Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Manual - Basic Edition

Steinway

Basic Edition

M ODEL D

Virtual Concert Grand

www.garritan.com

A Complete Guide to

The Garritan Authorized Steinway® Virtual Model D

Concert Grand Piano

BASIC EDITION

A Complete Guide toThe Garritan Authorized Steinway® Virtual Model D

Concert Grand Piano

Copyright © 2008 by Garritan Corp. All rights reserved.

This guide was written by Gary Garritan, Jeff Hurchalla, David Viens and David Sosnowski

Produced by: Gary GarritanChief Architect: Jeff HurchallaEngine and Software Development: David ViensDirector of Programming: Tom HopkinsDocument Editing: David SosnowskiArt Direction: James Mireau

Wallwork Curry McKennaDocument Layout: Adina CucicovSteinway Player Development: David ViensAdditional Development: Markleford Friedman

Pascal MaheuxSteinway & Sons Liaison: Gary GreenTroy Music Hall Liaison: Laura KrattRecording Engineer: Brian C. Peters

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a com-mitment on the part of Garritan Corporation or Steinway & Sons. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by Garritan Corporation.

Steinway® and the Steinway Lyre logo are registered trademarks of Steinway & Sons. Use of the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano and the contents herein are subject to the terms and conditions of the license agreement distributed with this library. You should carefully read the license agreement before using this product. The sounds presented in the Authorized Steinway Vir-tual Concert Grand Piano are protected by copyright and cannot be distributed, whether modified or unmodified. The Guide to the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano is covered by copyright. Plogue™ is a trademark of Plogue Art et Technologie Inc., and any other trademarks of third-party programs are trademarks of their respective owners.

Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano – Model DGarritan Corporation

P.O. Box 400, Orcas, WA 98280, USAe-mail: [email protected]

Visit us on the World Wide Web: www.garritan.com

Printed in the United States of America.

Contents

Welcome to the Authorized Steinway® Virtual Concert Grand Piano 7Overview 9

Features of the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano 11Quality 11Choices 11Control 11

What is the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano? 12Different Versions 12

Uses for the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano 13What’s Included 13How to Use This Manual 14Further Documentation and Resources 14End User License Agreement 15Specifications & Computer System Requirements 16Recommended Keyboards & Pedals 17Regarding Sound Cards & Midi Interfaces 18

Technical Info 18Speakers, Amplification and Headphones 19Regarding 64-bit Computing 19

Quality 21A Brief History of the Steinway 23How a Steinway Piano Is Made 26How the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Was Created 31The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall 36

Installation 41Installing the Authorized Steinway Virtual Cocnert Grand 43

Setup 43The Steinway Sample Manager 46Authorizing the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand 47Garritan Software Registration 48Account Registration 48

Using the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand 53How to Use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Cocnert Grand 55Playing the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano as a Standalone Application 55

Launching the Garritan Steinway in Standalone Mode 55Basic Setup Information for Standalone Mode 55File Menu for Loading and Saving Presets in the Standalone 57Tools Menu in Standalone Only 57MIDI File Player and Audio Recorder 58

Using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano as an Instrument Plug-In 59Basic Setup Information for Using the Garritan Steinway as a Plug-In Instrument 60

Using the Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano Parameters in a Music Program/Sequencer 60

Using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano with a Notation Program 61How the Garritan Steinway Aria Sample Player Works 62

The Basic Interface and the Four View Screens 62Listener Perspective Image 63The Virtual Keyboard 63The Virtual Piano Pedals 64Piano Pedaling 64Damper or Sustaining Pedal 65The Una Corda or Soft Pedal 66Sostenuto Pedal 66

The Main Screen 66Microphone Position–Listener Perspective 68Load Variations 68Mechanical Noise 69Polyphony 69Velocity Curves 69

The Space Screen 70The Space Screen Control Panes 70Sustain Resonance 71Sympathetic Resonance 71Tone 71Ambience 71Presets 73

The Tune Screen 73Tune Screen Control Sections 74Tuning Type 74Fine-tune 79Transpose 80

The Info Screen 80Making the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Work Best for You 81The Importance of Study and Practice 83

Addendum 85Getting Help 87Steinway Support for Artists 88The Garritan Community 89Acknowledgements 90

Appendix 93MIDI Controls 95Rendering Audio 95Updates 95Upcoming Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano Models 96Other Products from Garritan 96Visit a Steinway Piano Showroom 97

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A Guide to the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand

Welcome to the Authorized Steinway® Virtual Model D Concert Grand Piano

Everyone familiar with music is aware of the legendary pianos created by Steinway & Sons. The Steinway Piano is “the piano by which all others are judged”. With a distinctive tone forged by over 150 years of craftsmanship, it is one of the great gifts to the world of music. When played, the Steinway comes to life with a sound that piano lovers describe as vibrantly warm, rich and beautiful.

Steinway & Sons has long recognized the need for a virtual Steinway piano that would best reflect the beauty and complexity of the Steinway sound. And now, the sounds of the world’s greatest piano, the Steinway, can at last be played virtually with this new instrument, the Authorized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand Piano.

We are pleased and honored that Steinway & Sons has chosen Garritan to partner with for this technically challenging product, developed with care, excellence and craftsmanship wor-thy of the Steinway name. While we recognize that there is no replacement for the experience of playing a real Steinway piano live at the keyboard, we are still proud and delighted that there now is a software product that can faithfully capture the distinctive Steinway sound.

Our aim in developing the Authorized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand Piano was to design a virtual piano providing a rich set of features and authentic sound, capable of real-izing a true and accurate piano performance, and built to meet the demanding expectations of the world’s leading studios. Additionally, we were committed to creating an instrument that would be easy to use and elegantly designed so that anyone could play it. It is our sincere hope that after getting a taste of the sound of a virtual Steinway piano, you will consider owning a real Steinway piano.

A virtual Steinway Model D concert grand piano is at your fingertips, now, to explore. May you make great music with it that will enrich your musical horizons!

Yours in music,

OVERVIEW

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Features of the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano

Quality

Created in partnership with Steinway & SonsThe very finest concert grand piano—the Steinway Model D Concert Grand hand-picked by SteinwayRecorded at the Troy Music Hall High-resolution state-of-the-art digital recording for the utmost accuracy and audio fidelity Overseen by Steinway & Sons’ most accomplished master technician

Choices

Close Audience Perspective for the Basic Edition (Professional version has 5 perspectives)True pedaling including proportional sustain Chromatic sampling for each perspectiveMultiple dynamic levels sampledMechanical noises (pedals and hammers)

Control

Specially tailored programming designed specifically to reproduce the performance of a Steinway Model D concert grand pianoAria Sample Player by Plogue Art et Technologies includedUnique virtuosity and versatility. Advanced programming makes this a truly “playable” and responsive instrumentVariety of temperaments to choose your tuningProportional pedalingSustain and sympathetic resonanceBuilt-in Ambience and Convolution to control the acoustic environmentUniversal platform, Windows XP/Vista/7 32 and 64 bit, OSX Intel 32 bit, Mac and PC, as a standalone program or as a plug-in (VST, RTAS, and OS X Audio Units), and works with supported notation programs

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What is the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand?

The Authorized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand Piano is a state-of-the-art software piano instrument that reproduces the sounds of the world’s finest concert grand piano—the Steinway Model D. The Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano is the only such library created in partnership with and endorsed by Steinway & Sons.

At its core, the Authorized Virtual Steinway Concert Grand contains many gigabytes of me-ticulously recorded samples. The Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano integrates a unique-ly powerful and high-performance specialized software sampler designed by Plogue Art et Technologie Inc. More than just sampling, this Steinway Piano Aria Sample Player includes specially tailored acoustic programming designed to reproduce the features and sounds and performance of a real Steinway Model D piano.

Perhaps the greatest appeal of the Professional version and Standard versions is that there are different listener positions or “perspectives”. The Professional Edition has five listener perspec-tives and the Standard Edition has two listener perspectives. You can hear the Steinway Model D as it would sound if you were sitting at the piano, on the concert stage, out in the audience, and several other listener positions. This Basic version is a light edition designed for student and mobile pianists. It has one perspective - a close audience perspective.

The included player can work as a standalone or as a plug-in for most major sequencing audio programs and supported notation programs.

Different Versions:

There are different versions of the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

Professional Edition: Under Lid, Classic, Player, Close and Stage PerspectivesStandard Edition: Under Lid and Classic PerspectivesBasic Edition: Close Audience Perspective (lighter version)

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Uses for the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand

Study and practice at home by professional pianists, piano enthusiasts and music stu-dentsSilent-play with headphones so as not to disturb others while practicingMusic composition and arrangementMusic-minus-one when a piano accompaniment is neededHome and project recording studios to provide the acclaimed Steinway piano soundAn instrument on which to learn the piano in schools, music colleges, conservatoriesAn upgrade from older digital/electronic pianos to the latest audio technologyRehearsal before a performanceLive performance A portable instrument for playing with friends or on stage

Our goal is to bring the richly distinctive sound of a Steinway to as many people as we can with the highest degree of realism possible on current home computer hardware. We believe, however, that no matter how technologically advanced software instruments may become, no virtual simulation can ever replace a real Steinway piano. It is our hope that this software piano will lead people to consider owning a real Steinway piano.

What’s Included

This Basic Edition of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano in-cludes the following:

Professional Edition: includes 5 DVDs containing a complete Steinway Model D con-cert grand piano software instrument with 5 different listening perspectives in 16 and 24 bit, integrated with the ARIA Advanced Sample Player. Standard Edition: includes 2 DVDs containing a complete Steinway Model D concert grand piano software instrument with 2 different listening perspectives in 16 bit, and integrated with the ARIA Advanced Sample PlayerBasic Edition: Download or 1 DVD containing a complete Steinway Model D concert grand piano software instrument with one listening perspectives, and integrated with the ARIA Advanced Sample PlayerThe unique serial number so that you can register the product... don’t lose this—store it in a safe place!A sample manager installation program to set up the perspectives library and player software on your computerA hardcover printed manual (Professional and Standard only - Basic Edition has a digital PDF manual)

Before you begin installation, make sure you have read the End User Licensing Agreement in the pages which follow. By installing the software you are indicating you agree to the terms of the license.

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How to Use This Manual

The goal of this manual is to help you learn how to use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano. Although many of us dislike reading manuals, if you wish to get the most out of this new library it is absolutely essential that you read this manual. Do-ing so will help you understand how to use this software instrument. The operation of many of the essential features is not obvious in casual use and we realize many users are not music technologists. We’ll do our best to make this easy for you in this manual and to explain technical concepts. We have attempted to make this manual easy to read and have provided information about the various perspectives, playing techniques and modes of control. And, of course, by no means can playing the piano or performance technique be taught from this or any other manual.

You can refer to this manual whenever you wish. This manual is provided in printed form (Professional & Standard only )and in digital form. The printed form is handy for brows-ing alongside the computer or reading while away from the computer. The digital form is an Adobe Acrobat document file (also known as a PDF) which can be viewed on a computer monitor or printed. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, it is available free from www.adobe.com.

The easiest way of obtaining the information you seek is to use the Table of Contents in the printed version; or the Bookmarks in the digital version. The digital PDF document has a Bookmarks pane along the left side of the PDF document. By opening the Bookmarks pane, you can go to the various topics from the section names. With a PDF document, you can also zoom in to make the page larger to see more details, or zoom out to see multiple pages at once.

Further Documentation and Resources

For the latest information including updated documentation, visit our support pages at: www.garritan.com/support. There you can find:

Updated information provided after the manual was writtenCorrections or additions to this manualFAQ pages answering common questions suggestions from the users of Garritan softwarenews about upcoming Garritan releases

You can also visit the Garritan Forums for up-to-date information. The address is: www.garritan.com/forums

Please send any reports of errors in this manual or suggestions for improvement to [email protected]

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End User License AgreementPlease read the terms of the following software licensing agreement before using this software. By installing and loading these products on your computer you acknowledge that you have read this license agreement, understand the agreement, and agree to its terms and conditions. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, do not install or use the sounds contained herein. This is the complete agreement between you and Garritan Corporation that supersedes any other representa-tions or prior agreements, whether oral or in writing.

An important thing to understand is that YOU ARE OBTAINING A LICENSE FOR YOUR USE ONLY—THE SOUNDS DO NOT BELONG TO YOU. The implications are described below. The sounds, samples and programming in the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand remain the sole property of Garritan Corp. and are licensed (not sold) to you.

What You Can Do: You can use these sounds in recordings, music productions, public performances, and other reasonable musical purposes within musical compositions. You can use these sounds in your own musical compositions as much as you like without any need to pay Garritan Corporation or obtain further permission. If you do use these sounds, we ask that in any written materials or credits accompanying your music that utilizes material from the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand (CD booklet, film credits, etc.), that you include the following courtesy credits: “Piano samples used in this recording are from the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano”—or a similar credit where practicable. You are allowed a maximum of four (4) installations per purchase.

What You Cannot Do: The enclosed sounds cannot be re-used in any commercial sample library or competitive product. You are absolutely forbidden to duplicate, copy, distribute, transfer, upload, download, trade or loan this software or any of the contents in any way to anyone. You cannot redistribute this product in whole or in part through an archive, collection, through the Internet, or a binaries group, newsgroups, or any type of removable media, or through a network. You cannot resell the product without written permission and payment of an addition fee. The sounds and samples contained within this software cannot be edited, modified, digitally altered, re-synthesized or manipulated without direct written consent from Garritan Corporation.

Disclaimers and Conditions: A right to use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand is granted to the original end-user only, and this license is not transferable unless there is written consent from Garritan Corporation and payment of an additional fee. The sounds of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand will only work with the bundled Garritan Steinway ARIA Player and will not work with any other sampler. Licensor will not be responsible if the content of this disc does not fit the particular purpose of the Licensee. Please make sure before installing this item that it meets your needs. Information contained herein is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Garritan Corporation. The sounds are licensed “as is” without warranties of any kind. Neither Garritan Corporation, nor any agent or distributor can be held responsible for any direct or indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of this product in whatever form.

The Aria Engine is covered by the installer’s End User License Agreement and is incorporated by reference. The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand may not be returned for any reason other than manufacturing defects. The terms of this license shall be construed in accordance with the substantive laws of the United States of America and the State of New York. The user agrees to read the manual before seeking technical support and to make sure his or her system meets the recommended requirements.

