Creating expressive piano parts for your song doesn’t need a virtuoso performance from the writer thanks to this new VI… Hear it for yourself.
The Piano
Of all the instruments out there, arguably none is as omnipresent as the piano. Gracing just about every genre on the planet, the instrument’s sound is instantly recognisable to listeners the world over, from many different cultures and musical traditions. Certainly the piano’s wide register, coupled with its incredible tonal and dynamic range have secured its place from classical to hip hop and beyond. For all the records on which they appear, there are also many, many more instruments whose primary purpose is for writing songs, arrangements, or parts. Despite its enormous complexity, developers have in recent years managed to come up with digital hardware pianos as well as virtual creations that can summon a surprising amount of realism compared to the real thing.
What Makes A Great Piano Part?
For a part to work, there needs to be three elements already in place. The first is the musical one, because without an idea, everything else can be discarded. The second is the player. While virtuosity is often not a requirement, every piece of music needs an amount of technical skill that can serve the needs of the music. Sometimes this can be as simple as bashing out a few triads, but more often than not, a more nuanced part is needed. Thirdly, is the instrument itself. While there are plenty of videos proving that even the worst train station piano has the power to enchant in the right hands, no player will sound their best on something that doesn’t sound right, play right, or keep its tuning.
What Gets In The Way Of Great Piano?
There will be many songwriters who will have the idea, but might lack either the playing ability, the right instrument to convey their song, or both. While technical skill can be improved upon, for many, the sound of a great acoustic piano in the right room will be unobtainable. Even decent sounding and playing digital pianos can be absent for the same reasons, which leaves the virtual instrument plugin option. There are many of these around, which instantly solve the piano ‘problem’, but going back to the first ingredient for great piano parts, the one thing they cannot do is play themselves
UJAM Virtual Pianist VOGUE
If a piano is used that comes loaded with musical building blocks in the form of MIDI, that’s easy for non-pianists to ‘drive’, the technical musical problem goes away. Then all that’s needed is the idea. Many singers and musicians have ideas for songs in their head. If they can find the root note on their keyboard controller or DAW’s piano roll, UJAM’s Virtual Pianist VOGUE can do the rest. UJAM adds:
We got a Player and Instrument Mode, so producers who can’t play the piano are able to put together realistic sounding piano tracks: “A Pianist that offers perfectly played, intuitively controllable piano performances on a premium grand piano with a wide sonic palette for all modern musical genres”
The first plug-in will be an equivalent to Virtual Drummer SOLID 2 and Virtual Bassist ROYAL 2. It can play rhythmic tracks in a band, accompaniment for singers and instrumentals, simple but appealing solo passages or instrumental playbacks. It’s NOT a classical or jazz pianist, solo virtuoso, music theory nut, fan of complex arrangements.
In the video, we use Virtual Pianist VOGUE to create a realistic part with next to no input from a musician. We also explore the instrument’s different piano flavours as well as the radio-ready finesse offered by its Finisher control.
The Piano That Plays Itself
If we take the ‘big three’ of what makes a great part, virtual instruments have up until now needed quite a fair amount of input from the non-piano playing musician or writer. By finally giving them access to a usable, searchable musical vocabulary, Virtual Pianist VOGUE really does give power to writers who need the expressiveness that only a piano can bring. A generous smattering of piano models, mix ready Finisher sounds, all coupled with intuitive controls for pruning or elaborating parts make it the piano VI that does it all. If you’re a writer or musician with two left hands (invert if you’re of the sinistral persuasion, check it out.