a popular instrument in film and TV scoring, offering melody and harmony together, and a sound which can cut through an orchestral or electronic score.

In the past few years, many composers have leant towards pianos which feel more emotive and evocative than Grand Piano libraries, to reach for Felt and Upright Pianos; instruments which feel ‘closer’ to us. Some libraries also now offer different kinds of playing, moving away from a sound you have to generate one note at a time, to provide patterns and rhythms made up of piano notes scattered and spread through the layers of your compositions. In this chapter, I’ll show you the difference in sound between libraries and begin to explore ways in which you could build unique propulsive piano textures of your own.

• 00:00 Discussing types of Piano libraries
• 01:45 Vienna Symphonic Library: Vienna Imperial
• 03:36 Soundiron: Emotional Piano
• 06:04 Fracture Sounds: Woodchester Piano
• 08:14 Native Instruments: Noire
• 09:40 Particles Engine
• 12:10 Spitfire Audio: Stratus
• 13:47 Native Instruments: Una Corda
• 14:32 Using Una Corda to make a Propulsive Piano
• 16:06 Enhancing the Arpeggiated Piano with FX
• 18:17 Tremolator: Dynamically shaping the Piano pattern
• 20:27 Summary

Total chapter runtime: 21:35