Resources/audio samples

There are a lot of sampled pianos available on the market today, especially in Kontakt format. Most of them are very large in size, others sound too bright or metallic and lack the warmth of a real concert piano.

The AcustiX Steinway Piano was created with the smaller equipped music workstation in mind, without compromising on sound quality. This piano uses only 74 MB of carefully selected samples from 2 famous Steinway Grand Pianos blended together. This makes it the ideal choice for orchestration setups where other instruments besides the piano are required, fi. piano concertos.

The AcustiX Steinway Piano is currently available in Kontakt format.

Pro: very compact and brilliant sound
Contra: missing some dynamics in pianissimo

Used with EZDrummer 2 and SSD4. The bank is somehow organised (you'll likely have to reorganise it to taste for a more convenient use, as is often the case with such products), inspiring and diversified... BUT, there is a major flaw, as these MIDI loops do not... loop correctly(!): each loop originally is followed by a large number of blank measures, which forces to tweak for using properly in a DAW and makes the whole hardly usable in any virtual drummer's preview mode.

After contacting The Loop Loft twice, I first was told they would investigate the problem, then got no reply at all the second time. I ended up correcting this problem myself using Markus Schwenk's MIDI Editor to edit the loops one by one, and now they are plainly usable (and definitely would deserve a full 5 stars as to their quality, IF originally provided in such a state).

This collection really deserves its title, every indie rock fans should find something to their taste here (I actually couldn't find much that I didn't like). It remains usable -and sometimes even sounds better to my taste- when used way beyond the suggested BPM for each collection, and is definitely useful either for inspiration, jamming or direct use in songs: love it, especially the DC and Seattle "sessions"!

I shall also mention that I also own several other MIDI loop packs by The Loop Loft and encountered no comparable issue with any other of them. The fact they did not contact me back the second time also is unusual, I always got replies whenever I had other issues.
Still, I feel somewhat frustrated that the two reviews I tried to post (months away from each other) on their site mentioning the problem never got validated (with no explanation whatsoever, while in the meantime other user reviews were published for the very same product)... Perhaps in their minds a 4-stars-review is not up to par for publication (definitely NOT something you'll see at AudioFanzine btw )? It won't help making user comments on their website trustworthy, and I definitely shall skip this section in the future.

The original price tag (29$) is also a bit high for a total +/- 200 loops (especially compared with products in more or less the same price range by Groove Monkee or Platinum Samples that offer way larger numbers of loops equivalent in quality), but at The Loop Loft they often offer special sales and it's not unusual to be able to grab one or the other of their 29$ MIDI packs for 10 to 20 bucks.

So, 4 stars "as is" with this MIDI loops size problem, but would deserve 5 qualitywise should this issue be corrected. AND, maybe, should not-even-negative-but-not-positive-enough reviews also be allowed for publication on their website?...

I am still exploring the sonic possibilities of this product from what I have found so far it's amazing. It has a variety of waves and ways to manipulate it via the LFO, mod effects as well as the reverb and echo. Changing from poly to mono, to unison to chord really brings the different sounds to life.

One the website is easy instructions of how to menu dive and access the different waves and the LFO and then the rest is up to you.

This pack had me smiling within the first 10 minutes of using it. It also combines well with the mod effects that I got from another site so I am mega pleased.