SRX PIANO I

Name: SRX PIANO I
Price: 69 USD
Author: Roland

by Roland · Keys · SRX concert grand expansion

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SRX PIANO I brings the concert grand from Roland's SRX piano board, sampled from a rare European instrument, into a plugin.

It runs on the 128-voice JV/XV engine with Roland's effects; it comes with Roland Cloud membership.

Best for: Keys & Synths, Acoustic Instruments. Genres: Pop, R&B & Soul, Jazz, Acoustic & Classical.

Keywords: grand piano, polyphonic, sample-based, pads, 90s, classic, inspired by, live performance, subtle, Y2K.

What it does

SRX PIANO I is Roland's software version of its first SRX piano expansion board, a stereo-sampled concert grand captured from a single rare European piano with high-end mics and converters. Roland stresses the piano's "soft, delicate voice and natural resonance."

Piano: a stereo-sampled European concert grand, built for composition, recording and live playing.
Waveforms: 40 SRX waves for the piano, plus the 1,083 standard waves of the JV/XV engine for layering and other sounds.
Engine: up to 128 voices, with deep synth editing of each patch.
Effects: 78 multi-effect types, 3 chorus types and 5 reverb types built in.
Digital Circuit Behavior: Roland's DCB modelling, meant to reproduce the character of the original hardware board.
Hardware control and banks: knobs and sliders map to Roland hardware synths, and you can store unlimited user banks of patches.

KVR lists version 1.0.5. Roland's page offers it through Roland Cloud membership. No demo is mentioned.

Source: Roland product page

When to use it

SRX PIANO I is the pick when you want the sound of a turn-of-the-century Roland hardware grand rather than a modern, deeply sampled piano. Compared with Keyscape or Pianoteq 9 it is far lighter, with 128 voices, but it has far less detail and realism. Unlike Addictive Keys, it is a full ROMpler with synth editing, effects and the standard JV/XV waves, so it also suits layered piano-pad sounds. Against Garritan's Abbey Road Studios CFX Concert Grand it trades realism for a bright, compact tone that sits easily in a dense pop mix.

Best for: classic hardware-style grand piano parts, layered piano and pad patches, and recreating late-90s and early-2000s Roland sounds.
Genres: pop, R&B, jazz and dance.
Look elsewhere if: you want a detailed, realistic solo piano; Pianoteq 9 or Keyscape go much further.

Where to buy

Plugin Boutique: $69
Roland: see store

Tutorials and reviews

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