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Specifications & Computer System Requirements

Th e following table lists the computer and hardware requirements for using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

You can use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano on most any mod-ern personal computer that meets the specifi cations listed below. Th e specifi cations provide the minimum standards. For optimal functioning, it is recommended you have a powerful enough com-puter with a fast CPU processor, a fast hard drive and a large amount of RAM. Because the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano is designed to give superb performance and realism, a modern, powerful computer will give the best results. We think that’s a small price to pay for the results you will get. Please see the support pages on the Garritan website if you are looking for specifi cations and recommendations for running the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

Computer System Requirementsts

Computer Operating System HardwareWindows PC Microsoft Windows XP

(SP2 recommended for XP)Microsoft Windows VistaMicrosoft Windows 7

2.8 Ghz CPU Pentium 4 or better, 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo or better recommended2 GB RAM Recommended3.5 GB of free hard drive space—Basic Edition(67GB Professional Edition & 16 GB of free hard drive space—Standard Edition)Hard drive speed of at least 7200 RPMDVD ROM drive required for installation Monitor with 1,024x768 resolution or betterA sound card compatible with ASIOMIDI: A MIDI interface may be required if you are using a MIDI keyboard (88-key full-sized MIDI key-board recommended). Some keyboards use USB.High quality speakers and amplifi er, or high quality headphonesInternet connection for online registration

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(32 bit operation only)Mac Intel 2.0 GHz CPU or better, Core 2 Duo or betterrecommended2 GB RAM Recommended3.5 GB of free hard drive space—Basic Edition(67GB Professional Edition & 16 GB of free hard drive space—Standard Edition)Hard drive speed of at least 7200 RPMDVD ROM drive required for installationMonitor with 1,024x768 resolution or betterA sound card compatible with Core AudioHigh quality speakers and amplifi er, or high quality headphonesMIDI: A MIDI interface may be required if you are using a MIDI keyboard (88-key full-sized MIDI key-board recommended). Some keyboards use USB.Internet connection for online registration

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The stated requirements represent minimum guidelines for the Standalone Steinway Aria Player. If you are using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano within a host music program, then there may be other additional resource requirements. Please also observe the system requirements of your host application, notation program and/or sequenc-ing program if applicable. The demands of various other processing software (including the sequencer, audio and effects processors, other plug-ins, and so on) can affect functionality.

Real Steinway Model D Specifications Depth: (Length) 8’ 11-3/4” (274 cm)Width: 61 1/4” (156 cm)Net Weight: 990 pounds (480 kg)Soundboard: Speaking length of #1 bass string

79 1/4” (201 cm)Tension: 45,373 lbs. (20,418 kg)Range: 7 & 1/3 octaves Pedals: Soft, sustaining, and full sostenuto Hardware: Solid brass; polished & lacquered

Furniture: Ebonized or Crown Jewel Collection veneer

Panel Stock: Quarter-sawn poplar corewood cross-banded and face veneered

Solids: Ebonized birch Legs: Ebonized birch, Walnut veneer over birch;

Locking devicesFinish: Heavy full-bodied black or clear lacquer;

completely hand-rubbed

Recommended Keyboards & Pedals

To play the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano ‘live’ it is recom-mended you have a MIDI keyboard, plus the necessary connections to your computer’s MIDI interface. The piano is a tactile instrument and the selection of a proper MIDI keyboard is very important. It is best to select a MIDI keyboard that feels right to you—that has the right touch and response and that will provide the best performance of the samples.

A full range 88-note weighted MIDI keyboard is recommended. Some important things to look for are:

An 88-key full-sized MIDI keyboardFull-sized keys the same size as those on a standard piano keyboardWeighted keys or “hammer action” keys that have been weighted to feel “heavy” or coun-terweighted, to simulate the feel or “touch” of a real pianoTouch-Sensitive keys that respond differently to different levels of pressure or velocity ap-plied to them. When playing softly, the keyboard triggers a softer sound; and when playing harder, the keyboard triggers a louder sound.A Sustain Pedal (continuous controller pedal required for proportional pedaling)A Sostenuto PedalA Soft Pedal

The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano supports sustain, sostenuto and soft pedaling. For sustain, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand sup-ports proportional pedaling, meaning that you hear all of the gradations between pedal up and pedal down positions. To use proportional pedaling, you must have a continuous controller

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MIDI sustain pedal. Please refer to the Garritan website for recommendations of keyboards and pedals that may be suitable for the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

Regarding Sound Cards & Midi Interfaces

The quality of the audio interface will have a significant effect on the quality of the sound you will hear from the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand. It will also have a substantial effect on performance (both latency and polyphony). Therefore, a good sound card is one of the most important components in optimizing the sound and performance of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

In theory, any audio or sound interface which the manufacturer supports for your operating system and computer, and which has good drivers—should work. However, you are unlikely to get the best sonic results from a sound card designed for computer games or system sounds. Most computers come with a consumer-grade sound card, and we recommend that you get a good quality sound interface beyond that which is built into your computer. Older SoundBlaster sound cards (which do not support multiple sample rates) and gamer-oriented or home system sound cards may be problematic. It is not possible for us to test all built-in or third-party sound cards, and some interfaces do have problems on some platforms; so please see the specifications page on the Garritan website if you are considering buying a new sound card to run the Garritan Authorized Steinway Concert Grand Piano.

Technical Info

A low latency audio interface with ASIO 2.0 (Windows), or Core Audio (Mac), drivers is required for the Authorized Steinway Piano to work as a stand-alone program. These drivers are normally installed with the audio interface, or the most recent versions can be acquired from the manufacturer’s website. Contact the manufacturer of your interface for more infor-mation. The drivers should be set to 24 bit, buffer size 256 samples (optimal) or 512 (more latency, but less CPU load) and 44100Hz Sampling Rate.

Please note:When the Garritan Authorized Steinway Concert Grand is running as a plug-in, it uses the audio driver selected by the host’s setup. If the host (typically your sequencer or notation program) is set up properly and works well, then the Authorized Stein-way plug-in should pass through the same audio and MIDI setup. For this informa-

tion, please refer to your sequencer, notation program or host’s manual.

Similarly, any MIDI interface the manufacturer supports for your system should work with the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

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Regarding Speakers, Amplification and Headphones

Amplifiers and speakers or headphones are needed to listen to the audio output that the Gar-ritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano produces through the computer’s audio or sound card(s).

The quality of the audio amplifiers and speakers is extremely important; there is little point in expending a great deal on high-end computer systems and an audio interface—and using inferior personal computer speakers.

Regarding 64-bit Computing

The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano is fully compatible with 64- bit Windows, with full 64 bit Mac compatibility planned for the future. Currently Mac runs as 32 bit only. The Garritan Steinway Player is also fully 32-bit compatible. At this writing, 64-bit computing is entering the marketplace; but 64-bit hosts, audio and MIDI drivers have not fully penetrated the market. To be true 64-bit the entire audio path must be 64-bit, in-cluding sampler, host, operating system, audio and MIDI hardware. As more hosts, operating systems and hardware become 64-bit enabled, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Con-cert Grand will work with those 64-bit platforms. Please also consult the Garritan website for further information and updated recommendations.

QUALITY

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A Brief History of the Steinway

The maker of over 570,000 instruments across its august history, the Steinway name is almost a synonym for piano. No school or church or concert stage is complete without a Steinway. Over 1,300 acclaimed Steinway Artists play Steinways exclusively. Over ninety-five percent of last season’s solo performances with the most highly regarded symphony orchestras used Steinways. And what Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arthur Rubinstein, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Billy Joel all have in common is—Steinway.

Steinway & Sons is an inseparable part of our musical culture and heritage for over a century and a half. (Steinway & Sons recently celebrated its 154th anniversary.)

Yet few of us know the modest beginnings of Steinway & Sons, and how it became the fore-most maker of the instrument, justly renowned for creating the world’s finest pianos. Founded in 1853, the distinguished and refined Steinway & Sons we know today is the result of a fascinating history, richly colored by the fruits of imagination and hard work, overcoming adversity and the winds of historical events, and unflagging dedication and commitment to innovation and excellence.

The story begins with Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, born in 1797 in the village of Wolf-shaven, Germany. Later, upon coming to the United States, Heinrich Americanized his name to Henry and the Steinweg name to the now familiar Steinway.

A master cabinetmaker previously apprenticed to an organ builder in Goslar, Henry built his first piano in the kitchen of his home in Seesen, Germany, in 1835. He presented it as a wed-ding gift to his beautiful young bride, Juliane Thiemer, in February 1836.

Thereafter, Henry began exhibiting his pianos, notably at the fair at Brunswick, and the brilliance of his designs and his workman-ship became more widely known and respected. The Duke of Brunswick—in whose militia he’d previously served—reportedly paid handsome sums for his pianos, furthering his reputation.

But this was a time of political and economic upheaval in Eu-rope. Germany still staggered under the aftereffects of Napo-leon’s devastation and the later insurgency of the Prussians. Henry feared for the safety of his family, and saw dim prospects for successfully building his business in a climate of turmoil and uncertainty.

In 1851, Henry, his wife, three daughters, and his sons, Heinrich Jr., Albert, William and Charles emigrated from Germany to the United States. His remaining son, Theodor, stayed behind for a time to run the piano business in Germany.

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After working for several years for various piano makers and learning the language and busi-ness practices of their new home, it was time for the family members to come together and launch their own enterprise.

Steinway & Sons was established as a verbal partnership on March 5, 1853 in a small, crowded workshop on Varick Street in Manhattan. The first piano produced by the fledgling company was sold to a New York family for $500—a considerable sum, in those times. (It is now dis-played at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.) Doretta, the oldest Steinway daugh-ter, was the star salesperson; and she offered free piano lessons to make a sale.

New York City was one of the major centers of piano-making in North America during the mid-1800’s, but it wasn’t long before Steinway & Sons began rising to the top amidst the fierce rivalry of dozens of competing firms.

Within a year Steinway & Sons outgrew its small Varick Street shop. In quick succession, the company moved to larger and larger facilities across the next few years; and the quality and in-novation of Steinway pianos spurred remarkable growth and ever-growing demand. By 1859, Steinway & Sons was producing about 500 pianos a year. Barely a year after they were making 1,800 pianos a year—and the Steinways suddenly found they were heading the world’s largest piano company… a mere seven years after founding the company.

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The crucial element in Steinway & Sons’ suc-cess was continually improving the instrument, literally reinventing it, amassing a formidable array of patents in the forthcoming years. By the end of the nineteenth century, Steinway & Sons had accrued an astonishing 114 different patents, encompassing the most significant de-velopments in the history of piano technology.

One of the first of many such awards was for Henry Steinway’s “overstrung” design [Patent #26532, Dec. 20, 1859]. A major structur-al improvement, it used a full cast-iron frame to support the soundboard and overstrung bass—a seminal advance of such magnitude that it revolutionized both the industry and the instrument. Capable of holding heavy-gauge strings under enormous tension, the overstrung design provided a brilliant and powerful voice; while the improved shape and string place-ment created a fuller, richer, more uniform tone.

In 1855, Steinway & Sons’ newly designed piano was introduced at the American Institute Fair at New York’s Crystal Palace, where it won the prestigious “Grand Gold Medal of Hon-or” for excellence in manufacturing and engineering. One of the most distinguished awards in America; it set the stage for what was to follow.

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At the Paris Exposition in 1867, Steinway & Sons stood head-and-shoulders above a crowded field of more than 400 pianos, triumphing with the top award—one of the pivotal events in piano history. Henceforth, the center of the growing piano-making industry revolved around Steinway innovations.

Steinway & Sons continued to garner top awards and prizes in virtually every exhibition in which they participated, catapulting the development of the instrument forward. In addition to American manufacturers, many European piano makers also began adopting Steinway designs and techniques; and the Steinway influence on the entire industry transformed the instrument into the piano we know today.

And the timing was right. In the world performance community, mid-nineteenth century composers like Chopin and Liszt were creating repertoire of such power that it outstripped and shattered older designs. But the robust Steinways were equal to the demands, and the Steinway instruments rapidly became the “piano of choice” for the greatest pianists of the times—treasured then as they are now for their exceptional sound quality, power and respon-siveness.

D Each Steinway concert grand piano is a masterpiece, comprised of some 12,000 parts, and the product of 300 highly skilled craftsmen. s

Today, the Steinway piano, the piano of Horowitz, of Van Cliburn, of Rachmaninoff and Liszt, is the performance piano chosen by ninety-five percent of piano soloists performing at the world’s most renowned concert halls.

Steinway & Sons crafts approximately 5,000 pianos a year worldwide, sold by nearly 200 au-thorized dealers around the globe. For over 15 decades there have been 18 distinctive models of Steinway pianos built. Each Steinway concert grand piano is a masterpiece, comprised of some 12,000 parts, and the product of 300 highly skilled craftsmen.

Through a century and half, through two world wars and economic cycles, the company’s hard work and determination kept it on course through difficult times. Now known as Stein-way Musical Instruments, Inc., the parent holding company also owns Conn-Selmer, the nation’s leading manufacturer of orchestra and band instruments.

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“From the Civil War through the Great Depression in the 1930’s to the flourishing 1990’s, Steinway & Sons pianos have endured,” said Henry Z. Steinway, great grandson of the founder. “This is a testament to the piano-making standards my grandfather established in 1853…”

It seems fitting in its commitment to quality and innovation that this Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano follows firmly in the footsteps of the Steinway & Sons tradition; a bridge across history foreshadowed in the work of still another giant of the past, Thomas Alva Edison. It was a Steinway & Sons piano that was used to make the first successful sound recording at Thomas Edison’s New Jersey laboratory—effectively, the first sampled instrument.

Thomas A. Edison wrote a letter to Steinway & Sons in June of 1890, saying that he wanted to purchase a Steinway piano because, “for some reason unknown to [him],” it gave better results than any others he had tried.

We believe you will agree with Mr. Edison.

For Further Reading:

For an excellent history on Steinway the following texts are recommended:“People and Pianos: A Pictorial History of Steinway & Sons”, by Theodore E. Steinway; Amadeus Press, 1953“Steinway”, by Ronald V. Ratcliffe, Chronicle Books, 1989

How a Steinway Piano is Made

Steinway’s brilliant innovation and inspired engineering across its early history literally created the concert grand piano we know today.

In the overall design, the Steinway philosophy, the hand craftsmanship—and most of all, excellence in tone and re-sponsiveness—modern Steinways have much in common with those the family first crafted over a century and a half ago.

Although there are over a dozen manufacturers building 9-foot concert grand pianos today, most are mass-produced. Steinways are not. Each Steinway piano is a unique work of art, a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Steinway still builds its instruments by hand, one at a time. Regardless of outward resemblances, no two Steinways are exactly the same: each has its own personality, its own sound and feel—the result of a perfect blend of artistry, technology and craftsmanship.

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The handcrafting of each concert grand piano takes upward of two years to complete. All components are made from the very finest materials with the greatest craftsmanship and skill. Equally as important, Steinways are still made the old-fashioned way: by hand, with care, by skilled, experienced artisans. More than 300 highly trained specialists are involved in the painstaking planning and meticulous construction of every single Steinway grand.

The creation of any fine musical instrument begins with the raw materials. Especially for a piano, they have a profound influence on its characteristics: the higher the quality of the ma-terials initially selected, the better the sound and performance of the finished piano.

D Each StEinway piano iS a uniquE work of art, a onE-of-a-kind maStErpiEcE. sPianos, of course, are made largely of wood, and Steinway & Sons is rigorously discriminating in its selection of raw stock. For optimal quality control, Steinway maintains its own lumber-yard, housing and curing vast quantities of the Alaskan spruce, maple, birch, poplar, pine and the other varieties that comprise their pianos. Most of that wood is discarded, though—only a fraction of the Steinway stock is used in an instrument. The choicest woods are judiciously hand-chosen for their grain, lack of blemishes and imperfections, and for their aesthetic and acoustical qualities.

