The Hammersmith Pro Soniccouture Steinway D is the essence of what a grand piano should be. Guys this is currently at a reasonable sale price, but better yet there is a free Kontakt V6 Player lite version for download. This to me is the essential Grand piano, so bright you have to wear shades. Extremely playable and expressive instrument. My current go to bright Grand.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2024, Cubase 13, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Thanks Dan for the review, so seems you prefer it compared to the Ezkeys Studio Grand?
Looks like you are definitely enjoying your retirement, all this extra time to spend with your music.
Thanks Musiclover, you are exactly correct.
I audition a lot of different piano sounds. But I only download a small fraction of them and then only keep a fraction of those and then only recommend a small fraction of those. This is one of them I recommend. A free Kontakt V6 player instrument, which weighs in at just over 4.5 GB and is serialised through Native Access. It is currently the first thing I load in the morning. I know these sounds can be personal, but this has some kind of magic mojo in it that makes it very playable. Huge dynamics from soft to loud. So bright you have to wear shades (but I said that already ). There are a couple of demos on Youtube.
I don't know for how long this deal lasts or if it's forever, so grab it while you can. Link below:
Guys, this freebee is back for a very short time. This continues to be a big favorite of mine. Ya, the free version is a bit limited in mics, but it is not limited in sound! It is absolutely one of the most beautiful grand pianos available and it is FREE.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2024, Cubase 13, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Musiclover, So glad to see you are enjoying this product. That now makes three of us. You, me and Peter (who by the way went for the full version) have all taken advantage of this wonderful product from the folks at Soniccouture. Seems every piano has it own voice and speaks to each of us in a different manners. On top of that it is certainly true that different music requires different pianos.
The Hammersmith is my "player" piano. I use a number of piano VSTs in my music, but when I am actually playing the piano this is the piano I want to play. Could be the 21 Velocity Layers. This is extremely expressive on my SL88iStudio.
I would have thought this tread would have gotten more attention here with the BIAB Folks. I suspect several reasons. 1) Folks already have there go-to piano sounds which fit the music they make and are just not generally looking for something new. 2) Many are not familiar or comfortable with the hoops one has to jump through to use a Kontakt instrument. For this final point I can only add, if any one is waiting for a reason to install the Free Kontakt Player-V6 and jump into the deeper end of the pool to advance their music libraries, this is the time and this is the piano.
Oh, and despite prior claims, I can run this in BIAB 2021 v822! But unfortunately, not without an issue! It seems that when this VST is used with the MST's the player has his foot down hard on the Sustain Pedal the entire performance. Ya, that is a problem. I started another thread to see if we can find a fix for that.
Dan, I DLed this right after your first post. I do like this piano and it does sit well in mixes. It is also an excellent solo piano. So yes I am in the "I like it" camp.
For others, if you haven't DLed this yet then do it. If you don't have the free Kontakt player needed to use this then DL it also. This is one of, if not the best, free DL out there today, it will make your BiaB MIDI piano tracks come to life.
Me, it's not about how many times you fail, it's about how many times you get back up. Cop, that's not how field sobriety tests work.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
The free version has not been available for a long time now. However....
If you previously grabbed the free version of the Hammersmith when it was available, log in to your Soniccouture account and you should see an upgrade offer to Pro for $79. Without the prior free version the current sale price is $99. This is still my favorite go to piano to jam out.
Same version. It comes and goes for free. I know, there are a lot of wonderful piano VSTs. And a lot of them are free. But if you have the disk space this is worth the download.
Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!
The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!
There are other places you can listen to these songs too! Visit our User Showcase page to sort by genre, artist (forum name), song title, and date - each listing will direct you to the forum post for that song.
If you'd rather listen to these songs in one place, head to our Band-in-a-Box® Radio, where you'll have the option to select the genre playlist for your listening pleasure. This page has SoundCloud built in, so it won't redirect you. We've also added the link to the Artists SoundCloud page here, and a link to their forum post.
We hope you find some inspiration from this amazing collection of User Showcase Songs!
Our User Showcase Forum receives more than 50 posts per day, with people sharing their Band-in-a-Box songs and providing feedback for other songs posted.
Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!
We've enhanced the Melodists feature included in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows!
Access the Melodist feature by pressing F7 in the program to open the new MultiPicker Library and locate the [Melodist] tab.
You can now generate a melody on any track in the program - very handy! Plus, you select how much of the melody you want generated - specify a range, or apply it to the whole track.
This new panel offers built-in specific support for the Reaper® DAW API allowing direct transfer of Band-in-a-Box® files to/from Reaper® tracks!
When you run the Plugin from Reaper®, there is a panel to set the following options:
-BB Track(s) to send: This allows you to select the Plugin tracks that will be sent Reaper.
-Destination Reaper Track: This lets you select the destination Reaper track to receive media content from the Plugin.
-At Bar: You can select a bar in Reaper where the Plugin tracks should be placed.
-Start Below Selected Track: This allows you to place the Plugin tracks below the destination Reaper track.
-Overwrite Reaper Track: You can overwrite previous content on the destination Reaper track.
-Move to Project Folder: With this option, you can move the Plugin tracks to the Reaper project folder.
-Send Reaper Instructions Enable this option to send the Reaper Instructions instead of rendering audio tracks, which is faster.
-Render Audio & Instructions: Enable this option to generate audio files and the Reaper instructions.
-Send Tracks After Generating: This allows the Plugin to automatically send tracks to Reaper after generating.
-Send Audio for MIDI Track: Enable this option to send rendered audio for MIDI tracks.
-Send RealCharts with Audio: If this option is enabled, Enable this option to send RealCharts with audio.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.