New piano sample project from Dan McKinney

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danshousestudio
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New piano sample project from Dan McKinney

Post by danshousestudio » Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:23 am

I've launched a Kickstarter to support the creation of a new piano sample library, using my much-loved Baldwin grand. Check out the Kickstarter link below to see the whole story.

It's going to be presented initially as a SampleTank 2 library, then a SampleTank 3 library (once ST3 is realeased), and will be made available in other formats as well.

The idea behind the project is to faithfully capture the sound and feel of an instrument I have used my whole adult life, capture it in such a way as to faithfully recreate my experience of this piano. I don't want to present something airbrushed and perfectly clean - I want character and depth.
I want the user feel connected to the real thing, that big hunk of wood & metal & felt that occupies such a big spot in my studio, and my life.

The process of creating the sample library will be well-documented with video as I go through the process - for those interested in such things!

http://kck.st/1fAfizx - the Kickstarter page
http://bit.ly/1ftzt2f - a few demo tracks using a "prototype" sample set

I've done sampling before, most notably the Dan's House Studio "Vintage Drums for Drumagog" collection some years back. I'm sure some of you have that thing stashed away on your hard drives.

Anyhow, check out the Kickstarter project and let me know what you think!

Dan McKinney
http://danshousestudio.com

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new rewards added

Post by danshousestudio » Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:05 am

Couple of new rewards added to the project...

...including a new $150 contribution level that will get you keyboard tracks for a production of yours. I've got a Hammond A100 & Leslie 122, the Baldwin grand, a small pile of synths, and I know how to play them.

Past credits include 10 years with the Original Sins (garage/psychedelic stuff), 7 years with Jim Weider (roots, blues, rock, ex Band guitarist), and 6 years producing Mad Conductor (weirdo hip-hop), and lots of studio gigs along the way. A plethora of styles there.

Check it out, and give me some feedback! - http://kck.st/1fAfizx
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Post by danshousestudio » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:28 am

Entering the final week for this project. The instrument will be available after the Kickstarter phase, but the price will be more than what you can get it for through the Kickstarter.

Thanks to everyone who contributed!!

http://kck.st/1fAfizx
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Post by digitaldrummer » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:47 am

alright, I have the Drumagog samples from a few years ago and I have SampleTank... and the piano demo sounds good. So I'm in.

good luck Dan!
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www.doubledogrecording.com

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Post by danshousestudio » Tue Mar 25, 2014 1:17 pm

Thank you, Sir! As of this writing, we are at 90% of our goal, with only 5 days left.

Check out the reward levels - if anyone's interested in ANY of them, you have five more days to get on board.

http://kck.st/1fAfizx
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Post by accordion squeezist » Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:29 pm

I'm bugged by curiosity. How do you play 8 different velocity hits perfectly on the mark and repeat that order 88 times? I have no classical training, of course, and I feel like I'm peeking into the girl's locker room.

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Post by danshousestudio » Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:47 pm

"Perfectly", I'm not so sure of! But the preliminary sample libraries I've done have used 5 velocity levels, and that was not hard at all, so I don't think I'll have too much difficulty turning out 8.

Some registers could even use more, and some less. There's less dynamic range among the higher notes - banging harder and harder won't get you too far, but the lower third can really get LOUD.

To get a decent 8 levels, I'll use touch and ear, and some metering, too. (Yes, a bit of cheating.)

And I did study classical piano for about ten years, and that level of control certainly helps when it comes to a project like this.

And if you could peek into the studio here, it looks nothing like a girls locker room in that there are no naked girls here. Not at present, anyway.

(Or within living memory.)

Did you check out sound samples?

http://bit.ly/1ftzt2f
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funded!

Post by danshousestudio » Wed Mar 26, 2014 9:02 am

100% funded, as of this writing! But we still have five days left before the fund-raising (and subsequent rewards!) phase closes.

http://kck.st/1fAfizx
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Post by danshousestudio » Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:46 am

...and 24 hours from now, we are done! Thanks to everyone who helped make this a success!

http://kck.st/1fAfizx
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Post by digitaldrummer » Sun Oct 26, 2014 10:35 am

Dan,

whatever happened on this project? The last I saw was that it was supposed to complete in June or July 2014 but I've not seen any updates since and never got any communication on how to get the sample library...

thanks, Mike
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www.doubledogrecording.com

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Post by Nick Sevilla » Wed Oct 29, 2014 9:23 pm

7 months of waiting for a sample library.

I've seen worse. But not by much.

Hopefully this sees the light of day, especially since enough people ponied
up some dough for this.

Cheers
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Post by kslight » Wed Oct 29, 2014 10:03 pm

Maybe you should be communicate through the kickstarter page.

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Post by digitaldrummer » Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:57 am

I had been attempting to communicate through Kickstarter (and Facebook) and then finally replied here too. Dan did send out another update via Kickstarter just the other day. He has run into some technical issues (limitations/bugs in SampleTank) but it sounds like there are a few possible workarounds in progress.

I hope he can get it completed too but I think he will.

Mike
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www.studiodrumtracks.com -- Drum tracks starting at $50!
www.doubledogrecording.com

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