Review Klavier Gravitas Piano / Red Planet Piano by Audio Imperia (currently 70% OFF)
So much more than just another Piano library! Lush, spacious and rich in tone, Audio Imperia’s Klavier Bundle delivers versatile, top-quality epic trailer and underscore hybrid pianos that are so easy to use.
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Originally published on Dec. 20, 2016
Review: Klavier Gravitas Piano and Red Planet Piano by Audio Imperia
Klavier Gravitas Piano sells for $159 from Audio Imperia
Red Planet Piano sells for $139 from Audio Imperia
Thoughts
To be honest when I first heard about the Klavier Pianos I wasn’t that excited. I have loads of piano libraries so what makes these so special – well I’ll tell you what makes them special: The libraries engine lets you morph from a great sounding Piano instrument into Synthetic (Gravitas) and Electric Guitar (Red Planet) sound designed instruments. You can use the modwheel to morph from one side of the instrument to the other.
It wasn’t until I started morphing and dialing up the Synthetic (Gravitas) and Electric Guitar (Red Planet) sound designed side of the instruments that I had that “ahh-haa” moment and realized they work perfectly for what they were designed for – which is creating epic trailer-like scores.
Gravitas Piano Interface Shown – “Organic” Piano loaded on left side and “Synthetic” Sound designed instruments loaded on right side.
And there is a good reason it sounds so spot on for contemporary trailer scores. Audio Imperia originally started creating this library as a private sample library for a group of trailer composers. Lucky for us it has been released to the public. On the Gravitas Piano the sound designed side of the instrument was created by some of the top trailer composers and sound designers out there including: Attila Áts, Bryan Leach, Danny Cocke, Jeremiah Pena, Joshua Crispin aka Generdyn, Paul Ortiz aka Chimp Spanner.
The Piano samples on both instruments come from sampling a Yamaha Baby Grand piano. As a stand alone piano it sounds pretty damn good with warmth and plenty of bite. For the Piano (Organic) side of the instrument, you have the choice of playing back between sustain or staccato samples and can adjust and mix from the with 6 stereo mic positions.
You can get a lot of tonal variations just from different combinations of the 6 mic positions and I was even able to dial in a fantastic sound for cutting through a massive wall of orchestral score as well as dial in a subtle dreamy emotional piano – so very verisitle with just the piano alone.
Why staccato samples? Well once you start morphing to the Synthetic/Guitar you start to get some great sustains on that side of the instrument and with just the staccato attack turned on on the Piano side you can really take advantage of this instruments wonderful sound designed samples by playing back piano attacks with lush expansive sustains from the synthetic side.
The Gravitas Piano comes with 35 “Synthetic” presets that can be accessed via the preset control on the “Synthetic” side of the instrument. One thing that I thought was really great and gave the Gravitas Piano a very original and very pro sound is that all the Synthetic presets were made using the original samples from the “Organic” piano with just pure sound manipulation and design – no synthesizers or other instruments.
Gravitas Piano FX Page
The instruments FX page allows you to add Filter, Compression, Distortion, Chorus, Delay and Convolution to both the Synthetic Side or Organic side separately as well as the ability to apply effects to the instrument combined output. Working with these effects you can start to get some great modifications of the already fantastic sounding presets, or really push the effects on the organic instrument, in essence creating your own sound designed instrument.
Klavier Red Planet Piano
With the Red Planet Piano The interface is identical using the same engine but with a “Orange” hue tinting the instrument and of course, Guitar samples loaded into the “right side” of the instruments GUI.
Red Planet Piano GUI
The sample set used to create the Klavier Red Planet Piano was recorded from a limited edition Ibanez JPM90HAM Guitar with a blend between the front and back pickups. From the start you can hear the rich tones of the original instrument had plenty of depth and warmth with just the right amount of bit to make the sound spot on for epic, contemporary score.
The Red Planet Piano comes with 12 sound designed presets on the “Guitar” side. There isn’t a dud in the bunch. After getting to know the Gravitas Piano and the 35 presets I wished the Red Planet Piano had more presets included. The sound quality is fantastic I just would have liked to have had more options.
Red Planet Piano FX Page
The Red Planet Piano’s FX Rack page is identical to the Gravitas Piano with both the Guitar side or Organic side separately as well as the ability to apply effects to the instrument combined output. Just as with the Gravitas Piano the FX Rack will let you sculpt and design even more with the instrument.
Over all the Klavier Bundle is a great set of instruments for those looking to get a top-quality epic trailer piano and guitar tone. The sound is lush, spacious and rich in tone. I can also see how using these libraries for underscore make them extremely useful tools – just pull up one of the Klaviers and quickly get a sound that would have otherwise taken precious time to sculpt.
Facts
The Klavier Gravitas Piano downloads as 12.08GB. The instrument comes with 35 Sound Design presets.
The Red Planet Piano downloads as 10.08 GB and comes with 12 Sound Designed presets.
Both instruments require the full version of Native Instruments Kontakt 5.5 or higher.
Klavier Gravitas Piano sells for $159 from Audio Imperia
Red Planet Piano sells for $139 from Audio Imperia
