MusicRadar Verdict
A rich, versatile, fun package at a good price.
Pros
- +
Sounds great. Good value. Lots of fun.
Cons
- -
Not a lot.
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Also available individually (£99 each), Grand S and Grand Y offer up to 9GB of multisampled Steinway D (lively) and Yamaha CFIIIS (warm) pianos, and both sound magnificent.
"Each piano can be switched between 'Concert' and 'Studio' mode"
Each can be switched between 'Concert' and 'Studio' mode, the latter recorded with the lid removed and the mics closer for a drier, more contemporary tone.
The Pentamorph controller morphs between five preset combinations of forward and reverse samples, and mechanical noise, while the Tonality editor facilitates noise, resonance and envelope shaping.
A useful collection of effects has been scripted in, and the superb Smart Chord and Animator systems enable automatic chord generation combined with configurable playback of a sizeable (but preset-only) library of performance-controllable phrases.
“It’s kind of scary to go through these…like, ‘Oh I’m going to take that back!’”: Albert Hammond Jr of the Strokes is (reluctantly) selling a heap of his stage-played gear on Reverb, including a Guild acoustic from the Yours To Keep tour
“There’s three of us playing guitar in Foo Fighters… A lot of tone details can get lost, which is what drew me to the Cleaver – that P-90 cut”: Chris Shiflett on how he found his weapon of choice with his Fender Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe
“People have used it as their wedding song. I often think, ‘Hey, did you listen to the lyrics?’”: The classic number one hit with a sting in its tail
