For those who haven't yet put it together, Dave is also the keyboard player for Sound of Contact, Simon Collins' (yes, Phil's son) band.


Dave (Squids) here. I'm going to tell you a Sonic Reality story about sampling pianos. In 1993 I was hired to sample some sounds by the midi techs for Madonna. They had gotten 9 Akai S3000 samplers filled with 32megs of ram each (sounds small now but back then that was massive!). To my knowledge, no one had ever dedicated all of the ram of a sampler JUST to a piano. Keep in mind that sample libraries around that time were sold mostly on floppy discs! So, midi techs Pete and Don along with Mike McKnight (who now tours with Roger Waters Wall show) let me do this elaborate piano. I later released an even larger version of it on an early Sonic Reality sample library called "Concert Grand Pianos" with a company called Ilio (they still sell it!).

Many years have passed. In fact, 20 years (yikes). Other deluxe pianos have been released by various companies and of course with the computer the size of the instrument can be practically unlimited... depending on what software you're using to play it. Since Sonic Reality supports a variety of popular sampler formats such as IK Multimedia's SampleTank and Propellerheads Reason, I wanted to create a deluxe piano that could be massive high resolution in some formats with HD streaming while still sounding incredible in other formats that don't (sorry if that sounds kind of techy but... some people know what I'm talking about at least). Let's just say that my goal was to create a NEW deluxe piano reaching a high standard of my own liking because I'm a piano player and like many others I could only dream of owning something like say a Bosendorfer Imperial Grand.

So, as of tonight (October 5th, 2013), I finally finished programming this beast you see here in the picture which was recorded several years ago at Mark Knopfler's British Grove Studios which happens to have the same classic recording gear that Pink Floyd and The Beatles used at Abbey Road. To help me record and co-produce this deluxe piano library was Alan Parsons (of Alan Parsons Project and engineer who recorded Dark Side of the Moon). The microphones, the studio acoustics, the piano itself were all as good as it gets! But, to get OVER 88 notes (yep this one has 97 keys!!!!) with 8 or more levels of dynamics set up just right for optimal music software performance is a daunting task! I'm proud to say that it's done and sounds AMAZING! To me it really feels like OWNING your very own Bosendorfer Imperial Grand Piano! Even better, it sounds like you're recording it in a state of the art studio with a legendary engineer! This will be released this year and relatively soon in the popular sampler formats including hardware formats like the Yamaha Motif!

Anyway, it's a nice bookend to one of the very first ever deluxe sampled pianos done 20 years ago when everyone thought I was crazy. They also thought I was nuts for collecting old keyboards which have since been labeled "vintage" and command a high price tag as collectible items. I had a vision for keyboards and sampling that goes back to the beginning of 16 bit stereo samplers. As soon as that happened I took it seriously as a virtual instrument platform. I spent all the money I had back then just to own a sampler. Now, you can get one for your Mac or PC for next to nothing... and for not much more than that you'll be able to buy this Alan Parsons Sample Project: Imperial Grand Piano - a digital replica of a piano that costs around $175,000!!!! For about a hundy or so. Robin Hood style! Haha. That's amazing! I love sampling and capturing the sounds of incredible instruments. This is the kind of sound you want to play for hours and hours.

- Dave Kerzner, CEO Sonic Reality