The Absolute Piano is based on a basic sound bank enhanced with numerous samples and fx.

A. Mixer

In the version 3 I've decided to remove all the hammer and noise simulation, I've only kept the pedal sound.

Pedal : this set the volume of the pedal sound in the final mix. You can disable the pedal with a button.

Fx : set the volume of the Fx like reverb, chorus, echo in the final sound.

Amb :  set the Ambient sound volume in the final Mix.

Global : set the global volume of the Plugin.

B. Volume Envelope

The volume envelope is the way you can shape the volume of your piano sound. A quick attack will do a percussive sound, but a slow attack will do a violin style sound.

The filters are 4 : Low pass, Hi pass, Band pass and Band reject.

This gives the widest range of possibilities, to create weird sounds, or modified piano, dark or bright, or even synthesizers sounds.

This filter has been specially designed for the Absolute Piano. Its output is normalized so even if you can get weird results, it will not blow your headphones!

Another specification, the filter is self resonant. That means you can obtain really amazing sweeps, like in a real analog gear!

Frequency : it is way you specify to the filter the frequency that need to be added, rejected, cut depending on the filter type you choose, it is better to do some test to better understand the sonic modification.

Q : is the resonance level. If the resonance is too high, the filter start to self oscillate. This is a feature only supported by some of the best analog synths.

D. Sound Sculpture.

This is a very important part of the Absolute Piano, that extends its sound to almost endless possibilities of timbre. The 3 band pass Shelving filters will add more gain in the 85Hrz, 640Hrz and 1440Hrz frequencies.

These frequencies corresponds to the low, mid and high frequencies of this piano. The filter has been tuned specifically for this piano sound.

By changing the Low, Mid and High button you will decide if you add or remove gain at these specific frequencies. If the knob is >64 (middle) you add gain, otherwise you remove gain.

So you can create phone piano, low, or bright piano very easily!

The Width parameter controls the width of the band pass filter. If the width is large, each button will influence a larger band of frequencies. If the width is small, you will change only the frequencies close to the 85, 640 and 1440 HRZ, some results may be very weird and interesting.

E.Effects section.

First of all, the effects are not in chain. The Chorus, the Echo and the Reverb are in parallel, that means that if you add chorus, it will not pass thru the reverb engine. The Peak limiter is located at the end of the effect chain and is used to avoid most peak saturation. The piano is a percussive instrument, and saturation is often a problem at recording.

The effect section in the Absolute Piano is quite extensive and has been designed specifically for the piano. Originally, most parameters in these effects are not useful for a piano, so the effects have been redesigned to keep only the essential. Their use is simple and yet efficient.

Reverberation : smooth and natural, based on a modified Schroeder reverb algorithm.

Size : is the size of the room. Basically it is the delay of the reverb, larger= longer reverb.

Width : is a stereo enhancer. It is used to spread the reverb around and simulate the random reflection generated by non squared room.

Damp : is a low pass filter that cut the highest frequencies. This is made to change the reverb color, more Damp = more bright.

Echo : this delay can be synchronized to the BPM or wild and set by the user.

Use this BPM sync button to set the delay in sync with the VST host.

Delay : is the time in ms between 2 delay taps.

Feedback is the time in ms where the taps will continue to echo.

Chorus / Flanger : this chorus use feedback in order to get a flanger's like effect if you set the Amplitude at a too much high level!

Speed : is the chorus speed.

Amplitude is the pitch level of the delay.

Peak Boost : this tool is very interesting. It can compress the sound, and limit the sound as well. It has been tuned to specifically add more attack to the sound. You can obtain a very punchy sound, great for pop and rock style!

F. Midi player.

This is another nice feature of the Absolute Piano. Its ability to run midifiles right from its main interface, in stand alone more or in VST host. Just select the midi you want to play from the drop down menu and if the play button is pushed, it will run. You can add your own midi files. For doing so, just copy the midi in the relative /midi/ subdirectory. Just locate where your Absolute Piano piano is, and create this subdirectory if it is not the case yet. Absolute Piano scan this directory to create the list of the midi files in the drop down menu. The tempo of the Midifile must be in the Midi itself. The Midi player read the midi tempo record and use it.

G. Background sounds.

More than 25 pre-loaded very high background sounds that loops indefinitively. This idea is really fun, and playing piano in the morning country is definitively not the same mood as playing in the mountain snow. Some very original ambient sound will surprise you, while some classics are great to re-create the bar or restaurant sounds of the 30's ragtime! You can use the cool concert audience sound, that will add an incredible real feeling to your recording, by using some reverb, you'll not only simulate the room, but also the very thin audience noises, behind every live recording, just as true as if it was played for real!

Each background sound is loaded when you select it to save memory. It is done in real time, so you can change the background sound from a midi control or just by hand while you play!

H. Meters.

The transpose sliders are first one at the left for octave transposition, and the other one is the fine tune slider.

The 2 meters are precise an are for the left and right channels.

