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Top 10 Piano VST Plugins in 2021
Written by: Eric “Realistic” Michael and SoundOracle
If you produce, compose, or song-write, a good piano collection is vital. No matter what genre you work in, the piano is an instrument that has stood the test of time & it’s an instrument that never sounds dated or has an expiration date on it. Because it’s such an important instrument in music production/composition, we decided to break down our all-time favorite piano VST plugins!
Keyscape
There should be no surprise here that Keyscape made our list. Keyscape comes from the same company that makes Omnisphere - Spectrasonics - & their high-quality beautiful sounds transfer over in this sound library. One of the things that makes this instrument so special is its custom control settings. Keyscape allows you to change the microphone positions, tone/color of the sound, & the effects like reverb, EQ, compression, & tremolo. The sounds in this library were brilliantly recorded & you’ll be able to hear subtle authentic tones like pedal & release sounds.
You’ll want to make sure you have plenty of space on your computer or an external hard drive for this library. There are over 500 keyboard sounds taking up almost 77GB of storage space! Just like Omnisphere, you can use the Guitar Center coupon on Keyscape when they have their sales.
Alicia’s Keys For Kontakt
This is a piano patch that is developed directly from Native-Instruments & it’s for Kontakt.
NI got together with a sample specialist & an impulse response expert to create this piano patch. To create it, they actually sampled Alicia Keys from her own playing in her own studio with her very own Yamaha C3 piano. The goal was to capture the tone & feel of Alicia Keys’ signature sound that has led her to multiple chart-topping hits. This Kontakt library did just that! Alicia’s Keys comes with 3,000 samples.
This patch will work in either the free version or the full version of Kontakt
Death Piano
This Kontakt piano library is perfect for drill & trap beats! If you’re looking for those edgy & sinister sounds that we hear in so many drill & trap productions then this is the library to go with! And it’s at a fairly low price too at just $49! It features 128 presets with a growing list that they update periodically.
Death piano will only work in the full version of Kontakt or if you download the FREE Plogue Sforzando player, you won’t have to buy the full version of Kontakt to use it!
The Giant - From Native Instruments
Another Native-Instruments created piano patch - The Giant samples the world’s biggest upright piano. This piano patch has a strong low-end, gorgeous high, & rich overtones. Where this piano patch really shines is with darker & cinematic vibes. The Giant has 40 presets & will work in either the free Kontakt Player or The full version of Kontakt.
Cinematic Studio Piano
Another 3rd-party piano patch that was created to work in Kontakt, but at a very affordable price at just $69. Cinematic Studio Piano samples a Yamaha C7 grand piano recorded at a premiere scoring stage in Australia. While creating this, Cinematic Studios captured the full dynamics of the Yamaha C7 for accurate touch response & also captured the key & pedal noises for a realistic sound.
Cinematic Studio Piano will work in either the free version or the full version of Kontakt.
Arturia Piano V
This piano collection for Arturia features 12 different piano models. Piano V features the usual suspects of sampled upright & grand pianos but also samples some more exotic pianos that are made from glass & metal. Not only are there several presets to choose from, but there are also a variety of knobs & sliders you can adjust & tweak such as reverbs, microphone positions, EQs, room setup, lid-position, & tuning. The mechanical noises such as key & pedal noises can also be tweaked & controlled.
Addictive Keys - Trio Bundle
The Addictive Keys Trio Bundle lets you select any three Addictive Keys pianos: a Steinway Model
D grand, Yamaha U3 upright, Yamaha CP-80 acoustic-electric, and Fender Rhodes Mark 1
electric, which you choose from the XLN website upon registration.
XLN selected world-class instruments, then recorded them from multiple vantage points with
vintage tube mics in well-treated rooms. Addictive Keys lets you choose mics and blend them in.
This is a collection of pianos that will fit any production need & style!
Emotional Piano By Sound Iron For Kontakt
A soft & gorgeous sounding piano, Emotional Piano features 41 Kontakt presets. Each sample was recorded with a full dynamic range for accurate touch response. Soundiron used a close mic placement when recording these samples for a full & rich sound. Some of the presets even
included arpeggiator options.
Emotional Piano will work in either the free version or the full version of Kontakt.
Una Corda For Kontakt
Una Corda is another piano patch brought to you by Native-Instruments. This patch library samples a one-of-a-kind hand-crafted upright piano. One of the things that makes the original Una Corda special is it features one string per key. This piano also allows you to choose the type of material between the hammer & the strings. You can choose “felt” for a gentler tone with reduced attack noise. Cotton for a noiser sound with percussive attack noises. The final option is just the hammer on the strings - which captures the pure, resonant noise of the piano.
Spitfire Audio Piano & Keys
Spitfire Audio has one of the most extensive & best-sounding piano collections on the market.
They have everything from soft & subtle to hard & intense sounding pianos. You’ll easily be able to choose lush & elegant tones, aggressive & sinister tones, as well as modest & rich tones when browsing through their library. The price isn’t too bad for each patch either at just an average of
$29 per patch with some of the more extensive collections being a few hundred dollars. Spitfire creates these sounds by bringing in some of the best composers, producers, & engineers to capture & sample these piano sounds.