Sitka spruce is selected for the soundboard, hard maple for the case and exterior cabinetry, and still other species for pin blocks, keys, action parts, and the multitude of other compo-nents that make up a piano. The wood in the Steinway factory lumberyard is left to air-dry and cure naturally for at least a year. Afterward it is further cured in a controlled environment before construction begins.

The soundboard is the most crucial component, endowing the Steinway piano with its sig-nature sound. Made exclusively out of the finest choice-grade Sitka spruce, the raw stock is painstakingly inspected to assure that grains align and blend, and color and finish will match throughout the soundboard. Specialists assure the suitability of the woods in density, strength, flexibility, and other physical characteristics necessary to the best possible acoustical temperament.

The soundboard woods are glued together, and then structurally stabilized with a complex of supporting ribs. The final soundboard, while relatively thicker in the middle, is precisely tapered toward the outer edges, creating an ideal profile and shape for the realization of the Steinway sound.

Since every Steinway soundboard is handcrafted and unique, each has its own individual dimensions. Each soundboard is individually measured, and the case is built expressly to ac-commodate that one distinctive soundboard. Unlike mass-produced instruments, therefore, in that each soundboard is individually designed and built, it will fit only the case that was correspondingly made for it.

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The case houses the mechanical working parts of the piano; but it also constitutes a critical member of the resonant body that will influence the overall sound of the instrument. The piano’s rim is made by a meticulous process of layering, gluing and shaping a laminate construction of many sheets of hard rock maple. The inner and outer rim, formed in one unified piece of the nine-foot concert grand, consists of 17 layers of solid, choice-grade close-grained maple.

After the rim woods are laminated together, they are carefully pressed and formed into the familiar arcs of a piano’s shape. The bending and shaping is performed in a single operation, with a special apparatus called a rim-bending vise that harks back to 1880. Developed by C. F. Theodore Steinway, the patented device is used to precisely form the heavy laminate stock of the rim into shape. Half a dozen workers are required just to lift the wood into the device and begin the shaping process.

After the bending process is completed, the case is left to settle and age for several months in a humidity and temperature-controlled environment. Once conditioned, Steinway workers trim away the rough edges. The ends of the case are cut to accommodate the keyboard and the supporting ledges that the soundboard rests upon. Repeated hand-planing, sanding and smoothing of the case prepares it for finishing: the rich, deep complexion of the Steinway, accomplished with multiple thin coats of premium black lacquer.

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In the building of a Steinway piano, it is rightly said that it is the details that count most. Craftsmanship in woodworking is essential; but it is the attention to even the smallest nuances that contribute so much more to the creation of a quintessentially great instrument.

Hence, during construction of a Steinway piano, all wood parts are joined by wooden dow-els, rather than more typically used metal pins or screws—which might adversely impact the sound and work free across time.

The fitting of the sounding board in the case is also a critical and detailed step in the process. It is imperative that the soundboard is flawlessly positioned and supported; yet remains free to vibrate in a manner perfect for response, brilliance, and clarity.

Steinway’s attention to this is unparalleled. The ribs of the soundboard, made from durable pine, are custom made for each instrument and hand-fitted to reinforce the soundboard crown. Wooden dowels are firmly inserted into the soundboard, protruding through the up-per surface, to mate exactly with the cumbersome cast-iron frame, and then guide the two parts together precisely.

The massive cast iron plate holds the tension of the stainless steel strings. Before it is placed into the piano case, the cast-iron plate is carefully sanded and varnished with several layers and fin-ishes to a glowing golden hue. The Steinway logo is hand-painted on the plate with pride.

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One of the earliest and most fundamental enhancements the Steinway family members contrib-uted to piano technology; the cast iron plate requires enormous strength, capable of withstand-ing over twenty tons of string tension: a remarkable piece of engineering, in that the casting must also be held to as little as two or three millimeters in dimensional tolerances.

Made at a separate company-owned casting plant in Springfield, Ohio, it is very nearly as large as the piano case, itself; and at 350 pounds, affixing it into the piano is one of the most delicate and demanding operations. Under the watchful eyes of Steinway’s heavy riggers, the cast-iron plate is gently emplaced upon the guide dowels, lowered into place precisely, so that it never once touches the soundboard at any point.

Now the major elements of a Steinway grand piano are in place; the case, the cast-iron frame and the soundboard; yet it will still be months before the piano can be played.

The bridge comes next. The bridge is that part of the piano that transmits the vibrations from the strings to the soundboard—the all-important link between the creation of sound and the projection of it. It is made of clear-grained rock maple, individually designed for each instru-ment, and crafted by hand for precise string placement. Once in place, the long and arduous process of stringing the piano is undertaken.

With the stringing done, the major elements of the piano are assembled, and it is time for the legs and lid. Fashioned by hand until seventeen years ago, Steinway has demonstrated its willingness to change with the times and use modern innovations when the results warrant it. Steinway & Sons’ automation department uses advanced numerically controlled CNC milling apparatus to precision machine the lids and legs.

Once the lid and legs are affixed, the pedals (soft, sustaining, and full sostenuto) made of heavy solid brass, are then assembled, and their mechanisms attached.

At this point the piano is structurally complete. But before the key frame and action are in-stalled—the delicate key mechanisms must not be exposed to the hazards of finishing over-spray—the nascent Steinway receives its outer clothing.

The piano is now covered with several layers of a high-quality lac-quer; about one millimeter thick, in all. A golden Steinway logo is sealed into the lacquer coat during the finishing. The lacquer takes ten days to harden, and thereafter a finishing specialist takes a week or more in fine sanding and repeated polishing…resulting in the typical classic ebony Steinway look.

And with that, at last, it is time to prepare the new Steinway to receive its keyboard and action. For material continuity and consistency, the keys are all made from a single block of wood, each one then padded with cotton. The keys are coated

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with a special material similar to ivory (the use of real ivory has been discontinued by interna-tional agreement), inserted in the key frame, and then attached to the action mechanisms.

The action mechanics, with its thousands of pieces, is now pre-regulated, tested, and prelimi-narily adjusted. Fine sanding is done to make sure there are no anomalies, as even the slightest splinter or irregularity can adversely affect the action of the piano. The hammers, made at the Steinway factory, are carefully incorporated into the action; and then the entire assembly is emplaced in the piano.

More than 12,000 parts go into making a Steinway grand piano. Every single one of them will be put to the test before it is considered a Steinway. Every key and every hammer, every spring and wire and piece of wool felt, is checked, rechecked and balanced—regulated to perfection. Quality control inspectors examine the appearance, affirm the sound integrity, and scrutinize the workings of every element of the instrument.

The final step is the tuning and voicing. It is important that when a pianist strikes the keys, everything works perfectly and uniformly. The sound must be satisfying, consistent and flaw-less. The tuning must be perfect. The action, which involves the lightness or heaviness of the piano’s touch, must perform smoothly, responsively and uniformly.

The details, again; Steinway knows their value. Steinway’s factory craftsmen know what striv-ing for perfection means, and they love their work—which, in the end, is the creation of nothing less than a masterpiece; an instrument of unequaled warmth, richness, and grandeur:a Steinway.

With this Authorized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand, we are proud and pleased to bring forward a technological sample of this masterpiece. We hope our humble efforts bring you closer to this magnificent instrument, and someday, perhaps, to your own authen-tic Steinway piano.

Sources:

Visit to the Steinway factory in AstoriaNew York Times, “Invention for 900 Hands”, May 11, 2003 to April 2, 2004—nine part series of articles in the New York Times that chronicles the making of one concert grand, No. K0862, as it is made at Steinway’s factory in Astoria, Queens.

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How the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Was Created

The concert grand piano is a unique and remarkable instrument. Its length of nine feet and weight of close to half a ton makes it physically the largest musical instrument commonly recorded. The concert grand piano’s expressiveness and dynamic range are unparalleled, from the gentlest pianissimo to thundering fortes—the greatest expressive range of any instrument. The instrument has an extremely broad pitch range, over seven octaves; and a stunning com-plexity in the richness of its harmonics, its overtones, and its acoustical interactions.

A magnificent instrument!

During the last two decades, many composers and arrangers turned to piano sample libraries to realize their musical goals; and a realistic Steinway piano library became an elusive Holy Grail of the sampling world. To that end, there have been dozens of Stein-way piano libraries, but none has met Steinway’s standards of excellence—nor had their originators had the privilege, as we had, of working together with Steinway & Sons to create them.

The Authorized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand is the culmination of literally years of creative work. Planning for the library began in 2003, when our team made the decision to develop the ultimate piano library.

“This was a very important project for Steinway & Sons,” states Gary Green, Steinway Vice Presi-dent of Business Development and Customer Satisfaction. “We have long recognized the need for a Steinway sampled sound set that would best reflect the complex architectures of the Steinway sound. We also understand the importance of quality samples and their use by amateur music enthusiasts, as well as prominent producers, composers, recording studios and other venues. We were extremely lucky to have Gary Garritan work with us on this technically and musically complex project. Although both Steinway & Sons and Gary Garritan recognize that nothing can replace the actual Steinway piano, we are extremely delighted that there is now a sampling product that comes closest to capturing the distinctive Steinway sound that we are proud to endorse.”

The concert grand piano is a challenging instrument to capture sonically. Its complex har-monics and interacting resonances were too grand for the constraints of samplers. In the past, compromises had to be made because of technological limitations—due to processor speed, hard disk or RAM limitations, limited polyphony, inability to do complex DSP (digital signal processing) and various other reasons.

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We began by imagining what the ideal virtual concert grand piano would be like if there were no technological limitations, and proceeded to develop with that as our goal. Technolo-gies were emerging so fast, we believed that the ability to do what we wanted would present itself. And it did. Computers became more powerful and software more efficient.

We analyzed existing libraries to discover what was available—and what was lacking. We con-sulted with Steinway artists, technicians and specialists to glean as much information as pos-sible before the recording sessions. The more we sought the advice of these experts, the more prepared we felt. Two things are crucial for a sampling session—quality and consistency. Quality includes the type of piano, recording technique, tuning and environment; and absolutely must be maintained for the entire duration of each sample. The slightest little noise or imperfection, and the sample is ruined. This was particularly demanding in the natural acoustics of the concert hall.

The best quality samples start with the highest quality instrument. In our pursuit of the best piano samples, we knew that we would need a very fine Steinway concert grand piano. Gary Green, Steinway Vice President, arranged for us to obtain one of Steinway’s finest Model D concert grand models from its piano bank at Steinway Hall.

The next imperative was to locate the finest possible environment in which to record the piano. Steinway recommended the Troy Music Hall. Troy Music Hall is regarded as one of the most acoustically perfect concert halls in the world. To record there meant that the samples would have their genesis in ideal surroundings.

With a perfect piano and the ideal concert hall we were off to a great start. Steinway then ar-ranged for the piano to be shipped from New York City to Troy, New York. Since the concert hall is on the third story of the Troy Savings Bank Building, Steinway & Sons arranged to have a crane lift the piano into the hall.

Having the right technician, a superb performing artist, a mas-terful engineer, and all the highest quality tools for the recording sessions was likewise vital. Our engineer was Brian Peters, a gift-ed engineer and classically trained musician who was intimately familiar with recording at Troy Music Hall. Mr. Peters has over twenty-five years of recording experience. He was chief audio engineer for the venerable audiophile label, Dorian Recordings, with hundreds of classical music recordings at the Troy Music Hall to his credit. While at Dorian, he mastered practically all of

the final masters for every release of Dorian’s catalog of over 500 CD’s. His special knowledge of the intricacies of recording in the Troy Music Hall was invaluable. His assistant engineer was Dan Czernecki from the Classical Recording Service based in Waterford, New York.

Eric Schandall, one of Steinway’s consummate technical masters, was there every single day for the recording sessions. Mr. Schandall is one of Steinway’s top technicians, responsible for training other Steinway technicians. He meticulously listened to each note for consistency,

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tuning and fidelity. His incredible acuity could hear the slightest imperfection; and if a note sounded even mi-nutely wrong to him, he would stop the recording—then tweak the offending note with his arsenal of specialized tools. He was constantly touching up, adroitly applying special techniques and tricks to assure the perfect sound. Mr. Schandall brought out the best in the piano; bril-liant at his work, the instrument could not have been in more capable hands.

William J. Jones, Jr. was the Steinway artist selected by Steinway & Sons to perform the record-ing session. Mr. Jones, a student of Russian pianist Alexander Borovsky, provided just the right touch. He knew how to make the recording of each note a performance. Mr. Jones’ patience and stamina were amazing; imagine being a virtuoso player and having to play scales for most of the day! Mr. Jones needed to play each note as consistently as possible for each run. You can barely fathom the tedium. Nevertheless, this may have been one of the most technically demanding and exacting performances of his career.

When you’re sampling an exceptionally fine instrument, you must capture each note’s full spectrum and tonal characteristics or you’ll seriously compromise the samples. That meant using superior equipment and paying flawless attention to recording technique. The subtle details, overtones, unique nuances and resonances would all be diminished if we settled for anything less.

We wanted to capture many different perspectives of the piano—what the piano would sound like if you were playing the piano; or if you were out in the audience, or close to the soundboard; as well as other flavors and colors. Fifteen microphones were used in the record-ing of the piano. Recording from many placements and positions would give us a wealth of alternatives from which to choose. Various microphone techniques were chosen for their uniqueness and capability to be merged or mixed with other techniques. Thus, a multitude of variations were created from the recordings—providing the end user wide and varied choices for the sound they want.

We utilized high-quality professional microphones of types preferred by audio professionals for capturing the full frequency spectrum of the Steinway piano. Two Schoeps MK4 cardioid microphones were placed inside the piano to balance the high and low string sections of the instrument. Two Microtech Gefell microphones were configured in an ORTF array for a close but balanced sound from the piano for a more intimate, less reverberant sound. In ad-dition, two Schoeps MK5 omni microphones were provided for a perspective from the side curve of the piano. Two spaced Neumann TLM170’s in wide cardioid mode provided the preferred classical approach of Mr. Peters. Two B&K 4006’s and a Jeklin disc provided the player’s perspective; and two widely spaced Schoeps MK21 microphones with ball diffusers provided the room perspective from the farthest location from the piano.

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Finding the ideal microphone placement—the “sweet spots”—required experimenta-tion and careful listening. The recording system was almost entirely made up of Met-ric Halo products. A MIO 2882 and two ULN2 firewire audio interfaces plus a soon to be released developmental product were utilized to record the project. Twelve of the microphone pre-amps were from the two ULN2’s and the Metric Halo (beta) device. We also used four channels of Prism mic pre-amps. This gave us 16 channels of world-class mic pre-amps into the A/D converters of the 2882 and the Beta firewire interfaces, which were all synchronized via WC (WordClock). We recorded every channel at 24-bit, 96 kHz resolution. (A piano has such richly harmonic content, 16-bit, 44.1 kHz equipment cannot adequately record it. The higher sample rate captures the top full range of the sound more accurately with less chance of distortion or aliasing.)

With this set-up, we could choose between the various mic techniques in the control room without affecting the data capture. The recording system used was part of the Metric Halo control software that captures the incoming audio via firewire hard drives with no extra over-head of the other DAW software. An Apple PowerBook controlled all of the audio interfaces except for the Prism, and fed the data to the large firewire hard drive arrays. There was also a tape back-up just in case.

