Pianissimo

Pianissimo focuses primarily on creating the best sounding and most life-like virtual grand piano possible. It also has a lot of options that can be tweaked and configured to your liking and preference. This software combines sample playback with advanced physical modeling to create an "alive" version of a piano that responds to your playing like a real acoustic instrument.

Starting with 250 MB of high-quality samples of a Steinway Model D grand piano, the program uses complex signal processing and programming to make the most of the virtual model. Control over tone and velocity response, incidental mechanical hammer sounds, modeled sympathetic resonance, low CPU usage and 256 voices of polyphony all help to recreate the playability, response, and warmth of a real piano. Pianissimo is made by Acoustica, the developer of the Mixcraft recording software, and it is also included with Mixcraft Pro Studio.

Pianissimo is a handy VSTi plugin creating a life-like virtual grand piano to play, useful for practice, recording and live performance.

Features:

• 250 MB of quadruple-strike samples of a Steinway Model D, enhanced with acoustic modeling to produce all the warmth and expressive nature of a grand piano
• The built-in studio reverb creates a realistic ambience that places the piano within a true acoustic space
• The stand-alone version has a two-track sequencer, a metronome, and the ability to mix down recordings to WAV, MP3, WMA, or OGG Vorbis audio files
• Adjustable piano lid, velocity curve, tone controls, sympathetic resonance, reverb and chorus effect make it easy to tailor the tone and response of the piano to your playing style
• Works in all major digital audio recording software packages, including Mixcraft, as a VSTi plug-in instrument
• Adjustable incidental piano noises, such as mechanical sounds from the damper pedal and key release, for a better feeling of realism

In short, Pianissimo consists of several tools all working together to create a believable and good-sounding grand piano. It is suitable for solo piano performance, studio compositions and live playing, and it is sold by Acoustica at a low price, with a demo version available so you can try it before you buy. Both the plugin and the stand-alone program can be played with any USB or MIDI keyboard.