Why Master Keys?

We already know that there are a lot of piano sample libraries out there, and to be perfectly frank, some of them sound really great. So why are we over hear making more pianos? Master Keys offers a few unique features that we haven’t seen elsewhere.

We don’t just sample perfect pianos

As much as I love the sound of a concert grand in a concert hall, most of the music I grew up listening to was recorded on less than perfect pianos. Many were smaller, maybe a little out of tune, often brands I’ve never heard of. These imperfections are a large part of what gives pianos their sound. With Master Keys, it is our mission to sample ALL types of pianos from tiny spinets to concert grands and everything in between.

Hybrid sampling and modelling techniques offer the best of both worlds

I heavily sampled piano can have an incredibly realistic sound if done right, but some of these pianos can take 10s of gigabytes of hard drive space for a single microphone position. That’s fine if you have unlimited storage or only a couple pianos, but if you want a variety of pianos and mic positions, things get out of control fast. On the other side of the spectrum, modelled pianos can sound really great without taking up much space, but even the best modelled pianos feel like they are missing a little something. The grit that just comes naturally from every piano is really hard to model.

Master Keys pianos rely on a hybrid of sampling and modelling, pulling the best of the features from each method. Our Pro pianos take up about 5GB of hard drive space for 4-5 microphone positions. They provide natural feeling dynamics and faithfully reproduce the fine details and imperfections that each piano has.

Lite and Pro versions of each piano

Sometimes you need all of the microphone positions and uncompromised sound of a fully sampled piano. Our Pro pianos each have 4-5 microphone positions with each key sampled and modelled individually. Other times, you just need a basic piano that sounds great out of the box. The Lite pianos give you a single microphone position and take less than 50MB of hard drive space. While not quite as detailed as the Pro version, it can be perfect for a portable rig or when you just need quick access to variety.

Trial Version

Because we were able to get the size down so small, we’re able to offer a free trial of the Lite version of any piano. This lets you be the judge on whether the piano is a right fit for your needs before committing to the pro version.

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