With the right Steinway technician, artist, engineers and equipment, we were ready to record. Over the course of the next week, we set up and recorded more than twelve hours a day, and made additional six-hour overnight recordings most nights. We started with pedal-up samples, playing each of the 88 notes from the range of an almost inaudible pianissimo to a roaring fortissimo. We repeated the process for pedal-down notes, then soft pedal, sostenuto, release triggers and staccato notes—all at various dynamic levels. At times, Mr. Jones started at the lowest note of the piano and worked his way up the scale chromatically. Occasionally, he worked from the top note down. We also recorded sympathetic resonances, key clicks and mechanism noises, and piano soundboard impulse resonances.

Throughout this process, the engineers paid constant close attention to monitoring in order to obtain the best recording levels and signals. Mr. Schandall was also there to scrutinize every note that Mr. Jones played, to be sure each and every note was perfect.

As we proceeded with the recording, we had to decide how best to use the limited and costly time available. We wanted alternate takes for safety, and to effectively use all the available time we had at the Troy Music Hall. So, we devised a way to record during the middle of the night: we set up a Playola device, provided by QRS Inc. This device fits over the keys of the piano and allows one to “play” the piano remotely. Jeff Hurchalla programmed MIDI sequences to

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exercise a series of scales, so alternate material could be recorded while we slept. The Metric Halo control software was able to synchronize with the MIDI sequences and start and stop the recording files automatically.

After more than a week of intense and demanding recording, we had gathered an astonish-ing 1.2 terabytes of audio data, comprising tens of thousands of samples. We never realized how long, or how much data, it would take to sonically capture a Steinway concert grand piano—with all of its pedal combinations and dynamic abilities!

Producing a “playable” sampled piano instrument from a myriad of source recordings proved to be a daunting challenge, involving a mountain of editing and programming work. A laborious and tedious task, it requires a great deal of care and unfaltering attention to detail. Each of the fifty thousand individual note samples had to be sliced up, trimmed, and named. Selecting the best takes for each note took still more time, as we made decisions on a note-by-note basis.

D …we are extremely delighted that there is now a sam-pling product that comes closest to capturing the dis-tinctive Steinway sound that we are proud to endorse.

Gary Green, Vice President, Steinway & Sons sFor editing and programming, we developed our own in-house software. It took over a year just to edit the samples—a Herculean task, to say the least. But even with meticulously edited and com-prehensive samples of the finest piano in the world in hand, the job was far from over. We knew we had to make the samples musically playable and expressive. Mere notes alone cannot convey the act and art of musical performance. When emulating the sound of a real piano, the more control options you have, the more successful you will be at creating a realistic performance. Shortcomings in the past had made sampled instruments the antithesis of expressive performance—but we felt it was time to change that perception, forever.

Real pianists perform on the instrument in a variety of ways. They alter dynamics instantly or gradu-ally over time; they do a variety of subtle pedaling; and they impart a wealth of refined playing techniques. What we needed was a way to allow a keyboard player to emulate those and other perfor-mance actions with relative ease. That would require an innovative solution.

Tom Hopkins, a fine musician, composer, and programmer extraordinaire, did the instru-ment programming. Hopkins’ musicianship and programming magically transformed the library into a coherent and musical whole.

We looked at all the samplers on the market and none had the features we would need to develop the instrument we had in mind. We needed a very stable underlying engine, with the ability to do sympathetic resonance DSP, proportional pedaling, and high-order convolution. But nothing out there fit our needs.

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We decided to develop our own specialized sampler for this extraordinary project. For this, we enlisted David Viens from Plogue Technologies to create the uniquely powerful autho-rized Steinway sample piano engine. Magnus Jonsson produced the sympathetic resonance DSP algorithms; and Jeff Hurchalla developed the convolution engine. Every step of the way, we were charting new territory with technologies never before attempted.

To us, the user experience was equally important. Software samplers were often laden with knobs, dials and sliders and seemed like one needed a degree in rocket science to operate them. It was an endless source of frustration for many users.

We wanted a user interface that was intuitive, inviting, very easy to use, and which provided the user with a pleasing experience. We also wanted to reflect the distinguished, classic “look and feel” of the beautifully designed Steinway. To help us achieve this goal, we enlisted the services of Wallwork Curry McKenna, the marketing firm that handles all of Steinway & Sons artwork and creative design. After many discussions with Steinway & Sons and Wallwork, we came to a consensus on a GUI design that would be ideal for the Authorized Steinway virtual piano software. We also sought the help of James Mireau, who has been the Garritan design consultant for the past several years. James did the 3D rotoscopy design that displays a visual perspective of the various piano listening positions.

Gradually all of the elements came together. The sound was superb, the sample engine was rock solid and reliable, the look was elegant, and the playability was unparalleled. We pre-viewed a pre-release version of the Authorized Steinway and the praise was unanimous.

A unique and unparalleled virtual sampled concert grand piano had emerged, one that was worthy of the Steinway & Sons name.

The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

In selecting the finest possible recording environment in which to sample this Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand, we scoured the globe for the ultimate piano concert hall. We were fully prepared to travel anywhere and to spare no expense or effort. Our aspiration in this was to secure that “perfect space”; one which would flawlessly showcase the grandeur and excellence—as well as the subtleties and nuances—of the revered concert Steinway.

Hundreds of possibilities were considered, eventually winnowed down to dozens; many of which were visited and evaluated.

But one concert hall consistently rose head-and-shoulders above all the others scrutinized in our search. That “perfect space”, it uncompromisingly met our most stringent acoustical de-mands and technical requirements. It had likewise proved its worth in the eyes of performing artists, a respected and sought-after performance venue of the finest pianists for well over a century.

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The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, our choice, is a gleaming gem of a space in a stately old upstate New York town. It was completed in April, 1875—just twenty-two years after the founding of Steinway & Sons. Located in downtown Troy, New York, not many are aware of it—but The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall is among the greatest piano concert halls in the world.

The 1,253-seat Troy Savings Bank Music Hall is also a registered National Historic Land-mark. It is the second-oldest concert hall in the United States, one of the last remaining of the august 19th Century concert halls, and the roster of celebrated pianists who’ve performed there is truly impressive.

George B. Post, a well known New York architect, reportedly designed the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall based upon its grand European counterparts of the day. World-renowned for its acoustical excellence, particularly for piano performances, sound propagates throughout this space with a luster and clarity that has captivated both audiences and virtuoso musicians for over 130 years.

There are various theories as to why the Troy Music Hall, considered by many experts to have the finest acoustics in America, has such richness, depth, detail and perfection. Research papers about the acoustics of this hall, published in the Journal for the Acoustical Society of America, suggest a number of factors.

First, the hall’s overall dimensions and proportions: the ratio of its length (106 feet) to its nar-row width (69 feet) and unusually high ceiling (61 feet) are ideal. The rectangular “shoebox” design reflects the sound in a way that imparts fullness. Its depth seems to be the perfect pro-portion to ensure proper reverberation time (the time between the listener hearing the direct sound and the echoed reflections of it).

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The stage, with a curved perimeter of 70 feet and depth of 20 feet, is just the right size and shape in relation to the hall. The acoustically “hard” back walls behind the stage, assisted by the curved eves over the stage, direct sound back towards the audience with efficiency, ac-curacy, and definition.

The entire structure of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, including the floor, is made of wood. This allows the hall to resonate freely, especially at lower frequencies, which adds to the richness and depth of the sound. Acoustician Christopher Jaffe once told the music critic Harold Schonberg that the hall can “vibrate like the belly of a violin”.

Also contributing to the sound are the radiating dispersal patterns created by the opulent architectural ornamentation intrinsic to the period decor. These irregular surfaces serve to “scatter” the sound, resulting in greater smoothness and uniformity of distribution.

Architecturally, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall is a masterpiece, as well. Its distinguished somber exterior, shaded in canopied street-level windows, conceals unexpected extravagance. Multistory stained-glass windows bestow their radiant glow in the halls and lobby. Ornate iron staircases lead to upper and lower boxes and the balcony; and Parquet and Dress Circle seats are reached by a unique central stairway. Throughout, George B. Post’s French Renais-sance-style ornamentation creates an atmosphere of luxuriant splendor, with much of the original frescoing still evident; and above, a massive chandelier graces the hall’s towering heights. Completed for $435,000, a considerable sum in those times, the workmanship and detail are magnificent—and all of these splendid adornments contribute to the auditorium’s superb sonic signature.

Indeed, the acoustics of Troy Savings Bank Music Hall are so extraordinary that one of the world’s foremost classical music record labels, Dorian Records, recorded more than a hundred compact disks in this hall. Dorian, one of the most highly regarded labels amongst audio-philes, also based their record company in Troy, New York, in order to take advantage of the Troy Music Hall’s unparalleled sound qualities.

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall historian Rutherford Hayner once wrote, “The building of [this] great Music Hall, one of the really important structures of its kind in America … gave to the community a sort of rallying point musically. Certain it is that no city of equal size in the country has enjoyed so much of the world’s best music and musicians.”

Historically, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall has hosted most of the world’s finest pianists, a great many of them Steinway artists. The premier musicians of the day made it a point to perform at the renowned hall, and it remains today among the most highly preferred venues of serious artists.

To name just a few of the acclaimed pianists who have appeared at the Music Hall—all playing Steinway pianos—we might include: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vladimir Horowitz, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Artur Rubenstein, Myra Hess, Jose Iturbi, Harold Bauer, Josef Lhévinne, Andre

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Watts, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock—and the list goes on. It is no surprise that Steinway & Sons selected the Troy Music Hall as the venue for the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

Many warm thanks to Laura Kratt, Director of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, for facili-tating and arranging for the use of this fine music hall.

Sources:

Interviews with Laura Pratt, Director of Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, and Brian Peters, former Engineer for Dorian Records Troy’s Hidden Treasure by David Lander http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/1999/2/1999_2_126.shtml

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INSTALLATION

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Installing the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Grand

Installing the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand is easy. Before you begin make sure you meet the system requirements and that there is enough room on your hard drive to contain all the samples. Th e full installation of the Basic Edition requires 3.5 Gigabytes. Th e Professional Edition with all fi ve piano perspectives in 24-bit requires 67 gigabytes of free hard disk space and the Standard Edition with two piano perspectives requires 16 gigabytes of free hard disk space.

Installation involves installing the Steinway instrument samples and also the advanced Aria sample player. A setup program will guide you through the process step-by-step.

3 Steps for Installing the Garritan SteinwayStep 1. SetupStep 2. Sample Manager InstallationStep 3. Authorizing

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Setup:

First make sure your system meets the system requirements. See the previous section on page 16 of this manual for the system requirements. Also make sure your audio and MIDI hardware is set up and working with your computer.Close any programs you are running.For the Basic download version, after download, unzip by double-clicking Garritan_Steinway_Basic_Setup.zip. Th e Archive Utility (Mac) or Windows will unpack this to your default downloads directory. Browse to the location where you extracted the fi les and run WIN_Garritan_Stein-way_1.02.exe (PC) or Double click on MAC_Garritan_Steinway_1.02.mpkg (Mac). Accept the defaults on the installer. For Standard & Pro versions, take the Installation disk out of its case, put it) into your DVD drive in the computer and close the drive tray. You should see a Welcome Sceen.

If the setup screen does not automatically appear:Use the Windows Explorer (PC) or the Apple Finder (Mac) to open the installation DVD, or for Basic Download users, WIN_Garritan_Steinway_1.02.exe (PC) or Double click on MAC_Garritan_Steinway_1.02.mpkg (Mac)Th en start the Sample Manager by double-clicking “Install Steinway” setup.exe (Windows) or the Installer Icon (Mac).

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You will then be asked to fill out your name and to read and accept the End User Li-cense Agreement before proceeding with installation.

The setup lets you select which plug-in formats you require. These plug-in formats al-low the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano, in addition to standalone use, to run as a virtual instrument plug-in that seamlessly integrates into your favorite music software program or sequencer (assuming that it accepts such instrument plug-ins). Please refer to the chapter “Using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand as an Instrument Plug-In” (page 59) for further information.

For Windows the choices are VST & RTASFor Mac the Choices are Audio Units, RTAS and VST

You will also be prompted for the folder in which the Steinway Virtual Concert Grand application and support files should be installed; and where the shortcuts and icons should be placed. (You will be asked later where you want the samples to be installed.) For most instances, use the default.

Setup is now ready to begin installing the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Con-cert Grand Piano. Click on “Install” to begin installation and the program will begin installing.

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After a few moments a dialog box will notify you that the setup wizard has finished installing the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand on your computer.

Note for PC Users:If you see a window that pops up for Windows installing certain components, do

not interrupt or cancel.

You will then be prompted to launch the Steinway Sample Manager. You will not have a completed installation until you run the Steinway Sample Manager:

Important:Please do not cancel setup after installation begins, otherwise a partial, broken installation may result.

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The Steinway Sample Manager

The Steinway Sample Manager installs the piano samples onto your hard drive. It will also let you select the various piano perspectives you want to install.

You can launch the Steinway Sample Man-ager at any time from the Garritan Stein-way folder or from the desktop icon. When launched, you will be prompted to enter your serial number; which is located on a sticker on the inside of your DVD case (or sent via email in the downloable Basic ver-sion).

You will then be given a choice as to which Listener Perspective(s) you wish to install. The Professional Edition will give you five perspective choices and the Standard Edition will give you two perspective choices. Basic version only has one perspective.

The Listener Perspective choices are:

Classic (Professional and Standard Editions)Under Lid (Professional and Standard Editions)Player (Professional Edition only)Stage (Professional Edition only)Close (Professional and Besic Editions)

You will be prompted to insert the first sample DVD discs into your drive (and the installer will ask for additional DVD discs when and if needed). You will initially have three action choices for each piano perspective:

Take No Action (that is, do not install this perspective)InstallLocate Existing (used only if you need to tell the application about a previous instal-lation of a perspective somewhere on your system—ideal in case you have a portable hard drive and multiple computers, like home and studio)

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Once you’ve made the Listener Perspective selections, you will be prompted to choose a loca-tion to install the large library files. A dialog box will ask you to select a destination folder. Choose a folder on a disk drive that is fast and has enough free space. You will probably achieve the best results if you choose a drive that isn’t being used for system files. You will also be given the choice to install 24-bit or 16-bit versions (Professional Edition only). 16-bit High Quality is recommended under most situations, due to its higher performance and reliability.

To install the entire library of every Listener Perspective for the Professional Edition you’ll need 67 gigabytes of free space for the 24-bit version (42 gigabytles for the 16-bit version) and for the Standard Edition you will need 16 gigabytes of free space. For the Basic Edition you need 1.3 gigabytes of free space.

When a different Sample DVD is needed, the current one will eject, and the Sample Manager will prompt you and wait for the next DVD to be inserted.

Installing such large library files is very resource-intensive, and it may take upwards of several hours to install all of the perspectives. Clicking the Cancel button will stop the installation process. You can always install or remove the various Listener Perspectives at any time (that is, you can load just one perspective initially—and then load additional perspectives at a later time).

