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#AliciaKeys #VST #NativeInstruments
Welcome to another piano video at the Merriam Pianos KZfaq channel. We’re continuing our series on VST’s with a look at Alicia’s Keys.
This is a native instrument plugin available for under $100 in most markets. Given the price, it’s not meant to compete with the more expensive top plugins, but many folks argue that it is the top native instruments plugin.
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Background:
Alicia’s Keys is a plugin that was created based on a recording of Alicia Keys’ actual 6’1” Yamaha C3 Neo - a highly modified version of a standard Yamaha C3. Most if not all other plugins are based on 7 or 9-foot concert pianos, so the fact that this engine is built off of a 6 foot piano is very unusual.
6-foot pianos have a lot of inherent shortcomings compared to a full-sized concert grand, but this VST has seemed to embrace this by recreating all of the subtle imperfections you’d expect to hear from a typical 6 foot piano.
For instance, the “break”, which is the bass area in a piano where the strings switch from 3 steel strings to 2 copper wound strings and is a very challenging transition for piano makers to get around without a host of messy harmonics, especially on instruments under 9 feet in length, sounds like a real 6 foot piano here, warts and all.
There’s a very real place for this, since not every musical situation calls for a pristine sounding 9-foot concert grand.
Interface:
There are 14 different presets driving various settings like ambience control, options for how to deal with the keys, some half-pedaling and other pedal options, a resonance generator as well as some mechanical noise.
These are all of the basic controls that you would want and are the same general editable parameters that you would find on a top-of-the-line digital piano.
Piano Sound:
Some of the presets have some ‘woofiness’ in the bass, so we would recommend using this VTS with an additional EQ plugin.
It’s mainly the ambience settings that change with each preset, and it’s clear they recorded the piano completely dry. The samples were definitely well executed.
Summary:
For the price, is this plugin worth it? We would say yes overall if there are times where the sound of a 6 foot would be desired. If you’d prefer to be using a larger concert grand sound most of the time, you may want to look elsewhere.
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