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Published on Saturday, 21 March 2020 10:54

Written by Super User

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Echo Sound Works X Grand Piano (KONTAKT)

Echo Sound Works X Grand Piano for KONTAKT is a perfect piano for the modern Pop, Hip Hop and EDM Producers. Incredible staging of the finished sound, a user-friendly graphical interface with simple but effective controls. There are probably more sample piano libraries than any other type of library, but there are none like the X Grand. 

We had two goals in mind when we set out to create the X Grand:

1.) Make a piano tailor-made in both sound and function for modern producers who make genres like Pop, Hip Hop, Indie Pop, Future Bass, House and more. Every piano we came across that was marketed for "Pop" sounded like it was made in the 1990's and was going to be prominently featured on a Backstreet Boys reunion album.

2.) Strip away any unneeded controls and features that lead to a lack of productivity because of constant, never-ending tweaking. We all have those piano libraries that give you control over things like lid thumps, seat creaks, pianist finger nail length (okay maybe not that last one, but you get the point).

We made 3 versions of the GUI and script with various controls and had a team of beta testers try out each version. In the end we combined the 1st and 3rd iterations of the instrument.

The X Grand has the following controls:

Space Knob - This is a convolution reverb that is fairy subtle. It doesn't wash out the sound like so many piano reverbs do.

Tone Control - This a simple control that lets you darken the timbre of the piano. The piano is not overly bright to start with, but there are some instances where you would want a darker, more muffled sound. It's a cross between closing the lid on a grand piano and a subtle filter.

Hammer - This knob controls the volume of the dedicated hammer samples. This is a powerful yet simple tool that can make the piano sound more indie and less polished.

Overtones - If you don't know what sympathetic resonance is, we won't bore you on the specifics, but basically when you play a real piano, hitting one note slightly vibrates the notes next to it. It makes the sound thicker and more lifelike. You can control the volume of these overtones with a simple knob.

Stereo - This control makes it incredibly easy to get the X Grand to fit into your track by adjusting the stereo image of the sound. At 0% it's in mono, and at 100% it's in total stereo.