When sample installation is complete, the Sample Manager will ask if you’d like to authorize your current copy of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand. This proce-dure is described in the next chapter.

When you are finished with installation, remove the disc(s) from your drive and store them in a safe place. If anything happens to your computer, you can reinstall the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano from the original discs.

Authorizing the Garritan Steinway Virtual Concert Grand

After you install the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand software, you will need to authorize your software license. To do this, you will need a web browser to access our registration server at www.garritan.biz.

To register, you will need the Serial Number that is affixed to the inside cover of your DVD case. Go to the Garritan Steinway registration web page. Be prepared to enter this serial num-ber along with your email address and other information in the required fields. You will then be emailed an Unlock Key after registering on the web site.

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Garritan Software Registration

In order to use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand you will need to register the software. Using your internet browser, go to http://www.garritan.biz. You will be presented with the Log In screen. Since this is likely to be your first product requiring registra-tion you will need to sign up and create your account. Click on the sign-up link.

Account Registration

Choose a Username, a valid email address and password (entered twice). Click on the check box agreeing to Terms of Service, then click on the Register button.

After successful registration you will be presented with the following screen:

You now need to activate your account. An email will be sent to you which contains a link. Click on the link (or enter the link in the address box in your browser) to confirm your ac-count.

Clicking on the link in the email takes you back to the Login Screen. You may now log in to your account using the email address and password you entered during registration.

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On your first log-in you will have the opportunity to enter some profile details. Once you do this you can amend your details at any time.

Privacy Policy:All personal information will be kept strictly confidential. It will not be shared with or sold to any third parties for any purpose.

Once you have entered your details, click on the Home link at the top of the right hand menu to enter your serial number.

Upon entering your serial number you will be taken to the Software Keys & Updates page.

You can now download the license card for the Steinway. The “license card” is an image re-sembling a typical credit card. This image contains your registration key encoded within it.

You can now save the “license card” .png image file to your hard drive (keep it in a safe place). For convenience, we recommend that you initially save the .png file to your desktop. You will also receive a copy of the license card in your email inbox.

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Locate the “license card” image where you saved it on your hard drive. It will look like this:

Open the Steinway Standalone player software application. If you saved the .png file to your desktop or a folder of your choosing, simply click and hold on the file, drag the “license im-age” or file icon directly onto the application itself, and release.

Drag and DropThe PNG file onto the Garritan Steinway Application

The authorization will take place automatically and will bring up the following message: “Garritan Steinway is now registered”.

Extremely Important!!The .png file contains your sensitive, encrypted personal information. Carefully pro-tect this file. DO NOT GIVE THIS FILE TO ANYONE OR DISTRIBUTE IT IN ANY WAY OR YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION WILL BE COMPRO-MISED. IF THE FILE BECOMES PUBLIC THE CARD NUMBER WILL BE BLACKLISTED AND THE CARD REVOKED. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOU GIVE YOUR PERSONAL DETAILS TO A THIRD PARTY. IF THE CARD IS STOLEN, CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY. Without a valid card you will also not be able to obtain critical updates to the program.

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As an alternative, you can also drag the picture from the web page onto the Authorized Stein-way application, and it will register in most cases. Please note that not all browsers will allow “drag and drop” actions from within the program. This is another reason it is best to save the .png file to your desktop and “drag and drop” it from there.

Drag and Drop the Card ImageFrom the Registration Server onto the Garritan Steinway Application

The authorization will take place automatically and will bring up the following message: “Garritan Steinway is now registered”.

If you choose not to register the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand after installation, you may do so later by launching the registration tool located in the Garritan Steinway folder. However, it is recommended that you first register the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand immediately after installation.

Important Note:You are allowed a maximum of four (4) installations. If you have special circum-stances or require site licensing, please contact us.

After first launching the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano you may use it for thirty (30) days before completing the authorization process.

USING THE AUTHORIZED STEINWAY VIRTUAL MODEL D CONCERT GRAND

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How to Use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand

Once installed and authorized, it’s time to get started with the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand Piano. There are three ways to use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand: as a plug-in within a sequencer, with a supported notation program, or you can play it ‘live’ as a standalone application.

Playing the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand as a Standalone Application (‘Live’ Play)

The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand can be launched by itself and played live via MIDI keyboard. The standalone version of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano effectively makes your computer, audio hardware and MIDI keyboard into a virtual Steinway Piano that can be played independently of other programs.

This mode is ideal for practicing, silent play and live playing. Unlike using it as a plug-in within a sequencer or notation program, your recording ability is limited and you can not edit your performance (though you can use various audio software programs for this).

Launching the Garritan Authorized Steinway in Standalone Mode (Live Play)

First, make sure that you have followed the instructions in the installation section of this manual. Be certain that your audio/sound interface and MIDI hardware interfaces are prop-erly connected to the computer, your speakers or headphones are connected and everything is powered up.

To launch the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand as a standalone applica-tion, click on the Steinway logo on your desktop or go to the Program Files or Applications folder and launch “Garritan Steinway”.

Basic Setup Information for Standalone Mode

To use the standalone version you have to configure the Audio and MIDI settings in the Steinway Aria Player dialog box (found in the Tools menu) before you can play. When used as a plug-in, the host sequencer or notation program has already set up its audio and MIDI connections, and the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand “plugs in” to them. However, with standalone operation the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Con-cert Grand communicates directly with your audio and MIDI interface.

Setup for Mac and Windows computers is similar, except where indicated. Note that if you change your audio interface, you will almost certainly need to readjust these settings.

Call up the Preferences setup dialog from the Tools menu on the Steinway Aria standalone interface. You’ll see drop-down menus for MIDI Device, Audio Devices, Stereo Pair, Sample Rate and Buffer Size.

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MIDI Device Menu: All supported (and installed) MIDI interfaces are available in this drop-down list. Select the desired MIDI device from the list. The Steinway Aria Player sends and receives MIDI on these selected devices.

Audio Device Menu: All supported (and installed) audio interfaces are available in this drop-down list. Select the desired audio device from the list.

Stereo Pair: Here you can define which of the stereo outputs should be used. Many pro audio devices have a variety of outputs, so you may choose which of these are available on your system that you would like the Steinway Virtual Piano to output through.

Sample Rate: Depending on the sound card and driver you are using, various sample rates are available. Set the desired sample rate here. Choose 44100Hz—if available— for best results.

Buffer Size: The buffer size setting will determine the delay between pressing a key on your MIDI keyboard and hearing the sound (aka ‘latency’). The default buffer size of 512 samples typically works well, but smaller buffer sizes will give a faster response (lower latency) and higher buffer sizes will give better audio performance (more po-lyphony and higher fidelity). Most modern computers and audio interfaces can handle a buffer size of 512 samples without a significant reduction in polyphony. If the sound is breaking up or crackling when a note sounds, then first check that the audio connec-tions and wiring are good. Then, try a larger audio buffer size setting. Please note that there is typically a trade-off between higher buffer sizes (polyphony and sound fidelity) and lower buffer sizes (faster response or lower latency). Also note that the sound card buffer size settings determine latency, rather than Steinway Aria Player itself.

Once you have your Audio and MIDI set up, and have loaded one of the piano patches, you can begin playing the virtual Steinway piano. Press (use your mouse to click on) a key on the on-screen piano keyboard on the Steinway Aria Player interface. If you can hear the piano play, try playing a key on your MIDI keyboard. If the MIDI and audio configurations are cor-rect, you should hear the corresponding piano note. If not, check the MIDI connections and

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wiring, and the MIDI output channel of your MIDI keyboard. Also check that the channel is specified correctly. If you are hearing the notes play, then the basic configuration is complete, and you are ready to use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand.

File Menu for Loading and Saving Presets in the Standalone

Configuration presets for the piano can be saved and loaded. This gives the user the ability to customize the piano to suit personal preferences and save configurations for convenient fu-ture use. The File menu choices are:

Load—any saved configuration preset files in Aria format can be loaded by clicking on this choice and selecting the desired file.

Save—any configuration can be saved by clicking on this choice, typing a name for the custom preset and saving to a desired location.

Save as default—any settings can be saved as part of the default, to be loaded auto-matically at the time the Steinway Aria player is booted in standalone mode.

Tools Menu in Standalone ONLY

The Tools menu includes:

Preferences—as described in the basic setup information above.

Render offline—Standard MIDI files can be rendered to audio offline using this feature.

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To use the Render Offline feature:

Click on the Load MIDI file button.Select the desired MIDI fileClick on the Name audio file button.Name the audio file and specify its location.

Once the files are in place, there is just one more step:

Click on the Render button. The audio file will be rendered to the specified location.

MIDI File Player and Audio Recorder (Standalone Version Only)

MIDI Audio

The standalone version of the player includes a MIDI file player and Audio Recorder. It is located at the bottom of the standalone window. This feature enables the user to load and play a standard MIDI file and render an audio file from it. The MIDI controls are located on the left hand side and the audio controls on the right.

To load and play a MIDI file:

Click on the “Load” button.Choose the file you wish to load.Click on the “Play” button.

The MIDI file will play back using the presently loaded microphone perspective and any other features (e.g. Ambience reverb) activated in the player. The progress bar will move to the

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right as the file is played. To start the file from the beginning click on the “Go to beginning” button. The file can be stopped at any time by clicking on the “Stop” button.

To record your playback to an audio file:

Click on the “Name file” button.Name the file and specify its desired location.Click on the “Record” button.Start playback by clicking on the MIDI “Play” button.When playback finishes, click on the MIDI “Stop” button.Click on the Audio “Stop” button.

The audio file will be located on your drive in the location you specified.

Note:There is also an offline rendering feature (explained previously) that is located in the

“Tools” menu of the standalone version.

Using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand as an Instrument Plug-In

When used as a plug-in, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano is not a standalone program but rather a virtual instrument module that is seamlessly integrated into your favorite music software program or sequencer (assuming that it accepts such instru-ment plug-ins). They are called “plug-ins” because these are modular software applications that run inside a “host” music application, (i.e. a sequencer or notation program, typically).

There are various uses as a plug-in:

MIDI recording and sequencing of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual PianoAudio mixing of Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano with other instrument tracks within a single programEasy automation of Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano parameters in the music software programEffect processing of Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano sounds using effect plug-ins in a music software programSaving and recalling of all plug-in settings when the music software program or se-quencer file is reloadedIntegration with other instruments into a “virtual studio”

MIDI sequencing is akin to the old self-playing pianos. As the player pianos used mechanical techniques to reproduce performance by associating key presses and durations with holes in paper, MIDI sequencers use electronic data to record and reproduce performances. When you play a note on a MIDI keyboard, you are instructing the MIDI keyboard to play a note for

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a period of time, as well as how soft or loud that note will sound. The MIDI Sequencer will record and play back this data. A major advantage to using a sequencer is that all settings are saved together with the song files and are totally retained and recalled upon reload.

A great thing about plug-ins is that they work with a large variety of compatible music pro-grams. For example, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand can be used as a VST plug-in in many VST music programs, sequencers, supported notation programs and hosts. Or as an Audio Units plug-in or as an RTAS plug-in.

There are various major plug-in standards:

Plug-in Standard

Description Windows Mac

VST The VST plug-in stands for Virtual Studio Tech-nology and was developed by Steinberg, the mak-ers of the Cubase family of audio programs. It is also used by Cakewalk Sonar, Mackie Tracktion, Magix Samplitude, Nuendo, FL Studio and other sequencers.

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Audio Units The Audio Units (AU) plug-in standard was de-veloped by Apple Inc. for Core Audio under Mac OS X. Audio Units is the preferred plug-in format on Mac OSX and is used by Apple GarageBand & Logic and MOTU Digital Performer.

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RTAS RTAS plug-ins (Real Time Audio Suite) are de-signed to work in the Digidesign Pro Tools envi-ronment. Pro Tools hardware and software are used extensively in the pro audio and post production communities.

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Basic Setup Information for Using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano as a Plug-In Instrument

To use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand as a plug-in instrument, you simply launch your host music application/sequencer first and then launch the Garritan Autho-rized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano from within it. Make sure that your sequencing host program is properly installed and configured, and that it is producing sound properly. Used as a plug-in, the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand’s audio and MIDI data is managed by the host music software application.

Using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand in a Specific Music Program or Sequencer

The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand works as a plug-in instrument within many popular music software programs. Each music software application has its own approach to handling plug-in instruments. They each have a different method of installation as well as

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differing means of loading and accessing plug-ins. It is important to make sure that you refer to the instructions in your music software application’s manual regarding the loading and opera-tion of plug-in instruments.

Although it is not within the scope of this manual to delve into how plug-ins work for the various music applications, there will be tutorials on how to use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand with the various music software programs. Please refer to the Support Wiki pages on the Garritan website at www.garritan.info.

Saving the Authorized Steinway Parameters in a Music Program or Sequencer

While using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand with a host music application, when you save a sequence or project with the host program, you will save all of the Garritan Steinway Virtual Concert Grand’s parameters as well. The parameter saving will occur automatically when you save the file in your music application and you need do nothing in the Steinway Aria Player interface for this to happen. When you re-load your host music project, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano settings will revert to the state in which they were when you saved your project file.

Important Technical Notes:Windows VST applications only: To use the Garritan Steinway with more than one VST application, you need to manually copy the SteinwayVST x86.dll file, installed into the chosen folder during installation of the library, to the appropriate VST-com-patible host application’s VST folder. Please refer to your particular application’s user’s guide and the Garritan support site for more information.

Regarding 64-bit hosts: Some hosts have one common VST folder for both x64 and 32-bit plug-ins, please only use the version of the plug-in that is native to your host, e.g.: x64 bit version of Sonar, use the SteinwayVST_x64.dll.

Mac OSX has standard folders for both VST and AudioUnits plug-ins and do not require this extra step.

An additional copy of the VST plug-in is available in the main Garritan Steinway applications folder, in the VST subfolder. Please don’t use this folder as your main “vstplugins” folder.

Please note that a saved sequence in one music application may not be useable in other music applications, as each application generally has its own proprietary format.

Using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand with a Notation Program

Notation is a fundamental part of music creation. Notation programs allow you to easily create and print sheet music with your computer. Until recently it was not possible to play realistic sounds from notation programs, but Garritan has pioneered the use of notation software pro-grams with samples.

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There are two ways to use the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand with notation programs. One is to use it directly from within a notation program that is capable of hosting plug-in instruments. The other is to use the Steinway Player and route the MIDI out-put from the notation application to the player. Recent advances in notation technology will allow you to play the Authorized Steinway virtual piano sounds directly from within certain notation programs.

Note:Some notation programs may not support software instrument plug-ins. And some older versions may also lack plug-in support. Please check your notation program to make sure it supports VST or Audio Units software instrument plug-ins.

There are many resources concerning the specifics of how to use the Authorized Steinway Vir-tual Concert Grand with various notation programs on the www.garritan.com website includ-ing tutorials, notation files, tips, techniques, plug-ins, special programming, troubleshooting advice, and informative links.

