E-mu Platinum 88 Piano (for Emulator X/Proteus X)
E-MU's Platinum 88 Professional Grand Piano for Emulator X and Proteus X offers over 8 GB of 24-bit grand piano samples! Every note (12 layers per note) of a pristine Steinway Model L was recorded. The Platinum 88 has been programmed to switch between pedal up and pedal down sample layers, sostenuto pedal and soft pedal to create a sampled grand piano with unmatched realism and playability.
The Platinum 88 Professional Grand Piano contains three versions of varying size:
- Platinum 88 (7 gigabyte): The Platinum 88 contains complete non-looping samples of all 88 notes— five layers with the sustain pedal up, six layers with the sustain pedal down, and one layer of note-off samples. Each stereo sample is 24 bits, 48kHz.
- Platinum 88 LE+ (1 gigabyte): The Platinum LE+ has three layers of pedal-up samples, and three layers of pedal-down samples. Each stereo sample is 16 bits, 44.1kHz, looped.
- Platinum 88 LE (200 megabytes): The Platinum LE has two layers of pedal-up samples. Each stereo sample is 16 bits, 44.1kHz, looped.
Having three versions of varying layer depths provides you with plenty of options depending on the intended use and the available system resources.
For example, while the Platinum 88 is a must for solo piano performances, it will take a heavy toll on available resources. If your system has difficulty running the Platinum 88 (or if your computer is multitasking), the Platinum 88 LE+ is an economic alternative. The Platinum 88 LE is great if you want to get a quick-loading piano sound that uses few computer resources. For example, if you're using Emulator X VSTi or Proteus X VSTi with your favorite sequencer, and you want to quickly load a piano bank, use the Platinum LE. Once you've successfully recorded your inspired MIDI track, you can replace it with the Platinum 88 or Platinum LE + for better sound quality during mixdown.
Realistic Pedal support
Each preset uses all three pedals to complete the realism of the Platinum 88. The sustain, sostenuto, and soft pedals are automatically configured to work perfectly in Emulator X and Proteus X.
Realtime Control = ‘The Real Thing'
There is one thing all musician's agree on - and that is all musicians have different playing styles. With this in mind each preset is programmed with a wide variety of realtime controllers that allow the player to adjust every parameter to their personal playing style. Filter Amount, Q, Filter Attack, and Filter Decay, VCA / Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release-Velocity, Master effects such as Reverb and Delay, and in some additional effects such as EQ or Tube. All of these offer the user the ability to contour and shape the performance experience.
Perception is everything...
The Platinum 88 offers a truly unique feature called Spread. The Spread feature allows the user to control the stereo image spread of the Platinum 88 playback. A larger Spread value simulates the performer's listening position while sitting at the Piano keyboard - a smaller Spread value simulates the audience's position.
About the Recording Session
After an exhaustive search throughout the San Francisco bay area, the E-MU Sound Central team finally discovered Whip Records in Berkeley, CA— home to a beautiful, well-maintained Steinway Model L concert grand. The piano was perfect and the room sounded great, so they started recording. Using Neumann U67 microphones and high-quality preamps, every note was meticulously recorded at 24-bit resolution. Each note was allowed to sound until disappearing completely— enabling the Platinum 88 bank to be completely natural sounding and free of loops. Each sample was reviewed, and the best were assembled into the twelve layers that make up the Platinum 88 7 gigabyte bank. As a result of this process, the samples are perfectly matched, sound great, and are free of artifacts.
The final set of samples was then carefully mapped to the proper key and velocity layers. Finally, the pedals and continuous controllers were programmed to take advantage of the Emulator X and Proteus X synthesizer engines, providing you with further tweaks and enhancements that allow you to easily configure the Platinum 88 to your personal liking. The result is the finest, most natural sounding piano sample library available.
