Alicia's Keys - Piano samples

Looking forward to receiving my pre-ordered samples:

 

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/powered-by-kontakt/alicias-keys/

 

Made by Danish sampling genius Thomas Skarbye (Scarbee) with Alicia Keys and her Grammy winning engineer Ann Mincieli.

 

You can turn off the pink interface if you like

The definitely look and sound like they should be fun to play with . . . .

Indeed, also it's a great marketing idea by NI, I wonder what's next in this artist sampling line.

I think piano is one of the instruments that can be sampled well. Drums too.

 

Violin, saxophone, etc... not so. At least as solo instruments.

Sorry to be bastard, and putting this off-topic, but have you guys heard latest record from Alicia Keys - it so terrible when you compare it to her older records. Perfect example how to ruin record by processing, even if you CAN sing!. It's sad.

 

When i first see these Piano Samples i was like, well.. they've learned how to make money .

The idea for the project was Alicia's because she wanted to be able to take her favorite piano with her on tour. Actually Alicia is "one of the guys", she likes to get nerdy with the tech stuff during sessions, and she's got great ears.

 

The project has been one of love, money wasn't a focus at all - though it's a commercial product from NI of course. I think it's safe to say that she'll be making peanuts from this.

 

Both Alicia, Ann Mincieli - and especially Thomas Skarbye have put an amazing amount of time into it. Ernest Cholakis did the built-in convolution reverb.

 

The studio was closed off for almost 6 months while they experimented and recorded. All airconditioning and electrical light were turned off and they recorded at night for the least possible noise. Thomas spent two months writing a special noise reduction algorithm for the piano samples, and added an option to add noise separately later.

 

The interface graphics are inspired by the live room in the Oven studio. You can turn off the background/colors so it just shows the piano (in the preferences menu).

 

I think it sounds amazing, and I'm really looking forward to receiving my copy. I've been looking for this kind of piano sound for a long time. It's got that sound that's inducing to creativity. Though I'm a drummer originally, I do a lot of song writing at the piano and it's where I started composing when I was 10.

The idea for the project was Alicia's because she wanted to be able to take her favorite piano with her on tour. Actually Alicia is "one of the guys", she likes to get nerdy with the tech stuff during sessions, and she's got great ears.

 

The project has been one of love, money wasn't a focus at all - though it's a commercial product from NI of course. I think it's safe to say that she'll be making peanuts from this.

 

Both Alicia, Ann Mincieli - and especially Thomas Skarbye have put an amazing amount of time into it. Ernest Cholakis did the built-in convolution reverb.

 

The studio was closed off for almost 6 months while they experimented and recorded. All airconditioning and electrical light were turned off and they recorded at night for the least possible noise. Thomas spent two months writing a special noise reduction algorithm for the piano samples, and added an option to add noise separately later.

 

The interface graphics are inspired by the live room in the Oven studio. You can turn off the background/colors so it just shows the piano (in the preferences menu).

 

I think it sounds amazing, and I'm really looking forward to receiving my copy. I've been looking for this kind of piano sound for a long time. It's got that sound that's inducing to creativity. Though I'm a drummer originally, I do a lot of song writing at the piano and it's where I started composing when I was 10.

 

Thanks for great information .

Those demos make my "Truepiano" sound like a piece of plastic. Now if only my other bit of plastic had some space left on it..... I'll be getting this somewhere down the line.

I've read under the SUPPORTED INTERFACES: Stand-alone, VST®, Audio Units™, RTAS® (Pro Tools™ 7 or higher) for Alicia's Keys << I am aware that VST's are plug-ins. I just begun to look into plug-ins for Logic. This one by the way is very sweet. Does this plug-in work with Logic?

Alicia's Keys is a set of samples for use with the KONTAKT sampler or the free KONTAKT 4 Player (supplied when you buy the samples).

 

KONTAKT exists in various formats including Audio Unit (AU) which is the format Logic uses.

 

So yes, it is compatible with Logic.

 

VST is another plug-in format which is used by Cubase and some other sequencers.

Alicia's Keys is a set of samples for use with the KONTAKT sampler or the free KONTAKT 4 Player (supplied when you buy the samples).

 

KONTAKT exists in various formats including Audio Unit (AU) which is the format Logic uses.

 

So yes, it is compatible with Logic.

