Name: KAWAI-EX PRO
Brand: Acousticsamples
SKU: m-21
Price: 109.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5.0 (7 reviews)

NINE FEET OF CONCERT GRAND

The Kawai-EX Pro is a powerful, bright 9-foot (276 cm) KAWAI EX concert grand that used to live at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.

We made it together with Lance Herring - our second project with him after the AcademicGrand - and recorded it with three microphone pairs and state of the art gear: around 5000 samples, with 5 velocity layers on pedal up and 5 on pedal down, and three sets of 5 release velocities for different sustain lengths.

Watch

Overview & walkthrough

Listen

1 Kawai Bryan demo 1.mp3 70,021 plays 4:18
2 Kawai Bryan demo 2.mp3 35,647 plays 2:23
3 KawaiEXdemo_CL_warmjazzy.mp3 37,021 plays 2:44
4 KawaiEXdemo_MIX_sunsetroad.mp3 24,926 plays 5:46
5 KawaiEXdemo_PL_grandillusion.mp3 20,173 plays 2:48
6 KawaiEXdemo_PL_shepperdsandstar.mp3 17,224 plays 3:39
7 KawaiEXdemoPL_Liebestod_JStory.mp3 15,458 plays 6:08
8 Kawai-ericmiller 22,563 plays 1:36

Interface

Three microphone positions

Three pairs of microphones give you three views of the piano. Close, inside near the strings, for deep bass and rich resonances; Player, next to the pianist's head, for the feeling of sitting at the keyboard; and Rim, at the side of the piano, for the perspective of a soloist playing with a pianist.

Each position can be enabled, loaded and mixed separately to get exactly the sound you want, and unloading the ones you do not use saves RAM.

Resonances

When all the strings of a piano start resonating, they give it a kind of natural reverb. Two resonances matter most: the pedal down resonance, and the sympathetic resonance between held notes.

Both are in the Kawai EX Pro and you can set the amount of each, including the true pedal action - the progressive resonance when you press the pedal after the chord.

Repedalling and half pedalling

On a real piano the pedal is not a simple on/off, and classical players often repedal and half pedal. Repedalling lets you restart a chord released with the pedal before its decay has ended, to blend chords together.

Half pedalling is what happens when the pedal is only half pressed: the strings are not completely damped, so the decay is longer and you hear some resonance. The size of its CC zone can be set from the interface.

Preferences and MIDI controls

The Kawai EX Pro is in V3, and the preferences keep everything from the earlier versions - release volume, pedal noise and key noise - alongside the tone, reverb, polyphony and a software round robin for repetitive pieces.

The MIDI controls let you move the sustain and sostenuto CCs - to use an expression pedal instead of an on/off pedal, for example - and adjust the MIDI curve, dynamics and velocity response to your keyboard and playing style.

Tech specs

10.9Gb uncompressed, 2.15Gb compressed in lossless flac format, around 5000 samples.

3 microphone positions that you can mix from the interface.

5 Velocity layers for the sustain (5 on pedal up and 5 on pedal down).

3 sets of 5 Velocities for the release, one for different sustain lenght (staccato).

Pedal down resonance.

Key noises samples.

Sustain pedal noises (up and down), triggered automatically.

Advanced UVI scripting giving you access to a simple yet powerfull interface and advanced features.

Sample player

KAWAI-EX PRO comes with its own sample player, the UVI Workstation 3 (requires v3.1.6 or later). We provide it for free with every library that you buy, you don't need to buy an expensive sampler to use our products. It works on Mac (10.14 or later intel or arm processor) and PC (windows 10 or later), in standalone or as a plugin (VST / VST3 / AU / AAX) and in 64 bits only. You can find more info about it here.

VSTVST3AUAAXStandalone

Copy Protection

We use the iLok system to protect our products and you can choose to register your license to your computer or to an iLok dongle. If you decide to use an iLok dongle, both V1 and V2 are compatible with our products. You can activate your license on up to 3 computers or iLok dongles at the same time and you can deactivate one and activate another as many times as you want.

Registration

Once your order is complete, you will be provided with a serial number. You will then be able to register it to your iLok account from our website on this page (you need to be logged in to access this page). The whole process is described in the FAQ (instructions + screencast).

Reviews

David 2016-06-10

★★★★★

I have only recently got into making music with a Macbook Pro, having always previously been a hardware user.
I was quite disappointed with the pianos that came with Komplete 9 - really thin and lacking in dynamic range (particularly in comparison to the pianos on my Yamaha S90ES).
The ones that came with Logic Pro X and Mainstage 3 were also fairly uninspiring.
I thought I had made a bad mistake and was thinking about getting rid of the computer gear!

This superb grand has changed my mind!
It's really playable, and has plenty of body and dynamics - highly recommended!

Matt Vanacoro 2014-05-14

★★★★★

http://www.askaudiomag.com/articles/review-kawai-ex-pro-virtual-piano-instrument?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=HubAutoShare&utm_content=review-kawai-ex-pro-virtual-piano-instrument

Audiofanzine 2013-10-03

★★★★★

http://fr.audiofanzine.com/piano-acoustique-virtuel/acousticsamples/A-PIAN/editorial/tests/touches-fran-aises.html

Audiofanzine 2013-10-03

★★★★★

http://en.audiofanzine.com/virtual-acoustic-piano/acousticsamples/Kawai-EX/user_reviews/

darkbabo 2013-07-26

★★★★★

i got this one couple of months ago its really amazing sounds perfect .
it took me time to download but it worth waiting

trax4katz 2013-04-27

★★★★★

I've been looking for a lush sounding Piano VSTi with a relatively compact footprint for some time; primarily for use in the development of electronic music which drew me to the 'Acoustic Samples: Kawai Ex Pro'. This is a wonderfully bright, rich and lively Piano VSTi, with an excellent range of controls and the ability to cut through a mix and remain elegant - awesome sounding and highly recommended! :)

Richard Kurek 2012-12-24

★★★★★

Always looking for the holy grail of piano vst's , I do own most after doing a search on youtube for piano vst's found this gem can be tweaked for any style
And I must admit sounds sweet

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