The Grandeur vs Chroma Upright Piano

The fundamental difference between The Grandeur and Chroma Upright Piano lies in their source instruments and resulting tonal character: The Grandeur samples a Steinway Model D grand piano, aiming for a bright, clean, and modern sound suitable for classical and jazz, while Chroma Upright Piano samples a Wilhelm Diemer upright, emphasizing a warm, intimate, and natural character often favored in film scoring and pop.

Technically, Chroma Upright Piano offers greater micro-dynamic control with 27 velocity layers, compared to The Grandeur's 18. Additionally, Chroma Upright Piano includes four microphone positions and unique articulations such as felt, muted, plucked, flageolet, and bowed, which are not present in The Grandeur. The upright also features a core engine designed for soundscapes beyond a typical piano sound, whereas The Grandeur focuses on replicating a specific concert grand.

Choose The Grandeur if you require the assertive, bright, and precise timbre of a premium concert grand for genres like classical or jazz. Opt for Chroma Upright Piano if you prioritize a warm, intimate upright sound with advanced dynamic control, multiple mic positions, and experimental articulations for film scoring or pop production, or if you seek to explore unique soundscapes.

Products Compared

Insights from Real-World Use

The Grandeur

  • The Grandeur is simple but bright, super playable, super good, good for any song. It's presets are all good. Finally, a piano with no special character but...
  • Loves the piano's resonant, lively release, unlike 'dead' notes on other instruments.
  • Grandeur is a versatile piano library covering many genres.
  • The Grandeur is very open and crystal clear due to being a full-size grand.
  • Praises The Grandeur's simple yet deep interface and design.

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

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