Ivory Grand Piano Plug-In Ships for Mac

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Effects Screen (Click for a close-up)

Velocity Screen (Click for a close-up)

Ivory, a sample-based triple piano virtual instrument, has now started shipping. Custom-built by Synthogy and produced by piano sound designer Joe Ierardi, Ivory features over 3,500 piano samples designed to recreate every nuance of the venerable Grand Piano.

Ivory is powered by Synthogy's proprietary 32-bit sample-playback and DSP engine, which was specifically built from the ground up to bring out the resonance, response and character of three of the world's finest Concert Grands -- the German Steinway D 9' Concert Grand, Bosendorfer 290 Imperial Grand and Yamaha C7 Grand. The plug-in features nearly 30 Gigabytes of all new samples. All 88 keys of each piano were individually sampled in up to 8 dynamic levels, including the extended low octave on the Bosendorfer, providing the user with total control over every nuance of every note.

Synthogy is an all-new audio software company dedicated to producing Virtual Instrument products with an unprecedented level of flexibility and realism. "Ivory, our first virtual instrument product, is the result of over 35 years of design experience in synthesizers, musical instruments, effects and sound design," says Joe Ierardi, co-founder of Synthogy along with partner and engine architect George Taylor. "We've given the user unprecedented control and authenticity, faithfully delivering the majestic sound of the concert grand piano to every desktop."

Ivory includes a host of features designed to ensure the integrity of the sound as well as provide the user with a user-friendly experience. Synthogy's "Sympathetic String Resonance" Digital Signal Processing provides realistic Damper Pedal response, and the package also includes actual Release and Soft Pedal samples. Ivory features an array of high-quality digital effects, including Ambience, Chorus and EQ, along with fully customizable user controls for Timbre, Stereo Width and Perspective, Velocity Response, Mechanical Key Noise, Tuning and more. Each 32-bit sample features full sustain without looping, and Synthogy's unique "sample interpolation" technology allows for ultra-smooth velocity and note transitions. Finally, each of the three pianos can be installed independently to save space on crowded hard drives.

The sessions for Ivory were produced by Joe Ierardi, an accomplished pianist and award winning sound designer and producer of piano modules for Kurzweil Music Systems. Ierardi's expertise covers every aspect of piano design, from tuning and regulation, to recording, editing, programming, and engine design. George Taylor, who was one of the principle architects of Kurzweil's popular KSP8 multi-effects system, created the Synthogy engine.

Ivory retails for $349 and is available for AU, VST and RTAS, on both Mac OS 9 and OS X. A Windows version will follow soon. Ivory is distributed worldwide by ILIO Entertainments.