The Vienna Imperial from Vienna Symphonic Library is a virtual grand piano based on samples taken of a venerable Bösendorfer Imperial 290-755, equipped with the piano manufacturer's CEUS recording/playback technology. Using the CEUS system, the engineers at VSL were able to record even the most subtle key movements and positions, creating close to 70,000 samples that are accurate to within 0.001 milliseconds of any action.
The 1,200 recorded samples per key represent a magnitude of sampling detail, that includes the implementation of meticulously recorded pedal-up and pedal-down notes in up to 100 velocities, comprehensive sympathetic resonances, and multiple release samples, make the Vienna Imperial a superbly realistic sampled piano. There are simply no audible steps between the singular velocity layers, and every single key has its own authentic velocity curve.
The Vienna Imperial is easy to use, with the Basic View of the user interface allowing you to choose between 3 distinct recording positions (close, player, and audience). The Advanced View provides quick and easy access to more control options such as the convolution reverb, EQ, pedal noises, sympathetic resonances, stereo width, MIDI sensitivity, and more.
- Sustain pedal up
- Sustain pedal down
- Soft pedal (una corda) down
- Repetition tones for sustain pedal down (hitting the sounding string)
- Repetition tones for sustain and soft pedal down (hitting the sounding string)
- Release samples in different lengths
- Release samples in different lengths with the soft pedal down
- Sympathetic resonance tones of individual keys (sustain pedal up)
- Sympathetic resonance tones of the whole piano (sustain pedal down)