Spitfire Audio Pianos will work in either the free version or the full version of Kontakt.
MUSIC MAKERS
SoundOracle - Owner
SoundOracle (Sound Designer for Timbaland, whose sounds have been heard in over 20 Grammy award-winning songs by artists like Drake, Jay Z, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, and more)
Connect with Oracle:
Instagram: SoundOracle
Twitter: SoundOracle
Youtube: SoundOracle
Realistic Production - Engineer
Realistic is a Producer/Engineer located in Atlanta, GA specializing in Hip-Hop, R&B & Pop music. Realistic has been involved in the music industry for over 15 years. He has worked on projects for Talib Kweli, Just Blaze, Musiq Soulchild, Pharoahe Monch, NBA 2k, Skyzoo, BJ The Chicago Kid, Madlib, Ayo-N-Keyz, Billboard Hitmakers, Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Rhymesayers, Hamburger Helper, & LoveOfPharaoh.
CONNECT WITH REALISTIC
IG: @RealisticProductions
Twitter: @Realistic_Pro
FB: @RealisticProductionsLLC
Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, etc. - https://fanlink.to/bwW5
Courses
Courses from soundoracle.net give music producers the resources, information, and techniques they need to take their music careers to the next level. It doesn't matter if you're genres are hip hop, R&B, pop, trap, or boom-bap our courses have you covered.
PIANO FOR PRODUCERS
Everything You Need to Know About Hip Hop and Trap Music Theory, the Formulas To Hit Records, and How to Create Them Instantly
It is NOT another boring course on piano fundamentals & long winded theory talk.
It is NOT about just about teaching you scales and chord progressions - yet you will learn about these things, but on a deeper level than you could have ever imagined and your beats and songs will sound BETTER than they've ever sounded before.
It is NOT a course set up to have you just clone chords and melodies that someone else has done to make hit records. This course will give you the fundamentals and an understanding of how to quickly and easily create hit records yourself.
What’s included:
🎹 Over 55 videos of modern piano techniques
🎹 Over 6 hours of content
🎹 PDF guides to follow along
🎹 Chord & Scale cheat sheets
🎹 Techniques about trap melodies, bass lines, & modern chord progressions.
🎹 In-depth lessons from a renowned instructor with a full master degree in piano composition
🎹 Videos discussing & teaching the styles & musicality commonly used in Modern Hip-Hop, R&B, & Trap Music
🎹Original piano loops composed by Lokii The Composer himself
THE ART OF MASTERING
Everything You Need To Know In Order To Perfectly Master Records With Any DAW And The Plugins You Already Have
It is NOT just another mastering course that uses vague information that wastes your time and money.
It is NOT about just balancing the volume levels - yet this will happen as a result of using these secrets
and your beats and songs will sound BETTER than they've ever sounded before.
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What's Included...
Over 9 Hours Of Expert Techniques
Get years of experience & hundreds of thousands of dollars of education all packed into this professional, affordable course.
Mastering Cheat Sheets In PDF Form
These guides will come in clutch when you need to reference information quickly or are in a pinch when you’re not able to watch a video.
Easy To Understand, Concise Layout
Not only is the information easy to understand, the chapters are laid out in concise bite size format for quick reference to a specific technique whenever you need it.
THE ART OF BEAT MIXING
Our new online video course dropped last week & since then we have been flooded with orders!
The Art Of Beat Mixing is filled with industry mixing secretes like the simple drum summing technique that can get your kicks and snares to smack 10x BETTER INSTANTLY. SoundOracle used this summing technique on the Nicki Minaj & Mario song "Somebody Else". It works so well that the track didn't even need a baseline or an 808. The drums were that powerful!
The Art Of Beat Mixing is a full length video course with over 5 hours of content provided by a professional certified engineer! With 15 chapters packed into this course, each video gives you detailed visual guides on mixing your beats from start to finish.
What's included?
- Over 5 hours of expert techniques
- Mixing cheat sheets in PDF form
- An easy to understand, concise layout
- Small, digestible chapters with quick access to the info you need
- Everything you need to know to mix your beats professionally
THE ART OF VOCAL MIXING
Producers, beat makers, engineers, & artists - the perfect video course for guaranteeing your vocals have amazing professional quality is finally here!
Gone will be the days of your vocal mixes being cursed by muddiness, clipping, & lack of clarity.
The Art Of Vocal Mixing is a full length video course with over 14 hours of content provided by a professional certified engineer! With 20 chapters packed into this course, each video gives you detailed visual guides on mixing your vocals from start to finish.
You’ll learn how to achieve incredible vocal mixes with brilliantly designed short, easy to understand videos breaking down the entire process of mixing vocals professionally. Each stage of the mixing process has its own video making it easy to find the information you want to know, when you want it.
What's included?
- Over 150 high quality tutorial videos
- Over 14 hours of expert techniques
- Useful mixing guides in PDF form
- An easy to understand, concise layout
- A beautifully designed interface
- Small, digestible chapters with quick access to the info you need
- Everything you need to know to mix your vocals professionally
- A bonus sound kit made by SoundOracle himself!
