LivingRoom Upright Piano

Complete & Intermediate Editions

Making a vintage character upright piano come to life in a virtual piano instrument for Mac & PC.
 

WHAT IS the
LivingRoom Upright Piano?

The LivingRoom Upright Piano - Complete Edition is a software model of a vintage character upright piano from the south of Sweden. The core of this software was made by recording the original piece thousands of times, in multiple ways and with multiple microphone recording positions to make a versatile, accurate and detailed virtual model of the real piano.

What makes it special?

A few years ago I, Anders Eklöv, had a vision for making a software model of a piano that sounds like an upright piano does when used for a few years after tuning. When some of the strings in each key become slightly out of tune. A classic home piano sound, or if you will, a "living room upright piano" sound. So, prior to recording the sounds for this product, I had the piano tuned to that specific point and the result is a recorded piano with a very high sense of realism. Not nearly as out of whack to resemble a honky-tonk piano, nor as perfect as a pristine grand piano, which come in great supply on the market already. Just slightly out of tune.

The sound of the piano is a classic upright piano sound. It is vintage, but does not sound vintage. It sounds like what it is - a good quality, large body upright piano with lots of character and intimate tone, for situations requiring realism and a genuine sounding instrument.

FEATURES

OF LIVINGROOM UPRIGHT PIANO

To accurately model the original piece in the digital realm over 4200 recordings were made in groups ranging from sustained notes to acoustical behavioral sounds and noises and played back through the advanced piano playback engine in the virtual piano.

Sustained note recordings - pedal on & off

Nuance and dynamic range through multiple sensitivity layers.

All keys of the piano were sampled/recorded 26 times in different groups. The main group is the sustained notes, the ones you hear while pressing down a key. Two sets of sustains were recorded in their full length, one with the pedal unpressed and another with the pedal pressed. The length and sound character is quite different between these and they play an important role in realistically reproducing any piano.
 

3 Close Stereo Microphone positions

The complete set of recordings were made in 3 separate simultaneous stereo microphone positions. The first from the front near the strings (the "player position"), the second one below the keyboard and the third on the rear of the piano body, where sound is let out through two openings. These positions are all close microphone positions that reflect that part of the piano body's most intimate sound. They differ quite a bit in tonality making the piano very versatile and adjustable and can easily blend into any sound or mix. Using the mixer of the virtual instrument you can adjust all components recorded independently for all three positions.

Dynamic Range control

An essential piece of a software piano, as opposed to the physical original, is the ability of adjusting the maximum difference between the strongest recording and the softest for each key. Through the Dynamic Range knob you can adjust this either explosive or seamless volume differences in between the recorded sensitivities, so your result matches your song or performance expectations. After all, the dynamic difference in volume is often compressed away, through a compressor or limiter, which many times make most piano tracks sound worse. This feature gets you quicker to your desired sound, circumventing excessive compression.

(features section continues after audio demos)

 

SOUND EXAMPLES MADE WITH THE PRE-BETA PIANO SOFTWARE

Demo 1 - Slow piano piece

Acoustical modelling and detail

Releasing the key - String dampening and Key release sounds

Depicting acoustical behavior as the key is released.

When you release the key of a played note (without having pressed the sustain pedal) two things happen in a real piano. The key's mechanical parts give off a release noise and the damper will silence the played note, both of which were captured quite extensively for this product.

The dampening of the strings is an important thing in trying to mimic the sound of an acoustic piano. Depending on how long you hold the note and how hard you strike the key, the sound of your stings being dampened will change very much. A quick note has more of a harsh, explosive sound while a normal, longer note creates a less sharp and smoother dampening sound.

Both staccato (shorter) and normal longer held notes's dampening sounds were captured in multiple time intervals as well as velocity (strength), for a full sonic range. Through the piano playback engine the String Dampening sounds are selected polyphonically and follow both the strength of your playing and the time elapsed since you pressed the key. Tone, timing, AHDSR Envelopes and equalization is then applied for the closest match of the original piano's sound character.