How the Garritan Steinway Aria Player Works

The Basic Interface and the Four View Screens

The Steinway Aria Player is a custom-made player developed specifically for the Garritan Au-thorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano. It constitutes the best sounding and most powerful sample engine available, built from the ground up for high performance and excep-tional quality. The Steinway Aria Player enables you to load the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano sounds, control various parameters for playback, and do a num-ber of things no other player on the market can do. The user interface of the Garritan Steinway Aria Player was designed in conjunction with Wallwork, Curry and McKenna, the marketing firm that handles all of the Steinway & Sons artwork and creative design. The software engine was custom designed and programmed by Plogue Art et Technologie Inc.

The Steinway Aria Player has four control areas or “screens” that are accessed by the four view tabs across the top right. Those screens consist of the “Main” view, the “Space” view, the “Tune” view and the “Info” view.

All of the four screens consist of several main parts: The Tabs, the Virtual Keyboard, the Virtual Pedals, The Listener Perspective Picture and the Control sections. This part of the manual will familiarize you with the Steinway Aria Player interface.

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Some aspects of the Steinway Aria Player interface are identical across the four screens: the Listener Perspective Image, the Virtual Keyboard, and the Virtual Pedals will all appear on the Main, Space, Tune and Info Screens.

Listener Perspective Images

To the left of the user interface is a picture of the perspective that is loaded into the Stein-way Aria Player. When first loaded, this image is animated—the image zooms to the proper perspective.

This Listener Perspective image will be viewable in all of the tabbed views so you always know which perspective is loaded. To change the listener perspective, go to the Main Screen and select a perspective you wish to hear.

The Virtual Keyboard

The virtual keyboard on the Steinway Aria Player will allow you to audition the sound of each note. After loading a perspective, you can hear each note by simply clicking on the keys on the screen with your mouse. Note that the keys have “dynamic sensitivity” so you can hear the various dynamic levels: clicking on the uppermost portion of the key will produce the softest

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dynamic; clicking the bottommost part of the key will produce the loudest dynamic; click-ing between those points on the key will produce the intermediate dynamics, proportional to position.

Note:Clicking on the graphic keys in the player will highlight the note, but the note will not be recorded in a sequencer. Notes will only be recorded if they are triggered by sequencer tracks or an external keyboard controller. If you have a MIDI keyboard connected, you may play the samples using your keyboard.

This virtual keyboard is viewable in all of the tabbed views.

The Virtual Piano Pedals

To the right of the virtual keyboard are three virtual piano pedals—the una corda (soft pedal), sostenuto pedal and sustain pedal (damp-er), respectively, from left to right. The virtual pedals are viewable in all of the tabbed views.

Piano Pedaling

An authentic Steinway Model D Concert Grand Piano has three pedals: the damper (or sus-taining) pedal on the right; the soft (or una corda) pedal on the left; and the sostenuto pedal in the middle. The full functionality of these pedals is faithfully emulated in the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand.

The great Anton Rubinstein romantically opined that “the pedal is the soul of the piano”; and, indeed, pedaling both greatly influences the sound of the instrument, and extends what is technically playable. In that, the use of pedaling is integral to piano technique.

The damper (or sustaining) pedal, by raising all of the dampers, alters the whole sound and character of the instrument. With all the strings of all the notes free to resonate sympatheti-cally, a depth and fullness results that is vastly richer than the sound of a group of individual notes played otherwise. The damper pedal also effectively extends the number of notes a pianist can play, by sustaining some while others are struck. Without this capability, much of the piano literature from the Romantic era forward would be unplayable.

The sostenuto pedal, often not well understood, sustains only the notes that are currently held down when the pedal is depressed (that is, it raises and holds only those dampers). Again, this

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effectively extends the number of notes a pianist can play. By holding some notes, the player’s hands are then free to play other material against them.

The soft or una corda pedal transforms the piano in a more subtle manner. By shifting the entire action of the piano, fewer of the strings for each note are struck, and the hammer con-tacts the strings with a softer region of felt. This lends a much leaner, more delicate color and behavior.

These simple summaries, however, disguise a far, far greater art. Proper pedaling, both in its mechanical aspects and in its relationship to the music at hand, involves techniques of proportional application, timing, and harmonic control a pianist may well spend an entire lifetime mastering. It is the understanding of this that led to such great care in fully and com-pletely emulating all of the Steinway’s pedal functionality in this library.

Traditionally with sample libraries, the pedals served merely as on/off switches; but real pia-nists use a wide variety of pedal positions, known as “half-pedaling” and “proportional pedal-ing” (various intermediate degrees, rather than just holding the pedal all the way up or down). The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand includes “proportional pedaling” to reproduce the kinds of pedaling that real pianists do.

Below is a somewhat more detailed introduction to the individual pedals.

Damper or Sustaining Pedal

Whenever a note on the piano is struck, its corresponding damper is simultaneously raised off that note’s strings, allowing them to vibrate. When the key is released, the damper for that note returns to rest against the strings, preventing the note’s strings from vibrating further.

When the damper pedal is depressed, the dampers in the piano are lifted, all at once. All of the strings in the piano are free to vibrate sympathetically with whichever notes are being played. The damper pedal thus greatly changes the tonal qualities and overtones of the piano, imparting a richness and fullness to the sound.

The damper pedal may also be used for playing legato (smoothly connected notes, without silences between them), and to some degree for phrasing, though more generally it is applied in accordance to harmonic context.

The damper pedal isn’t necessarily (or even usually) fully depressed, however. “Half pedaling” and “proportional pedaling” bring forth additional expressive capabilities in the instrument. By partially depressing the damper pedal in varying degrees, the pianist controls the over-all resonance of the instrument. Slightly depressed, for instance, the pedal affords a certain smoothness, without sacrifice of harmonic clarity. Moderately depressing the pedal briefly at certain points might be used to emphasize certain notes or chords. And, of course, completely depressing the pedal lends the full grandiloquent resonance and power of the instrument.

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The Una Corda or Soft Pedal

The una corda or soft pedal is located to the leftmost in the row of pedals. On an authentic Steinway Model D piano, there are three strings per note (excepting the lower notes). The una corda pedal shifts the whole action mechanism (including hammers but not dampers, that is) slightly to the right.

When the una corda pedal is depressed, the hammers that would normally strike all three of the strings of a note will then only strike two of them (missing one string). The shift of the action mechanism also causes the hammers to strike the strings with a different region of the felt than used in normal playing. These differences soften the sound and change the character of the piano’s timbre.

Note that the name “soft pedal” for the una corda pedal is somewhat of a misnomer, in that a pianist can produce very loud sounds while the pedal is engaged.

The una corda pedal subtly changes the sound color and behavior of the piano. Its use results in a sound that is more serene and gentle; and deportment that is somewhat more lithe and agile.

Sostenuto Pedal

The sustenuto pedal is located in the middle of the row of pedals. When depressed, the suste-nuto pedal holds all currently raised dampers in their raised position. This allows some notes to continue to sound while the player’s fingers are free to play other notes. This can be useful for unique situations such as sustaining long bass notes below changing harmonies (“pedal points”), or holding mid- or upper-range chords while rapid lower passages are played with clarity and independence.

The Main Screen

The Main Screen allows you to adjust the Listener Perspective, Mechanical Noise, Polyphony and Velocity Curves.

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In the Listener Perspective View pane, select the perspective you wish to load. Click on the microphone position and an image will animate and rotate to that perspective. Listener Perspective is referenced by microphone position on the Steinway Aria Player. This Listener Perspective image will be viewable in all of the tabbed views so you always know which per-spective is loaded.

The Listener Perspective View Pane:

The Main Screen Control Sections:

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MICROPHONE POSITION–LISTENER PERSPECTIVE

The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano allows you to play the virtual piano from various listener perspectives. One of the Listener Perspectives must be loaded for you to hear sound.

An authentic Steinway concert grand piano sounds quite different depending on your listen-ing perspective (that is, depending on where you are positioned relative to the piano). For instance, the piano will have very different color, tone and presence if you are listening out in the audience as opposed to listening where the player is seated.

There are up to five listener perspectives available in the Professional Edition and two in the Standard Edition. The listener perspectives are available as follows, from a branching menu on the illustration in the previous page:

Under Lid Perspective—This playing perspective is inside the piano body, using two Schoeps MK4 microphones in a spaced cardioid pair, one placed between the mid and treble strings and the other placed between the mid and bass strings. Available in the Professional Edition and the Standard Edition.

Classic Perspective—This playing perspective is nine feet away from the piano, down the center line of the hall, using two Neumann TLM170 microphones placed six feet apart in a spaced omni configuration. Available in the Professional Edition and the Standard Edition.

Player Perspective—This playing perspective is directly above the player’s head, using two B&K 4006 omni microphones placed on either side of a Jeklin disc. Available in the Professional Edition only.

Close Perspective—This playing perspective is five feet away from piano, down the cen-ter line of the hall, using two Gefell M930 cardioid microphones in an ORTF configu-ration. Available in the Professional and Basic Edition only.

Stage Perspective—This playing perspective is approximately ten feet away from the piano, stage left and front. It uses two Schoeps MK5 microphones, one eight feet forward and five feet left, and one five feet forward and nine feet left. Available in the Professional Edition only.

LOAD VARIATIONS

Each of the microphone positions has four load variations available. These variations allow the user to optimize the number of samples being loaded to most efficiently match the needs of a particular project. The choices are as follows (using “Classic” as an example):

Classic: This is the full load of all samples for the particular microphone position.

Classic Lite: This reduces the sample load by eliminating the release and soft pedal samples.

Classic No Rel: This eliminates only the release samples.

Classic No Soft: This eliminates only the soft pedal samples.

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MECHANICAL NOISE

This provides control over the mechanical noise of the pedals being depressed. The natural audibility of this mechanical noise depends on microphone perspective and, also, on how well-maintained the piano is (the better maintained, the less audible.) If you choose to use it, try to keep it subtle. The value can be adjusted by placing your mouse cursor over the displayed number, click/hold, move the mouse forward and back until the desired number is displayed, then release the mouse button.

POLYPHONY

Polyphony describes how many notes the player can sound at one time. A piano can produce multiple notes at a time and is therefore poly-phonic. Reducing polyphony uses less processor power and can reduce the demand on your system. Polyphony can be adjusted by clicking on the number box to drop down the polyphony menu. Choose between 8, 16, 32, 64, 96, and 128 by clicking on the desired choice.

VELOCITY CURVES

The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand provides five velocity curve selec-tions for the adjustment and control of the velocity response of the player. The curves enable you to select the ‘feel’ of the velocity response to suit your MIDI keyboard controller and your individual preferences.

Each MIDI keyboard handles velocity data and touch sensitivity differently. The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand was recorded with a vast dynamic range; and the velocity curves allow your keyboard to maximize that range.

The Velocity Curve graphic shows the “slope” of the response—how the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano responds to changes in velocity. The curve shape shows the extent to which velocities are remapped.

There are five “conventional” curves: Darkest, Dark, Linear, Bright, and Brightest. The curves determine how velocity is interpreted by the player.

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Adjust the curve by placing your mouse cursor over the diagonal line, click and hold, move the cursor toward the upper left or lower right, and release at the desired curve choice. The line will change shape as you move the cursor. Be aware that many keyboards also have extensive velocity response control. If you prefer to use your keyboard’s velocity curves then set the player’s velocity curve to “linear” (a straight, diagonal line as displayed in the picture above.)

Notation program users should also note that changing the velocity curve can offer significant benefits in tailoring dynamic response.

The Space Screen

Clicking on the “Space” button brings up the Space screen. The Space Screen is for con-trolling various aspects of the tone and ambient space of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand. You can control sympathetic resonance, EQ (three-band equalizer) and reverb/ambience. Each of these effects can be enabled or disabled with separate ON/OFF buttons.

The Space Screen Control Section

Both Sustain Resonance and Sympathetic Resonance are highly efficient, custom DSP mod-ules for simulating complex acoustic interactions between and among piano strings under specific conditions. These cross-resonances are induced through the mechanical structure of the piano. The two modules have somewhat different functions and they are never active at the same time. Sustain Resonance is active when the sustain pedal is down. Sympathetic Resonance is active when the sustain pedal is up.

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SUSTAIN RESONANCE

When activated, Sustain Resonance excites the strings across the entire range of the instrument. This occurs when the sus-tain pedal lifts the dampers from all of the strings. Adjust by placing your cursor over the dry/wet number, left click/hold, and move the mouse forward or backward. Release the mouse button at the desired number.

SYMPATHETIC RESONANCE

When activated, Sympathetic Resonance causes new notes to excite the strings of any notes being played or silently held down that are harmonically related to the new note. This occurs be-cause sound energy from new notes travels from the bridge into any undampered strings, inducing resonances in the strings of harmonically related notes. Adjust by placing your cursor over the dry/wet number, left click/hold, and move the mouse for-ward or backward. Release the mouse button at the desired number.

TONE

The EQ section is a three-band equalizer, with each band having a separate gain knob (-24dB to +24 dB). The “Low” controls the filter’s gain for the bottom of the spectrum, the “Mid” for the mid-range frequencies and the “High” controls the top end of the fre-quency spectrum. Adjust by placing your cursor over the desired knob, left click/hold, and move the mouse forward or backward. Release the mouse button at the desired number.

AMBIENCE

This section applies flexible room-type reverb to the sound of the piano. This is especially useful if the piano is being used in standalone mode for live performance or in sequencing or notation scenarios without additional sound treatment.

The acoustic environment is integral to the overall sound of a piano. Reverberation is the phenomenon that occurs when a sound is created in an ambient space. Whenever a sound is produced it radiates in all directions in that space. When these radiated sounds hit a surface such as a wall or the ceiling, the sound is either reflected or absorbed. Our ears and our brain recognize these signals, and they inform us about the type and size of space we are in. Much

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in the same way a real acoustical space adds a life and presence and vibrancy to the music, reverb imparts three-dimensional ambient sound to sampled instruments. Reverb can also help smooth out the sounds of the instruments and help them to blend together in a mix. Of all the effects that can be applied to music, reverb is perhaps the most widely used. It emulates the characteristics of sound that are literally heard everywhere around us; and without it, either real or sampled instruments sound lifeless.

The integrated Ambience™ Reverb is an excellent, high-quality reverb that rivals the capability and presence of some of the best commercial reverbs. Ambience allows you to simulate the reverberation of various performance spaces. Included with Ambience are customized presets that were designed for use with Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand. Ad-ditionally, you are encouraged to experiment with various parametric adjustments to create acoustical environments that most closely fit your needs.

The recordings for the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand were done in one of the finest piano halls in the world and therefore natural reverb is inherent in many of the listener perspectives. For this reason Ambience is turned off by default and to activate it you must click the ON/OFF button. It is often not desirable to use Ambience reverb with the more distant perspectives—but some of the perspectives, such as Close Perspective and Under Lid Perspective, have little native reverberance and may benefit significantly from the use of reverb. Again, the user is encouraged to experiment with the various settings to customize the acoustical environ-ment as needed.

There are a number of main knobs and sliders in the Ambience control pane. The most important parameters are reverb time (i.e. the time for the reverb to fade away), size (the size of the room) and the pre-delay time. Below is a description of the relevant controls in Ambience:

Dry Slider—The dry slider controls the volume of direct (unprocessed) sound.

