Midnight Grand vs Chroma Upright Piano
The most significant distinction between these two instruments lies in their acoustic origins and resulting primary character, with Midnight Grand offering a prepared grand piano sound, while Chroma Upright Piano provides a diverse upright piano experience. Midnight Grand sources a Steinway Model D with cotton-prepared strings for a muted, intimate tone, complemented by atmospheric layers. In contrast, Chroma Upright Piano is based on a Wilhelm Diemer upright, focusing on a natural upright sound extended through multiple unique articulations.
Beyond the fundamental piano type, their sonic flexibility diverges considerably. Chroma Upright Piano features 27 velocity layers and four microphone positions, along with distinct articulations like felt, muted, plucked, flageolet, and bowed, allowing for a broad spectrum of natural and experimental upright sounds. Midnight Grand, while also intimate, emphasizes its built-in "Atmosphere Layers" and a production-ready mix, leaning more towards atmospheric sound design derived from its prepared grand samples.
Choose Midnight Grand for a focus on intimate, atmospheric grand piano textures, especially for film scoring or ambient needs where layered soundscapes are desired. Opt for Chroma Upright Piano for a versatile upright piano sound with extensive dynamic range, multiple mic positions, and unique performance articulations that cater to natural recordings, pop, and experimental sound design.
Products Compared
Insights from Real-World Use
Midnight Grand
- Midnight Grand's Steinway base provides a unique, warm felt piano sound.
- Midnight Grand's felt-modified Steinway creates beautiful atmospheres and emotions.
- Midnight Grand is a 'gentle giant,' sounding huge yet tame and very playable.
- Midnight Grand has stunning character and flexible response.
- Both pianos are solid, affordable, and playable, making them must-haves for scoring.
Chroma Upright Piano
- Chroma Upright Piano has a very full character.
- The story from Sonuscore is that a team was sampling a high quality grand piano, but were drawn to an “unassuming upright” in the same studio. So having completed the initial job, decided they should
- Key takeaways: - Fantastic out-of-the-box sound and the velocity curve works well for me by default (can be customized) - 4 mic positions turned into useful piano presets like Bright Upright, Cinema
- If you like its sound, you should buy Chroma Upright Piano; it sounds, feels, and looks great.
- I was able to match Ryuichi Sakamoto piano recordings 100% identical to Noire with all of the smallest details. I don't know how anything could get more realistic and is my main practice and player pi