Meldway Grand – New piano for MSoundFactory by MeldaProduction

MeldaProduction is proud to announce availability of the second so-called premium instrument (or commercial instrument add-on) for its MSoundFactory mighty modular virtual instrument in Meldway Grand — generated from a beautiful Steinway Model D concert grand piano perfectly positioned in the purpose-built sound studio facility of HAMU (Hudební fakulta Akademie múzických umění v Praze), translated in English as the Faculty of Music of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (participating itself in handling the tasks arising from the plans for this faculty’s pedagogical, research, and artistic activities in the field of sound creation and musical acoustics), where it was captured with multiple high-end microphones, meticulously sampled as a 40 GB virtual instrument that may well be the only software grand piano anyone could conceivably need, thanks to its realistic dynamics and sympathetic resonances, CREATIVE and FX processing pages, plus a track mixer for each microphone source.

Since not all pianos are, of course, created equal, it stands to reason that not all are worthy of being sampled. Steinway & Sons’ Model D concert grand piano is, however, a truly majestic musical instrument. Indeed, it is billed by its creator as being the pinnacle of concert grands — the overwhelming choice of the world’s greatest pianists and for anyone who demands the highest level of musical expression. It is mainly for this reason, therefore, that MeldaProduction chose to sample the beautiful example available at HAMU. Its impressive 8’ 113⁄4” (274 cm) length works in its favour, the low keys certainly sounding perfect. It is fair to say, though, that it sounds silky, smooth, and dynamic overall. On the face of it, then, the music production and audio processing advanced tools-maker in question captured every detail of the piano in question with the best recording equipment available for the production, paired with its own technologies created chiefly for the task at hand. After all, the beautiful-sounding sampled and processed results surely speak for themselves, with Meldway Grand billed by its creator as being a virtual piano made by piano enthusiasts for themselves!

As a result, anyone can now enjoy the sound of the superb instrument in question, wherever they are and with whomever their audience is. Maybe Meldway Grand is the most authentic-sounding software grand piano anyone has ever played, yet it is surely the most creative since it also acts as a great sound design tool, too!

Musically, Meldway Grand can sound even more dynamic than the physical piano from which it was originally sampled, while users can choose to use one of the 17 algorithmic reverbs on the sympathetic resonances to achieve an unbelievably lush ambient sound. Thanks to the controls arranged in easy-to-follow RESONANCES, TONE, PIANO, NOISES, and HARMONY groupings on its PIANO page, they also have access to an exceptionally wide range of sound possibilities.

Seven stereo microphone sources — HEAD, CLOSE BORDER, CLOSE CENTER, CLASSIC, BALL, BRAUNER, and GROUND — come with various controls for each, ranging from Volume to Detune and Formants. First, there is the CLASSIC stereo pair, which works every time since it is perfectly centered and wide. And anyone who has ever played the truly majestic musical instrument that is the Model D concert grand knows only too well the indescribable feeling of being surrounded by a wall of piano sound, which is what the HEAD microphone simulates since it is as close as it gets to achieving that feeling with today’s technology. Then there are the two pairs of ultra-close microphones — CLOSE BORDER and CLOSE CENTER — for achieving an ‘in your face’ sound often used when producing pop and rock music. Meanwhile, the BALL microphone is kind of like having another HEAD, albeit positioned inside the piano itself. It is fair to say that BRAUNER microphones produce the widest stereo image possible from a piano, while MeldaProduction also experimented with positioning microphones at ground level — hence the GROUND option. All aforesaid microphone sources can be freely mixed together on the MIXER page.

Feel free to also engage the CREATIVE and FX processing pages to quickly change what is clearly a beautiful-sounding piano into something completely different! After all, who says a piano has to sound like a piano? Processing options include RESONATORS, FILTER, FM, THUMPER, SATURATOR, BRASSER, and TALKBOX (available via the CREATIVE page), as well as DELAY, REVERB, ENHANCER, BELLIZER, DISTORTION, ROTARY, and COMP (available via the FX page).

It is well worth noting here, though, that MSoundFactory itself is MeldaProduction’s mighty modular virtual instrument, with over 3,000 instruments and presets to its notable name. It is actually available in three versions: MSoundFactory LE lets its users access all factory instruments, while users of the top-tier MSoundFactory can even go as far as creating their own instruments, but both allow for downloading of all available premium instruments (including, of course, Meldway Grand) — as well as any others that are released in future — from MeldaProduction for free; fortunately, those not needing access to the more fanciful features of SoundFactory LE or MSoundFactory yet still wish to purchase premium instruments are free to do so using MSoundFactory Player — effectively a free (cut-down) version of MSoundFactory, and available by letting the 15-day trial version of MSoundFactory expire.

Whichever way anyone chooses to access MeldaProduction’s meticulously-sampled Meldway Grand premium instrument, it may well end up being the only software grand piano anyone could conceivably need — 40 GB-sized or otherwise!

Owners of MSoundFactory Player — effectively a free (cut-down) version of MeldaProduction’s mighty modular virtual instrument, MSoundFactory, and available by letting the 15-day trial version of MSoundFactory expire — can purchase Meldway Grand at an attractive introductory price of only €49.00 EUR until the end of November 2022, rising thereafter to its regular price of €99.00 EUR.

Owners of the top-tier MSoundFactory (https://www.meldaproduction.com/MSoundFactory) — itself on offer for €149.00 EUR until the end of October 2022, returning thereafter to its regular price of €299.00 EUR — or MSoundFactory LE (https://www.meldaproduction.com/MSoundFactoryLE) with limited customisation options — itself on offer for €49.00 EUR until the end of October 2022, returning thereafter to its regular price of €99.00 EUR — can download all available premium instruments (including, of course, Meldway Grand) — as well as any others that are released in future — from MeldaProduction for free.

For more in-depth information, including some superb-sounding audio demos, please visit the dedicated Meldway Grand webpage here: Melda Production – MeldwayGrand

Watch MeldaProduction’s introduction to Meldway Grand for MSoundFactory here: