XLN Audio Addictive Keys

Verdict
For Two legendary pianos with great,
varied sounds
Impressive multisampled recordings
Lots of tweakable options and efects
Against Dated UI
Fantastically detailed multisampled
versions of two of the inest grand pianos
out there
9 / 1 0
> reviews / virtual pianos roundup
76 / COMPUTER MUSIC / October 2022
Ivory II Studio Grands contains, as
Synthogy claims: “two exceptional
Studio Grands recorded in a legendary
studio”. As such, you get a Steinway B
recorded at Power Station New England,
Connecticut and a Bösendorfer 225
recorded at Firehouse Studios,
Pasadena. Both pianos are
thoroughbred 7’ studio performers and
these are impressive multisampled
versions weighing in at 112GB in size.
The Ivory II interface, while not the
most contemporary in design, gives
you plenty of sound-shaping control.
You get everything from editable
resonance and lid position to key and
pedal noise, dynamic range and stereo
width, and there’s even a simple
onboard synth should you, for some
reason, fancy layering in a cheesy
pad sound.
EQ, chorus and reverb are on tap in
the Efects page, while the Session page
grants access to a similarly
comprehensive range of performance-
related parameters, including pitching,
velocity response and the
aforementioned Half Pedalling controls.
Both pianos sound absolutely
magniicent, and contrast well with each
other – the raw Bosendorfer being the
weightier of the two, the Steinway
having the brighter sound. Studio
Grands is another ine addition to the
Ivory II lineup.
synthogy.com
TYPE: Two sample-based grand pianos | PRICE: £285 | KEY FEATURES: Steinway B Grand Piano from Power Station New England in Waterford, Connecticut and
Bösendorfer 225 Grand Piano from Firehouse Recording Studios in Pasadena, California; 112GB Core Library, up to 24 Velocity Layers, multiple levels of Una Corda, e ects
include Real Ambience, chorus and EQ | SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: AAU, AAX, VST (2.4 plugin host); Mac OS X 10.8 or later, Windows 8 or later (32 or 64-bit); 2.4GHz Quad-
Core CPU, 2GB RAM, 112GB hard disk
Synthogy
Ivory II Studio Grands £285
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