ARTURIA PIANO V WHITE UPRIGHT FULL VERSION
ARTURIA PIANO V WHITE UPRIGHT PRO
ARTURIA PIANO V WHITE UPRIGHT SOFTWARE
ARTURIA PIANO V WHITE UPRIGHT SERIES

In case you missed that article, you can take a look at it here: Arturia KeyLab 61 (Producer Pack) Review – Modern Hybrid Synthesis

In June of 2015, I had taken a deep, thorough look at Arturia’s Producer Pack, which had at its center, the first iteration of KeyLab keyboards – a KeyLab 61. Piano V 2 is a collection of 12 modelled pianos comprising uprights, grands, and even a couple of unique theorems that marry traditional designs with imaginary metallic and glass cabinetry. Analog Lab is a heaping compendium of Arturia’s entire V Collection, providing approximately 8000 presets culled from the entire caboodle.

ARTURIA PIANO V WHITE UPRIGHT FULL VERSION

Ensuring that even a first-time customer will be able to enjoy this delightful keyboard controller at its finest, Arturia has included full version licenses of Analog Lab 4 and Piano V 2.

ARTURIA PIANO V WHITE UPRIGHT SERIES

The unit I received is a black model (which I personally prefer), but of course, the KeyLab MK II series is also available in Arturia’s recognizable white carriage. This little darling rings the till at a moderate street price of $499 - $549 (USD) / $649 (CAD) in most retail shops. Our present investigation spotlights one of these: The KeyLab 61 MK II. Consistently, each of Arturia’s hardware offerings has proven itself to be solidly built and well-outfitted with ample functionality and plentiful accoutrements. Since that time, Arturia has continued to produce a respectable catalogue of hardware pieces including “Mini Brute”, “MicroBrute”, “BeatStep”, “MatrixBrute”, “AudioFuse”, and many others.

ARTURIA PIANO V WHITE UPRIGHT SOFTWARE

Give me a real piano any day, but if I'm forced inside the box against my will, Piano V is the best tool I've found to cope with this unfortunate circumstance.Although Arturia’s software developments have generally been well-received, the company wasn’t content to focus solely on that side of the equation so in 2009, they made available their first hardware synthesizer, “The Origin”. Sonically Piano V sounds very good, and in a track can substitute very well for the real thing.

You can also have control over mechanics like Lid Position, Soundboard Resonance, and 'microphone' positioning. The tool I find very useful is the velocity curve editor, which allows you to redo the dynamics of an existing MIDI performance. Piano V not only has 12 different piano models to start with, but it also has a huge amount of control over the models with parameters like String Tension (tuning), Unison Detuning, Stretch Tuning, Dynamic Range, Hammer hardness and position, and mechanical noises like pedal, key, and hammer noise. Even a beginning piano student can tell the difference between a sampled piano and a real piano’s nearly infinite control of dynamics and the very complex harmonic interaction of all the strings physically connected to each other. I suspect most MIDI piano performances feel lifeless in part because they are performed on a plastic keyboard playing back a sampled piano with limited dynamics. Because Piano V is modeled and not sampled, there is a lot more control over not just the modeled piano tone, but also the dynamics and nuances of the piano sound and how it's played – even after its performed.

ARTURIA PIANO V WHITE UPRIGHT PRO

One particular session included a piano track that the artist had really nailed, but the dynamics and sound of the performance sounded lifeless and boring with the stock Logic Pro Piano. This can be really dramatic by switching out Logic Pro’s Piano for Piano V.

I will always export the MIDI tracks as well as the audio tracks from the Logic Pro’s virtual instruments, as I find I can often improve the track by using a different virtual instrument with the original MIDI performance. I've had several projects come to me for mixing from Logic Pro, and since I find Logic Pro clunky and buggy, I always try to export the projects to other DAW software. (On a side note, I'm very impressed with Logic Pro’s Drummer, and have ended up keeping drum tracks made from this virtual instrument – unable to beat them with humans or other software). In any case, I've often suggested that people buy Logic Pro because it's a great way to affordably start recording music, but the virtual instruments and plug-ins just feel flat to my ears and have a way of making tracks sound lifeless and homogenous. Although Apple’s Logic Pro may be a great DAW and is very affordable, I'm not a big fan – especially in regard to its virtual instrument sounds. That said, Arturia’s Piano V is a very useful tool in these days of laptop production. I've gone to some pretty extreme lengths to record actual pianos instead of using digital ones. I am very picky about piano sounds, and, in general, my rule is that only real pianos sound like a piano should – so I don't like to use sampled or modeled pianos if at all possible.

Arturia piano v white upright