The mechanical Key Release sounds follow the same principles but can also be adjusted to add or subtract from the Dynamic Range setting, which at high settings can make the sounds drop out entirely at soft key strokes.

Via the Release Length slider you can shorten the length of string dampening and mechanical noises, for more explosive or quicker playing styles. Both release sounds can be adjusted in the user interface of the virtual piano, for all three microphone positions.

String & Body Resonances

Modelling the original piano's internal acoustics.

The internal acoustics of the piano box/body was recorded using Impulse Response reverb technology, also called Convolution Reverb, which captures a resonance of an acoustical environment. Two separate resonances were captured, the piano box/body's internal reverb as a whole and a separate one recorded very near the strings, capturing the piano strings resonating. These are additions you can use in your own desired portion and can give a very nice addition of more overtones for wider sounds and more resonant sounding machinery, much like the original piano.

When connected to the sustain pedal actions, you will hear the same effect of the piano sound "swelling" as when you press the pedal on an actual piano. String Resonance gives you an added sense of the presence of the strings while the Body  Resonance adds more of the acoustics of the box.

Put a lid on it!

While the piano comes with an intimate sound character, the "Lids/Panels" (open/semi-open/closed) feature lets you encapsulate the sound for a less bright and sometimes more accurate experience, creating the natural sound of an upright piano with the panels attached, not removed/open as your would record it in most situations. Combined with the Body Resonance feature you can make a very resonant sounding piano and then close the lid on the sound, for that classic "boxy" upright sound, while placing your instrument as a whole in the desired environment in your mix.

Analog-style User Interface
with Performance and Mixer View

The performance view will give you all the control over the in-the-box adjustments you will need to adjust the intimacy or grandeur of your sound. Using custom volume adjustment for all sound and effect sources you can adjust the note fade-out / decay time, the string dampening and mechanical key release sounds and how they follow what you play. String and piano body resonances are adjusted for all 3 microphone positions on the main performance view and can either follow the actions of your sustain pedalling, or stay on all the time as an effect.
 

ADVANCED PIANO AUDIO
PLAYBACK ENGINE

Running it all is our custom coded audio playback engine for accurate reproduction of the piano recordings, currently in pre-beta development. A portion of the piano playback engine features include:

• adjustable note decay time
• custom realistic polyphonic voice blending and fade-out of repeated notes, for accuracy
• Accurate String Dampening & Key Release sounds with time and velocity matrix
• Authentic Pedal Behaviour - volume and accent follows your playing style
• Impulse Response modelled Body & String Resonances with sustain pedal interaction

WHO IS IT FOR?

• Pianists, keyboardists, musicians & people learning to play the piano
• Music producers, song writers and composers of all kinds
• Film composers who need high quality alternative piano sounds
• Producers working on records with lots of piano based songs, where diversity is desirable

HOW DO I USE IT?

SAMPLER FORMATS & PLATFORMS

As a finished software piano it will run in a sampler software on either Windows or macOS. Linux as well if you have the right tools. The sampler formats that are supported are the Native Instruments Kontakt sampler, SFZ & EXS24. The latter is the format used in Logic Pro X, GarageBand and MainStage and will include smart control patches. SFZ is an open source format that can be used in built-in samplers of many different DAWs, but no matter what music program you have you can always use Sforzando, a free sample player for macOS and Windows. While the entire set of sustained note recordings are available for all formats, the acoustical modelling is only fully realizable in Kontakt as a format, as it requires custom scripting to work properly.

What stuff do I need to be able to play the piano?

• a computer, laptop or desktop, running Windows or macOS.
• either a music program (DAW) or a sampler software of the supported type.
• preferably a digital piano, stage piano , a synthesizer or a midi keyboard with either midi output or midi-over-usb to the computer to be able to play the instrument 'live'.

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System Requirements - formats & platforms

LivingRoom Upright will support

Read the full System Requirements at the top of the FAQ tab!