 

VST is another plug-in format which is used by Cubase and some other sequencers.

 

Thank you for clarifying that, much appreciated

You're welcome. In fact I think anyone can download the free player in advance:

 

http://co.native-instruments.com/index.php?id=kontaktplayerdl

Nice! I am downloading now along with the Factory library. Cheers lagerfeldt!

she's got great ears.

 

never noticed - been too busy staring at her body / face / and everything else

She's extremely good lookin (IMHO)

 

When I got the eMail from NI about this product - I had to give it a look.

I really dig the way this sounds. It reminds me of my IK Multimedia 1920's style piano - and I love that thing.

 

Let us know how you dig it, sir.

 

Scott

The demos sound great, especially for that modern pop / R&B sound (not surprising considering it was made to suit Alicia's taste). AND it is only 7GB instead of like 40GB like other libraries. Hopefully it loads pretty quick as well.

 

I have Pianoteq, but will be taking a closer look at this one. As a pianist, I won't be satisfied until I get a real piano - until then, just keep getting the latest and greatest in software!

AND it is only 7GB instead of like 40GB like other libraries.

 

6.9 GB (almost 3,000 individual samples in 12 velocity layers equivalent to 17 GB of uncompressed WAV audio)

 

J.

I'm so tempted to order this.

 

Synthogy is supposed to release Ivory 2 in April with an $80 upgrade cost for users. And I was all decided that that was probably going to do it for me, given the stated features.

 

But now this.

 

Seriously, I've got some Sampletekk pianos, Ivory and Pianoteq and while they are all good, there's something not quite right about each of them - that's different in each case. So I'm really interested to hear from you guys how Alicia's Keys will compare to these.

A few questions:

 

a. Is this only piano? Or also other keyboards she uses? Like a Rhodes or so?

b. Do I need to get Kontakt 4? Or does it work with Kontakt 3 as well?

 

Thanks.

A few questions:

a. Is this only piano? Or also other keyboards she uses? Like a Rhodes or so?

 

It's only a piano.

 

b. Do I need to get Kontakt 4? Or does it work with Kontakt 3 as well?

 

It will probably work in kontakt 3 as well, after all there's not much difference between the 2 versions. Contact NI to make sure. In case it doesn't work in kontakt 3, you can download the free kontakt player.

 

J.

A few questions:

a. Is this only piano? Or also other keyboards she uses? Like a Rhodes or so?

 

It's only a piano..

Hmmm.... That makes it less interesting. Would it be so much better than say an Ivory?

 

Thanks I'll think about it as I am in the market for a new piano lib anyway.

As usual, AudioMidi has a bit of a deal going on here - $20 off and free shipping for US customers.

Yup...I'll snag it. I played a C3 Neo at NAMM a few years ago..They didn't make very many of them. Looking forward to Ivory 2 as well!!!

Yup...I'll snag it. I played a C3 Neo at NAMM a few years ago..They didn't make very many of them. Looking forward to Ivory 2 as well!!!

Looking forward to receiving my pre-ordered samples:

 

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/powered-by-kontakt/alicias-keys/

 

Made by Danish sampling genius Thomas Skarbye (Scarbee) with Alicia Keys and her Grammy winning engineer Ann Mincieli.

 

You can turn off the pink interface if you like

 

Hey lagerfeldt, did you receive it yet?! Let us know how it is.

After Easter I hope

Got it in the mail today. Great attention to detail in the packaging, high quality.

 

I'm looking forward to use it on Tuesday.

I'm back on the fence as to whether I'll spend the $. I've got so many freakin' pianos already

 

did have to splurge for the NI Clavinet/Pianet though. Funk on.

there's tons of good pianos that just come w/ logic. pianos are like the last thing i need

I'm always interested in new, different piano textures. Main thing I'm curious about (throwin' this out at Lager..hehehe), is if there's anything SO unique about the Alicia Keys one that can't be replicated some some other killer Yamaha C3 sound (like Ivory), and some great EQ/compression/reverb...

 

then again..The A.K. piano does have a pretty cool sound, and it's not THAT expensive.

 

Lagerfeldt..what's the verdict?

 

there's tons of good pianos that just come w/ logic. pianos are like the last thing i need

 

You should try comparing the stock Logic piano ones to dedicated piano sample libraries / instruments. HUGE difference. At least, for pianists...