The ID symbol represents the computer ID you need to enter into the private area in order to license your product.

I. Misc.

The Keyboard mode is not exactly related to the midi player, but to how the graphic keyboard is handled.

Mode 1 global : when this button is off, you are in the default mode. You can play with the keyboard from your midi keyboard, and any midi note will trigger the keyboard.

Mode 2 local : when this button is on you are in local mode. You can play with the keyboard with the mouse, but if you play from the midi, the piano will not trigger.

This information is only useful when you use a VST host (cubase for example). It displays the tempo set by the master application. It DOES NOT displays the midifile tempo.

J.Specifications.

System Requirements

•  500 Mb Free Hard Disc Space
•  Windows XP
•  P III/Athlon 1.7G
•  768 Mb RAM
•  We recommends using a fast processor and up to 1 GB of free RAM to optimize the performance of this sound module.

Compatibility:

•  WIN - VST®2.0
•  DXi2™
•  ASIO™
•  MME™
•  Direct Sound™
•  ASIO™
• Cubase, and all VSTi applications all VST Hosts.
• Stand alone XP version with the help of SAVIHOST.

K.Credits.

Thanks to Jeff McClintock.

Absolute Piano uses the excellent SAVIHOST from H.Seib to run in stand alone.

Absolute Piano sound banks was made with the help of CDXTRACT and SAMPLIT by Bernard Chavonnet.

Some graphics are made by Artvera music studio!

1. How could I add or change the background ambiance sounds?

All the ambient background sounds are in the "audio" folder, feel free to change or modify them.

2. I would like to change the pedal sound with my own?

The pedal sound is named pedal01.wav.

3. I want to change the piano samples sounds?

No, the samples are Copyrighted and can't be changed.

4. How could I add or change the midi files?

The midi files are in the "midi" subdirectory, you can change or add more midi files and B200 will identify them and list them in the pull down menu.

5. How much RAM memory does Absolute Piano takes?

160 Mb.

6. Do I need to re-download the 300 Mb file to update the Absolute Piano?

No. Only the DLL has to be downloaded (2MB).

7. What is the B200.dat file?

Can't say, maybe some data :)

8. Norton detects "xxx.dll" as a suspicious file, why?

The DLL is protected against piracy and I use a system that is not recognized by most anti-virus. But you can trust our products, every element, module, exe or DLL in B200 self check itself before to execute and will not run if it is modified. Only the original and genuine DLL, virus free can run. Please shut down Norton while you work with B200 or authorize B200 to run.

9. Is there any spy or backdoor protection program in the B200?

NO! Even if the licensing system seems to be a little bit heavy, there is no way for me to grab any information from your computer. Your privacy is guaranteed.

10. Can I resample and distribute the result in a sound bank?

No! The sound of the Absolute Piano B200 cannot be used outside the B200, you can't re-create a sound bank and distribute it, even if it is free. That would be a copyright infringement!

11. What piano was used to create the basic sound bank?

For Copyrights reasons I can't tell you the name, it is a brand European piano, and its name should remember you something.

12. Could you tell me more about the piano sound bank?

It is sampled every 2 notes on 4 level of velocity, then compressed. Even if it is a small sound bank, it is the result of several years of recording with Gigfiles, and a lot of editing. Remember that the best hardware piano have 64-128Mb of ram. So if you think that bigger is better, then you should better fill your HD with our competitors! It is sampled in 44.1 Khz 16bits.

13. Is the registered version limited? Can I use it royalties free?

No limit, no nag screen, nothing, the registered version is clean. And yes, you can use the B200 piano on your music, commercials, records royalties free - of course. 

14. What is the Computer ID, does it contains any private info about my computer?

The computer ID is calculated by my own licensing system, and no one except me knows what it means. There is no personal info, just some checksums of the HD and CPU id, but these info cannot be extracted from the ID itself. So it is just an unique number, with nothing hidden inside.

15. I've 4 computers, can I use B200 on each one with the same license or do I have to purchase several licenses?

Absolute Piano needs one license for each install. Its price is rather low compared with the competition, so you have to purchase one license for each computer ID. Well if you plan to purchase 200 license for educational purposes, contact me first! The licensing system is very powerful and supports network multi-licensing but the keys must be generated by hand.

15. "Bad license error"

If you have a Bad license error, that means that the License Control cannot be installed on your computer. You should try this : lower your screen resolution to 16bits and re-install. If you still get an error at the end of the install procedure "cannot create 3d scene" then contact me and give me the model of your graphic card.

16. I've clicks when I play a lot of notes at the same time.

There are several possibilities and solutions. First it may comes from your driver latency. You can download ASIO4ALL and install it.

Another possibility is an internal device overload. By playing too much notes you are playing a louder sound. Check the red led to see if a component is overloaded. To fix this, just lower the global volume to compensate. For example the Sculpture filter adds gain, when you use the Sculpture filter, you have to compensate by lowering the Global Volume. The Global volume affect the initial volume from the sample oscillator, it is not applied at the end of the signal path.