Wet Slider—The wet slider controls the volume of the processed reverberant sound. It is important to get just the right balance between direct and processed signals. A little goes a long way! Start with the wet control slider all the way down and then gradually bring it up until you achieve a natural-sounding balance.

Size—The Room Size parameter controls the size of the virtual room. Lower settings will create shorter reverb times and a more intimate room; whereas the higher settings will create longer reverbs typical of larger acoustical venues.

Predelay—This parameter controls the amount of time between the direct sound of the piano and the first of the reverb reflections. It is pre-delay that often defines our percep-tion of the space of a room.

Width—This controls the stereo spread from mono (0%) all the way to a wide stereo (100%). It is recommended this be set close to 100%.

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Variation—This button creates a new variant of the same room. If there’s an echo or ringing or other artifact in the reverb that is unpleasing, adjust this button until you find a variation that you like. If a problem still persists, try raising the Quality setting

Quality—This knob allows you to trade off reverb quality for CPU usage. Higher qual-ity requires higher CPU usage. If there is too much CPU demand on your machine, try turning down the Quality setting.

ON/OFF—The On/Off button is in the off position by default. To activate Ambience click on the On/Off button.

PRESETS

Clicking on the selection box just below the on/off button will reveal the Ambience room menu. A basic selection of room sizes and types are available and any of them can be modified by the user for further refinement. Move your cur-sor down the list and click on the desired choice.

The Tune Screen

The Tune Screen controls various aspects of the tuning of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

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The Tune Screen Control Sections

TUNING TYPE

The Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand enables you to play in tunings that were common during the time periods of the greatest pianists and composers. The great pianists played in the tunings of their time, and until the 1900’s these tunings were never the equal temperament we use today. The ability to play in the tuning that works were written for can more accurately reflect the intentions of composers, it can offer new insight into a piece, and it can inspire new creativity.

Temperaments Introduction by Wendy Carlos

A “temperament” is a system of tuning which adjusts or “tempers” intervals between pitches in the octave. It is a subset of the larger topic of musical scale formation and tuning alterna-tives in general. Tuning alternatives have a long chronological and cultural history, embracing vastly different practices such as are commonly found in the ragas of India and the gamelan orchestras of Bali and Java and elsewhere across the globe.

Those practices are not very effective on the instrument we know, and were never a part of the western pianoforte tradition. What does work are subtler alternatives of temperament on the twelve pitches of keyboard (and fretted and valved) instruments, and their variations as practiced over two centuries. In time, convention, convenience, and a gradual indifference led to most of them being replaced by the standard 12-note Equally Tempered scale.

But the whole family of temperaments is worthy of attention by the inquisitive musician of today, which is why we are providing the tools to work with these alternatives in our new, definitive Steinway Piano emulation. Please give them a try. The library of temperaments included (and many other variations) can be quickly applied to any Listener Perspective in the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

A Brief History and Discussion of Temperaments

People often assume that Bach wrote his famous Well Tempered Clavier in 1722 to explore all the possible keys of equal temperament. He did explore all the keys, but not in equal tem-perament. During Bach’s time, equal temperament was essentially never used on keyboard instruments. Theoreticians were aware of it, but there were as many writers deriding equal temperament for its “flaws” as those extolling its virtues. Most importantly, no one was able to develop a system to tune equal temperament on keyboards until near the end of the 1800’s.

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Bach most likely used Meantone and “Well temperament” tunings, the latter of which gained its name from Bach’s collection of pieces, and originated in Andreas Werckmeister’s writings where he described a particular tuning style with terms such as “der temperaturen wohl” and “wol temperirt stimen”. These words are strikingly similar to the Well Tempered Clavier’s original German name of “Das Wohltemperierte Klavier”.

Well temperament possesses a vibrant attribute missing in today’s equal temperament, which could be thought of as key color. The key of C has harmonious intervals which might be de-scribed as calm and innocent; while the same intervals in F# might be described as in-motion and passionate. Bach may have written the Well Tempered Clavier at least in part to explore all the different key colors of Well temperament.

If we assume Bach wrote the Well Tempered Clavier for a keyboard tuned to a Well tempera-ment, then we might wish to try playing the piece in Well temperament. Or perhaps move a step further and try playing other compositions in the tunings used during a composer’s lifetime. Temperaments gave past players and composers great options for expression, and the temperament effects can be just as useful today in our own playing and compositions. For an acoustic piano, it takes considerable effort to retune over and over to try different tunings. But the Authorized Steinway Virutal Concert Grand is extremely easy to retune, inviting your exploration of temperaments.

The following tunings are included in the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand:

1) EQUAL TEMPERAMENT

Equal temperament is the tuning which is tuned by technicians today almost without exception. It has been the companion of performed and written keyboard music for al-most all of the last century. It divides the octave into twelve exactly equal-sized semitones, giving it its name. It is the safest tuning to use by default since all modern ears are ac-customed to it; it sounds the same in every key, all intervals are fairly harmonious, and all semitones are the same size allowing for smooth chromatic melodies

2) ONE-QUARTER COMMA MEANTONE

One-quarter comma meantone is also known as Pietro Aaron’s meantone (described in his writing in 1523). Most musicians from the Renaissance used it and it’s a good representa-tive tuning for music from the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. It features perfectly in tune major thirds in the key of C and keys close to C (quite unlike equal temperament) at the cost of slightly detuned fifths. One-quarter comma meantone has a regularly spaced diatonic scale, but a noticeably uneven chromatic scale. Its chief drawback is that, among the possible intervals contained in its twelve tone scale, there is one extremely out of tune fifth at Ab (referred to as a “wolf interval”) and four very out of tune thirds. This results in

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limited playability and modulation to keys close to C.

Technically, the term “one-quarter comma” refers to the difference between a pure in-tune major third and a “Pythagorean third”. A Pythagorean third is the result of playing four perfectly pure fifths in a row (C to G to D to A to E, all with purely tuned fifths). There is a difference in the pitch between the perfectly in-tune major third and the Pythagorean third, and this difference is called a syntonic comma. One-quarter comma meantone divides this comma, or difference in pitch, by four and flattens what would otherwise be its perfectly in-tune fifths by this quarter comma. When you stack four of these detuned meantone fifths in a row (again using C to G to D to A to E as an example) the resulting third is a perfectly in tune major third.

3) ONE-SIXTH COMMA MEANTONE

Near the end of the seventeenth century it was becoming common for tuners to change Pietro Aaron’s quarter comma meantone, by making the detuned meantone fifth flat by only 1/6 comma or 1/5 comma rather than Aaron’s 1/4. These tuners favored relatively pure thirds, though no longer perfect, while gaining increased purity in the fifths over 1/4 comma meantone. The 1/6 comma meantone was used fairly often in the eighteenth cen-tury, along with well temperaments and “temperaments ordinaire”. Like quarter comma meantone, 1/6 comma meantone has a very out of tune wolf fifth, and four out of tune thirds. It also has the same limitation on the number of keys which are ordinarily playable, with the good keys centering around C.

4) ONE-FIFTH COMMA MEANTONE

One-fifth comma meantone temperament spreads the syntonic comma over five fifths, sounding somewhat between 1/4 and 1/6 comma meantone. It was a common meantone temperament during the 1700’s, though perhaps not as often used as 1/6 or 1/4 comma meantone.

5) RAMEAU’S TEMPERAMENT ORDINAIRE

During the eighteenth century tuners in France and occasionally elsewhere in Europe often modified normal meantone by spreading the out-of-tuneness of the meantone wolf fifth over a number of different notes. This created a tuning which was playable in many keys, arguably in all keys even if dissonantly in the remote keys. It also created a sense of key color for each key center, which had previously been missing from the regular meantones. Jean Philippe Rameau’s temperament begins as 1/4 comma meantone for the diatonic C scale, and then distributes what would be the wolf fifth across all the black keys.

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6) TEMPERAMENT ORDINAIRE II

Temperament Ordinaire II is a French 18th century temperament following the same prin-ciples as Rameau’s Temperament Ordinaire; and like Rameau, would also have been used as a temperament method in the 1700’s, particularly in France. It starts with a base diatonic scale of 1/6 comma meantone rather than the 1/4 comma of Rameau. The result is smooth-er across all the keys than Rameau, but has less color contrast among the different keys.

7) WERCKMEISTER III

Andreas Werckmeister, in the early 1700’s, was one of the first writers to discuss Well Temperament. The systems of well temperament differ from meantone by having fifths that vary in size, by being playable in effectively any key, and by possessing differing key colors. To some extent these attributes are also held by temperament ordinaire, but well temperament distinguishes itself by having thirds that are never sharper than a Pythagorean third, and fifths that are never sharper than pure fifths. This gives well temperament fewer strong dissonances and less key contrast than temperaments ordinaire. The thirds of Well Temperament vary in size, like the fifths, and well temperaments place the thirds which are closest to pure in the key of C, and the most dissonant thirds in remote keys.

Well temperament was known to tuners before Werckmeister’s publications but came into general use around his time, and continued to be used in successively more refined forms until the end of the nineteenth century. Werckmeister III is probably one of the best known well temperaments and is considered representative of early period, though somewhat un-refined, well temperaments.

8) KIRNBERGER III

Johann Philip Kirnberger, a tuning student of Bach at one time, developed a temperament in 1779 similar to Werckmeister III, but which improved its flaws. This tuning is some-times known as Prinz or Aaron-Neidhardt temperament.

9) YOUNG I

Thomas Young described his Temperament No. 1 in 1799, which is a refined Well Tem-perament, following the same base principles as Werckmeister III. It provides an excellent balance of key colors, with the thirds and fifths changing evenly from the most harmonious key of C to the most dissonant key of F#. It is a good representative of nineteenth and late eighteenth century Well Temperament.

10) CARLOS OPTIMAL CIRCULAR

Wendy Carlos created this temperament, which is a mathematically optimal version of a Well temperament. It smoothly and even-handedly trades consonance for dissonance among the key centers. C major is the most consonant, F# major is the most dissonant,

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and Eb and A are nearly the same as equal temperament. This tuning could be used for any music for which you would wish to use Well Temperament. Used with permission from Wendy Carlos.

11) BROADWOOD BEST

In 1885, Alexander John Ellis analyzed the results of tuners at the Broadwood Piano fac-tory, and this tuning is the result from what the factory considered one of its finest tuners. The tuning falls between well temperament and equal temperament and demonstrates the transition period between well temperament and equal temperament at the end of the nine-teenth century. Although this type of temperament may have even been commonplace into the start of the twentieth century, equal temperament (or very close approximations) came to rapidly displace all other temperaments as both an ideal and a practiced tuning by the early twentieth century.

12) PYTHAGOREAN

Pythagorean tuning was the method used most commonly before the Renaissance, and continued in use well into the sixteenth century. It has all fifths tuned pure, which results in all thirds being quite sharp of pure, sharper than even equal temperament. It also results in a wolf fifth at Ab. It arguably provides a good intonation for melody since the sharp lead-ing thirds and sevenths “lean” into their resolution notes, but the major thirds are relatively dissonant in harmony.

13) JUST INTONATION

Just intonation uses all pure intervals to create its scale. Harmonically it has the great advan-tage of a set of perfectly in tune intervals, although this set is of limited size. Melodically it has the disadvantages of a diatonic scale with two noticeably different whole tone sizes, and chromatically played scales with many differently sized semitones. Just intonation is extremely restrictive in the keys in which it can be played without wolf intervals. Although interesting, it has never been commonly used as a keyboard tuning.

Sources: Arthur H. Benade, Fundamentals of Musical Acoustics (1976)Owen Jorgensen, Tuning: Containing the Perfection of Eighteenth-Century Tempera-ment, The Lost Art of Nineteenth-Century Temperament, and The Science of Equal Tem-perament (1991)Andreas Werckmeister, Musicalische Temperatur (1691), reprint edited by Rudolf RaschRita Steblin, A History of Key Characteristics in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries (1983)J. M. Barbour, Tuning and Temperament: A Historical Survey (1972)

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IMPORT

The import button provides a variety of other tunings that can be imported into the Au-thorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano. The scala file import feature enables the use of thousands of other tunings, if desired.

The following menu appears when the “Import” button is clicked:

CENTER NOTE

Allows you to select the base note (or center) of your scale.

REGION

Tunings for various regions of the world:

FINE TUNE

This control provides global fine tuning in cents (+/-50.) Adjust by placing your cursor over the tuning number, left click/hold, and move the mouse forward or backward. Release the mouse button at the de-sired number.

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TRANSPOSE

This control provides global transposition (+/-12 semitones) of the incom-ing MIDI note data. Adjust by placing your cursor over the transpose number, left click/hold, and move the mouse forward or backward. Re-lease the mouse button at the desired number.

The Info Screen

The Info Screen shows the Aria player version number and copyrights of the various com-ponents of the Garritan Authorized Steinway application, and also “live telemetry” from the underlying Aria Engine.

On the Info Screen there are two buttons, one button will show the current license card, and the other will launch your browser to the support page.

You do not need to change or comprehend everything that is listed on this screen. If you con-tact technical support however, we might ask you to report the values of some of those fields to help track down any issues you may be facing.

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Making the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Work Best for You

After you have installed the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano and have become familiar with some of its basic functions, there are steps you can take to optimize it and use it more effectively.

Although the Garritan Steinway Aria Player engine has been developed to make use of your computer in the most efficient manner possible, not all systems are the same.

The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand is very resource intensive. Some-times a component in your system may create a bottleneck or overload in the data. If this occurs, undesirable audio anomalies may result. The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand is explicitly designed to minimize typical performance problems, but there are steps that may improve the performance for individual users and their specific systems.

Below are some tips and suggestions for improving performance:

Have the Fastest Computer You Can Manage. The Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand is designed to give superb performance and realism, which requires a modern, powerful computer. To get the best results requires the most powerful com-puter you can manage. Please see the support pages on the www.garritan.com website if you are looking for specific recommendations for computer systems to run the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand.

Have a Good Sound Card and Audio System. Your audio card will have a significant effect upon sound quality and performance. It is unlikely you will obtain high quality audio from a consumer-grade sound card. Similarly, high-quality speakers or headphones are extremely important. To get the best results, purchase the best sound card and audio equipment you can manage. Internal pro audio sound cards are usually faster than exter-nal FireWire or USB2 cards. Please see the Garritan support pages on the www.garritan.com website if you are looking for specific recommendations in buying audio hardware for use with the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand.

Hard Drive Speed. The speed of your hard disk significantly affects the performance of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand. When disk speed is slow, the hard drive will become overloaded. Individual notes may abruptly stop sounding and result in a “glitch”. It is important to install the Garritan Authorized Steinway on the fastest hard drive you can manage—typically this means a new, high performance, 7,200 RPM drive. Internal hard drives are usually faster than external FireWire or USB2 drives.

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Reduce Polyphony. Reducing the number of notes to prevent too much data from play-ing at any one time will enhance performance. Reducing the polyphony will use less processor power and reduce the demands on your hard drive. If you have a slower processor or slower hard drive, or you are doing other tasks such as running multiple plug-ins, reducing the number of voices will save processor resources and improve hard drive throughput.