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The product - Complete & Intermediate Edition

LivingRoom Upright Piano - Complete Edition

This is the flagship fully-featured instrument containing all the parts mentioned in the features section and is the instrument playing all the audio demos. We offer this one in two separate forms. One digitally downloadable product and another physical package that ships to your house in a box containing a USB memory / flash drive with the files on. The physical box "perk" (read below) also includes the digital downloadable files and updates.

Select the perk ** Complete Edition - download ** to back this project and receive a downloadable version of this one!

As a backer of this project using the perk Complete Edition Packaged USB, you will receive the virtual instrument packaged and shipped right to you! We'll include a USB flash drive containing the instrument files. You will also get access to the downloadable files and just lifetime service and feature updates of the Complete Edition.

Select the perk ** Complete Edition Packaged USB ** to back this project and receive a physical box sent to you!

There is an additional shipping cost that varies slightly depending on your country of residence, but the norm of the shipping cost is around 22-26 euros, depending on your whereabouts.
 

LivingRoom Upright Piano - Intermediate Edition

Backing our project: what´s a 'perk' and what am I getting?

A "perk" is an item or a set of items or rewards you will receive when you invest a certain predefined amount. Here on Indiegogo they are the same as a "Pledge" on Kickstarter projects. At the top-right you will see the alternatives available (on mobile: at the top, or as "select a perk" below).

Note: When a Perk sells out, the perk goes away and another may take it´s place, but the earlier you invest the less you will pay, as price goes up every time a tier sells out. Apart from these "perks" a backer can also choose to enter their own desired backing amount of their choice. Any backer who backs the project in between two perks pricing will be awarded all perks that are valued less than or the same as the amount entered. This will be handled manually and be delivered to the Indiegogo registered email upon completion of the project, at product delivery/ fulfillment.

For more questions, read through the FAQ section or message us via support@keypleezer.com.

DELIVERY DATES & FULFILLMENT

To see what your perks include you can read the description of the perk itself. For the delivery dates we set the following time tables.

• Complete Edition Digital Downloads - Late June 2021 - early July 2021.
• Complete Edition Physical USB package - early July 2021.
• Intermediate Edition Digital Downloads - Late June 2021 - early July 2021.

We will update this information continuously and post updates on the circumstances of any changes in the "Updates" tab, the project progress blog.

DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE
 

 Challenges & Pitfalls

Kontakt Sampler as a format is our main focus at this point, since it has the most amount of complexity. SFZ and EXS24 are far easier formats to support and maintain and the output of these will be made to match the Kontakt instrument once that has been finished. Our prior experience with music instruments, such as the free edition of this upright piano product makes it easier for us to sketch up a timetable and plot out the difficulties and solutions of this more advanced instrument.

Digital downloads will take place through our online eCommerce platform. This solution is a part of our tech-stack already and we have the necessary web-technologies in place to handle demand of instrument downloads, which can be a both expensive and lengthy item to set up, especially for downloadable packages of 20GB size or more.

OUR USE OF YOUR INVESTMENT

We´re on a path of no return to make the best possible software product we can. Free of bugs and hick-ups. Your investment makes it a lot easier for us to make that happen in less time and with greater accuracy. Here´s a breakdown of our intended use of funds.
 

• 30% of funds: Graphic Design / 3D design rendering & compositing.
• 50% of funds: Code creation & enhancements of KSP Piano Playback Engine.
• 15% of funds (or remaining funds): SFZ specific programming or consulting and format conversion tools needed to continuously make updates in all formats to be supported. Also digital delivery solutions and eventual web coding solutions, most of which have been pre-programmed and set-up in advance. 
• For the Complete Edition Physical USB package, funds received from this tier will be reserved in part for a physical package creation and material costs, as well as USB memory storage devices for physical file delivery.

We want to make it clear that these are estimates and that we will use the funds to the components that have the highest priority for the reliability of the software instrument. If one component of the different tasks get done at an earlier date, we will shift funds towards the next or a parallel task.

HELP US REACH MORE FOLKS!

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Your help is greatly appreciated.

We make virtual instruments from beautiful acoustic instruments for music producers, engineers, musicians, keyboardists & composers who want realistic and authentic sounding sounds representing their musical ideas.