Whole Sounds / Baldwin 1954 Parlour Grand (for UVI)

[Piet De Ridder]

Different enough, to my ears, from the multitude of virtual pianos already available, to deserve some attention: the Whole Sounds Baldwin 1954 Parlour Grand. Not as outright 'peculiar' as many of the well-known 'character pianos', and not as personality-challenged as some of the more pristine-sounding instruments tend to be either, this sampled Baldwin could well be a really great choice if you need a convincing piano sound without the stylistic (and performance-) limitations that most character instruments present you with and without the timbral sterility that several neutral-sounding pianos exhibit.

Haven't tried it yet, so I don't know how it plays, but there's a fully-functional demo available, so anyone who's interested can test it for him/herself.
The full version requires iLok, the demo doesn't. And you need the UVI Workstation or Falcon as well of course.

- 4 channel mixer to blend mic perspectives
- solo, mute, pan, A/B, copy and paste mixer functions
- gain structure control with master volume
- touch control for an easier or harder action
- adjustable custom convolution reverbs, "air" and "wood"
- custom-tailored eq & compression
- 2 key release controls
- sustain pedal noises
- adjustable sustain pedal resonance
- copy, paste, reset, A/B controls for gain and signal processing
- save and load scene buttons preserves ALL controllable parameters

Version 1.1 is currently available with 35% off the regular price. Simply enter the code V1135 at checkout.



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[Erik]

Interesting timbre but I must say I'm not convinced by the way it plays, specially in the mid to low registers. And a bit limited in its dynamic range with at times some annoying round-robins that ruin the experience of the very limited player I am.
Disclaimer :I've mostly (badly) played for the last 35years on an upright modern Pleyel and the usual suspects (NI Stuff, last PianoteQ iteration as demo only (love it but cannot take the leap to fork out 240€ or something and Ido not know why, and a lovely Acoustic Samples Old Grand)

[Lawrence]

It has JUST a tad of that middle C dead zone, but only a touch. I’m a piano whore, so I bought it (sigh). Two reasons:

1. It’s very reasonably priced.
2. Playing with the demo, I found myself still playing it an hour a a half after I opened it-this despite the annoying interruptive beeps. I like the far mic, it’s quite delicate, and though overall not a very sharp sounding piano, I found that by eqing it and playing with mics it was reasonably versatile. Nice air movement too.

(Erik-I LOVE Acoustic Samples’ Old Black Grand too.)

[GR Baumann]

Matter of taste I suppose, but the Debussy and Bartok didn't do it for me at all. Hard to nail why that is, but there is something very odd to my ears concerning the color which I dislike. Then again, might just be my odd taste.

[Ashermusic]

I tried it, it sounds nice, but I have soooo many nice pianos already I cannot justify pulling the trigger.

[bigcat1969]

I wish I wasn't so anti-ilok as the Baldwin sound to me means piano probably from hearing one every Sunday for decades. It doesn't cut through like a Yamaha or have that big Bosendorfer sound but a good Baldwin just sounds like a Piano should. I amazed it took this long to professionally sample one. Now I just have to wait a few decades for someone to professionally sample one for Kontakt... Sigh.

[catsass]

Ow! My eyes!

[wholesounds]

Interesting timbre but I must say I'm not convinced by the way it plays, specially in the mid to low registers. And a bit limited in its dynamic range with at times some annoying round-robins that ruin the experience of the very limited player I am.
Disclaimer :I've mostly (badly) played for the last 35years on an upright modern Pleyel and the usual suspects (NI Stuff, last PianoteQ iteration as demo only (love it but cannot take the leap to fork out 240€ or something and Ido not know why, and a lovely Acoustic Samples Old Grand)

Erik - Try adjusting the "touch" control to see if you can get the dynamic range to sit right with you. The samples recorded do cover a really wide range. I did the sampling the old fashioned way, fingers on (faux) ivory, and the ppp was the quietest I could manage with the hammers just barely striking, and the fff was the loudest I could manage without breaking stuff, sometimes using two fingers, left and right hands, to get the force I wanted.

Dragging that touch knob upward will let you access the louder samples more easily. Let me know if that makes a difference!

[Lawrence]

Btw-I never listened to any of the demos, just played the dl’d version, so can’t speak to the Debussy or Bartok, but I’m unlikely to need a pure classical sound anyway. Still, after fooling with it a bit it sounded more traditional than a lot of pianos I own. No
presets though, unless I’m missing something.

[Erik]

Thanx Wholesounds for chiming in and the precision.;-)