Adjust the Buffer Size. Adjusting the Buffer Size to optimize performance is important. A larger buffer setting provides better performance, especially with a slower computer, but it increases latency. Reducing the buffer size will give you less latency but is more resource intensive. If necessary, experiment to find the optimal setting for your system. If your soundcard is not of professional quality and does not offer a choice of buffer settings, it may be a good idea to purchase a more suitable sound card.

Optimize the Settings in Your Host Program. If you are using the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand in a host music application, make sure your settings in the host application are optimized. If you experience latency, try making adjustments to your host application’s buffer/latency settings. Consult the host music application’s user guide for information about how to optimize this for your particular system.

Reload the Perspectives without Release. The release samples add greatly to the realism of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano, especially during solo play. But when used in the context of an ensemble with other solutions, release samples may not be as important. Using perspectives without the release samples will improve the performance of the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano.

Reload the Perspectives without Soft Pedal Samples, if you do not need them.

Set Optimal Audio Levels. In order to hear the best quality audio output, levels should be set as high as possible, but without allowing audio distortion or clipping. Sound cards sometimes may also produce background noise or digital crackling due to ground loops, which should be avoided.

Update Your Drivers. It is strongly recommended that you have the latest operating system update, sound card driver update, and any hardware updates. Driver versions can make quite a difference in performance; and often eliminate some of the previously enumerated issues.

Get the Latest Garritan Authorized Steinway Updates. Make sure you have the latest up-dates to the Garritan Steinway Aria Piano Player. Updates will be provided from time to time on the Garritan website.

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The Importance of Study and Practice

As with playing a real piano, time and experience are required to learn to play your Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano “just right”. Practice and rehearsal are es-sential for producing a successful musical performance. With practice, many musical factors are refined: proper touch, feel, balance, intonation, dynamic contrasts, stylistic considerations, and interpretation. Just as with a real Steinway piano, becoming an accomplished virtuoso on the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Grand does involve self-application and discipline.

Learning more about piano technique will benefit your performance skills, and there are many excellent texts on piano method. Continued study of theory and music history is highly ben-eficial, as well. As your understanding of the technical and historical aspects of music deepens, your performances will emerge with ever greater authenticity. Of course, the best way to learn about piano technique would be to study piano with a skilled instructor, trained on the Stein-way piano!

Addendum

Quotes

“The Steinway piano—with its beauty and power—is the perfect me-dium for expressing the performer’s art, drama and poetry.”

Van Cliburn

“Steinway is to the pianist what Stradivari is to the violinist.”Joseph Joachim

“Steinway is the only piano on which the pianist can do everything he wants and everything he dreams…”

Vladimir Ashkenazy

“A Pianist without a Steinway, for me, is the same as a singer without a voice.”

Rudolph Buchbinder

“I wish to thank Steinway for its wonderful pianos which I’ve been priv-ileged to play in all my concerts. There is no piano like it in the world.”

Evgeny Kissin

“Sometimes a Steinway plays better than the pianist, and it is then a marvelous surprise.”

Martha Argerich

“Only my loyal Steinway piano endures. Be it beaten or caressed, its gorgeous tone remains.”

Roger Williams

“I have long admired Steinway pianos for their qualities of tone, clarity, pitch consistency, touch responsiveness, and superior craftsmanship.”

Billy Joel

“My friendship with the Steinway piano is one of the most important and beautiful things in my life.”

Krystian Zimerman

“[T]he piano ceases to be a machine. It breathes into the soul of an au-dience and animates it with the strongest delights.”

New York Times, 1860 review

“My eternal gratitude for the happiness which I feel each time I am playing a Steinway piano…”

Alexander Borovsky

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Getting Help

The first place to look for a solution to any problem you may be experiencing with the Garri-tan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand is this manual. Please read this manual before contacting support. Next, check any readme files which contain important information and all last minute changes that were not available when printing this guide.

The Garritan Steinway Authorized Virtual Concert Grand Piano is a dynamic library project that is continually evolving and improving. Please check the support area of our website at www.garritan.com for the latest up-to-date information, troubleshooting, FAQs, helpful hints and tutorials. Another excellent resource is the support forum at www.garritan.com/forum.html. On the Garritan forum you can discuss problems directly with other users and with the experts from Garritan who monitor and moderate the forum.

Whenever you encounter problems, you should also check if you have installed the latest updates. The version number of your software is displayed on the Info Screen. Updates are released regularly to fix known problems and to improve the software. You can find a link to check for the latest update at the Garritan website.

If you can’t find a solution to your problem by any of the above methods, please email us at [email protected]. The best way to get the help you need is by giving us plenty of detailed information about the problem you are having. We do ask you to read this guide thoroughly and exhaust the other avenues of support before contacting us.

For the Latest… For the very latest news, tutorials, MIDI files, tips and techniques, updates, FAQs, and more, please visit our website at www.garritan.com.

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Steinway Support for Artists

Steinway has long held the honor of being the instrument of choice among the world’s great-est pianists, with history amply bearing out its reputation as the “Instrument of the Immor-tals”.

Legendary pianists such as George Gershwin, Edvard Grieg, Vladimir Horowitz, Franz Liszt, Jan Paderewski, Cole Porter, Sergei Prokofiev, Josef Hofmann, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin, Van Cliburn, and Igor Stravinsky are among the stellar roster of renowned artists who have chosen to perform on the Steinway.

Today, more than ninety percent of the world’s active concert pianists—over 1,300 artists—proudly bear the title, “Steinway Artist”. Each owns a Steinway and chooses to perform on Steinway pianos, exclusively. Well-known contemporary pianists such as Mitsuko Uchida, Martha Argerich, Alfred Brendel, Harry Connick, Jr., Ahmad Jamal, Billy Joel, Diana Krall, Ramsey Lewis, Dr. Billy Taylor, and Roger Williams all choose Steinways. These artists have chosen Steinways not because they are paid for their endorsements, but because they admire the quality of the sound and the responsiveness of the instrument.

Steinway & Sons has encouraged pianists from its earliest history, and it maintains an active “Steinway Artist” program. Each Steinway Artist has his or her own Steinway and has chosen to exclusively perform on Steinway pianos.

Steinway Artists giving a concert performance can select a Steinway from the company’s unique “piano bank” of more than 300 pianos valued at over $15 million. The piano bank is maintained by an exclusive network of Steinway dealerships in North America. A number of these instruments are located in the famed “basement” of Steinway Hall in New York City; and other piano banks are also maintained at Steinway dealerships in cities throughout the country. A great majority of concert venues throughout the world own Steinway pianos which these Steinway Artists can use.

A few Steinway Artists travel with an instrument that ideally suits them, and may remain with the same piano across many years of their performance careers. Horowitz preferred a Steinway piano that was customized to his own discriminating tastes and performance demands; while others, like Rubinstein, preferred a new instrument for each concert.

Many of the world’s most prestigious piano competitions, such as the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and the Gina Bachauer Competition, use the Steinway Piano exclusively. The world’s leading music conservatories and schools overwhelmingly choose Steinways so each new generation of pianists has an opportunity to learn on the world’s greatest piano. “All-Stein-way Schools” demonstrate a commitment to academic excellence by providing their students and faculties with the best equipment possible for the study of music. Conservatories, acad-emies, schools, colleges and universities—including Juilliard, Yale, Oberlin, Carnegie-Mellon, among many others—all solely use pianos made by Steinway & Sons.

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The Garritan Community

Learn, Share Music and Stay Up To Date

We welcome you to join the Garritan Community.

Owning the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand gives you much more than a product. One of the most valuable benefits is membership in a great community of knowledgeable and experienced musicians.

Loyalty and enthusiasm is a trait found among Steinway artists throughout the world. It is my hope that the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Piano will follow in this legendary tradition with a loyal and enthusiastic roster of artists.

The Garritan Forum is where Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano users from around the world come to discuss everything related to music. It’s the perfect way to find the latest news and announcements, ask questions and share your music made with the Garritan Au-thorized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand Piano. If you want to browse, share your thoughts about the Garritan Steinway, impart knowledge, listen to demos, learn, and interact with other Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano users—this is the place! You can also communicate privately with other musicians, respond to polls, participate in real-time chats, read how-to tutorials, and get support and help from others.There is a wealth of information among the tens of thousands of posts in the forum and a convenient ‘search’ feature to find what you are looking for.

The Garritan forum can be accessed at: http://www.garritan.com/forum.html.

You don’t have to register to browse posts, but before you can post, you will have to sign up. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

We warmly invite you to contribute to and be a part of the Garritan Community.

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Acknowledgements

Producing the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand would not have been possible without the combined help, talent and support of so many extraordinary people. In an endeavor of this magnitude and scope, it can be difficult to name all the people let alone enumerate their contributions; but I am deeply grateful to each and every one of you. I cannot begin to express my thanks and my great respect for the outstanding work that all of you have done.

I especially wish to thank Steinway & Sons for collaborating on this project. Steinway has always had the clear vision to set new standards—and set them high. The Garritan Autho-rized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand is no exception. Thanks to Gary Green, Vice President of Steinway & Sons, who was the liaison for this project. Also a big thank you to Leon Frank Mazurco, Executive Vice President; John Dudek, General Counsel; Susan Kenagy, Product Development Manager; and the many other fine people at Steinway & Sons who unstintingly shared aid and knowledge.

Foremost on the list of people to thank is Jeff Hurchalla for creating the innovative software development and programming for this library. To implement a project of this scope, unique and new processes were needed; and many of the innovations in this library have evolved from the masterful work that Jeff Hurchalla has done across many years. Abundant thanks also to Tom Hopkins, who likewise spent countless hours on the programming.

The custom-made Aria sample engine that powers the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand was developed by David Viens of Plogue Art et Technologie Inc. What we needed to do with this virtual instrument could not have been done with any existing sample engine on the market. David Viens and his team took up the task brilliantly, and brought forth the super-charged and technologically stunning Aria sample engine used for this proj-ect. Thanks also to Pascal Maheux for assisting with the development of the engine. Further, many thanks to James Mireau and Wallwork, Curry & McKenna for designing the gorgeous Steinway interface.

May I thank Magnus Jonsson for developing the Resonances DSP programming and the Ambience reverb for this project. I am also extremely grateful for the Steinway Artist who performed on the Steinway Model D for this project, Bill Jones: thanks for enduring the end-less scales, sore fingers, and late nights.

Also I wish to thank the eminent Steinway technician, Eric Schandall, who meticulously listened to each note for consistency, tuning and fidelity. The instrument could not have been in more capable hands.

Special thanks go to Laura Kratt, Executive Director of the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, who made it possible to record in this exquisite venue. And thanks to Brian C. Peters who did an extraordinary job engineering this project.

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A special thanks to David Sosnowski for his contributions to the manual and editing, as well as counsel and advice. I owe a real debt of gratitude to David. And thanks to James Mireau for the manual graphic design and Adina Cucicov for the manual layout.

Thanks to Tony Monaghan for his IT work with the project and Bram de Jong for specialized programming. Thanks to Mark Simon and David Burnett of Northern Sounds for providing a forum to exchange ideas about the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Piano.

A very special thanks goes to the beta testers, whose help, knowledge and encouragement were crucial. I wish to thank Todor Fay, Alan Belkin, Jim Ortner, Dan Kury, David Sosnowski, Bill DeWitt, Jeannot Welter, Robert Davis, Scott Jones, Jerry Wickham, Frank Spitznagel, Mar-kleford Friedman, Tony Monaghan, James Day, Pat Azzarello, and other unnamed testers. I appreciate the time and effort the beta testers conrtributed, helping us make the best product possible.

Of course the list of credits would be quite incomplete without mentioning Wendy Carlos, who spent a great deal of time providing advice, insights, writing, editing, testing and custom tunings.

Especially, I would like to give my loving thanks to my wife Marianne, for support both infinitely deep and patient.

And finally… a big thank you to you, the customer, for buying this library and supporting the first Garritan Authorized Steinway Model D virtual concert grand piano. I hope it is every-thing you were expecting—and more!

With gratitude,

APPENDIX

9�


MIDI Controls

Besides Note-ons and Note-offs, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand responds to these MIDI commands:

Controller #64, Sustain pedal. Holds any notes which are currently sounding or subse-quently played when depressed. Also engages the Sustain Resonance if active.

Controller #66, Sostenuto pedal. Holds only the notes which are currently sounding when the pedal is depressed, functioning just as it does on a real acoustic grand piano.

Controller #67, Soft Pedal. Engages the soft pedal samples if they are active.

Controller #7, MIDI Volume. The volume level can be controlled in your MIDI track or by your MIDI controller via the standard MIDI control for volume, cc# 7.

Pitchbend, Modulation Wheel, Channel Pressure (Aftertouch), and Program Change com-mands do not have any effect.

Rendering Audio

It can be very useful to render your MIDI-controlled Garritan Authorized Steinway tracks as audio tracks within your host application. Playing audio tracks is much easier for a host application than interpreting MIDI data and producing instrument sounds “on the fly”; so turning your virtual Steinway tracks into audio is a great way to free up CPU resources in your production environment.

Many host applications offer a way to bounce instrument tracks either in real time or offline. Depending on the host application, the feature may be referred to as “Bounce”, “Freeze”, or “Mix to Disk”. Consult your host application’s user guide for more information.

During offline processing, the Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand is no longer limited by disk, processor, and memory resources that normally affect its ability to pro-duce continuous sound in real time. As a result, you may take advantage of this by increasing resources in the Garritan Steinway Player.

Updates

Please check our website at www.garritan.com for updates and additions to the Garritan Authorized Steinway Piano software, programs, effects, tutorials, demos, and more. News on future upgrades will appear first here as well.

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Upcoming Authorized Steinway Virtual Pianos

Steinway & Sons and Garritan are committed to develop other virtual pianos in the future based on Steinway & Son’s distinguished product line, including:

Parlor Grand - Model A

Music Room Grand - Model B

Small Concert Grand - Model C

Other Products from Garritan

Personal Orchestra

Jazz & Big Band

Concert & Marching Band

General MIDI Instruments

Pipe Organs

Orchestral Strings

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Visit a Steinway piano Showroom

Our goal with the Authorized Steinway Virtual Model D Concert Grand Piano was to provide a virtual Steinway piano that captured the sound of a Steinway Model D. We likewise commit-ted to creating a virtual piano that is easy to use and elegantly designed so that anyone could play the virtual Steinway.

It is also our sincere hope that after getting a taste of the sound of a virtual Steinway piano, you will consider the benefits of owning a real Steinway piano.

Since 1853, Steinway pianos have set an uncompromising standard for sound, touch, beauty and investment value. Handcrafting each Steinway requires up to one full year—creating an instrument of rare quality and global renown. Not surprisingly, Steinway remains the choice of 9 out of 10 concert artists, and countless pianists, composers, and performers around the world.

We welcome you to visit a Steinway showroom or dealer in your area or visit the Steinway & Sons website at www.steinway.com.

Eight Keys to Remember:

S ound

T ouch

E ndorsement

I nvestment

N ame

W orkmanship

A dvancements

Y our Gift

Make No Compromise In Quality!Henry E. Steinway, Founder of Steinway & Sons - 1853

Documents

Garritan Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand Manual - Basic Edition