THE OESER VIRTUAL PIANO INSTRUMENT

We have spent over a year programming and designing to build THE OESER virtual piano instrument for the Native Instruments platform. This, to give you the experience that matches playing a real piano. Features such as, The Oeser’s true sympathetic resonance, non-damped keys for high notes, switching non sustained and sustained samples in real time while playing and lid positions will give you the true Oeser experience. Accordingly we filled the library with full length samples for all individual keys, including release tails and key mechanics. This gives THE OESER virtual piano instrument its realistic sound.

In order to match the Oeser’s character perfectly whilst playing your own master keyboard, we recorded each key in a broad velocity range. This includes the non-felted as well as felted piano but also THE OESER special instruments Muted and Picked. Now you can adjust the weight of the keys with the turn of a knob to match your personal play style or to compensate for your master keyboard mechanics. We have kept the interface as minimalistic as possible, to keep you from getting distracted by too many options. THE OESER virtual piano instrument is just a piano, but done very well. You can blend microphone positions to taste and adjust the playability accordingly.

Your THE OESER virtual piano library comes with 4 different ways the instruments was sampled. We made sure the piano sounds exactly like the Oeser does in our lounge at Key Productions in different situations. With this in mind, THE OESER virtual piano instrument includes 5 snapshots (presets) to help you with your creative process or to quickly choose a desired sound. We also included THE OESER Sample pack free of charge.

• THE OESER Pure: You get the experience as if you are sitting in front of the actual instrument in the lounge at Key Productions. Diligently selected microphones and preamps are carefully measured to get the best placement. This way you get great control of the sound, without messing up the phase. Furthermore we have sampled each individual note many times to create a dynamic velocity range matching the original Oeser. Therefore, this is our piano in its purest form.
• THE OESER Felted: A lot of our visitors fall in love with the intimate sound of the baby grand piano when you bring the felt into play. So we sampled the felted keys as extensive as THE OESER Pure, to give you that romantic sound. Unquestionably, this piano setup will be the inspiration for many love songs.
• THE OESER Muted: This instrument is recorded while muting the strings by hand. This will give you numerous producing options and a great new sound experience. Experience how our piano sings! Together with another THE OESER instrument this is a great sounding combination. Also you can combine it with any other piano library you own; or use it as a soundscaping instrument.
• THE OESER Picked: A fun way to explore another great sound pianos can produce if you get creative. “THE OESER Picked” is picked by the hand of a great guitarist. He carefully selected the best pick for this piano and recorded each string in several velocities not playing the keys but picking the strings with a guitar pick! This wil give you complete control of the piano in a whole new way. Mix this instrument with other libraries to explore the endless possibilities.

• The Natural Experience: We believe this snapshot represents the true nature of the Oeser. Identically matching the sound we experience in our lounge. Super dynamic response, clear overtones and just enough “room” to let this baby breathe.
• A Romantic Moment: We made this especially to unveil the warmth of the Oeser. With slightly more heavy key action you are able to explore the lower velocity range and experience the body of the sound it has. Therefore we have damped the high frequencies by the lid to give this piano a more intimate sound.
• Get Underneath: The sound of a piano is depending on the soundboard, which functions as the bottom of a grand piano. If you want to be submerged in the sound, you should try laying underneath a piano if you have the chance. We positioned two microphones underneath the piano, close to the soundboard to give you this great experience. As a matter of fact, this is our signature sound for all our pianos. Because it enhances any other microphone setup with great character. You can probably spice up any piano library you already own with this snapshot.
• Attack This: Bring the old lady to life! Now we can finally beat the piano to make it work for any rock or pop song. As we can’t put this much strain on the original Oeser, any modern master keyboard can certainly handle the pressure. And boy, it turned out she has a lot of presence to spice up any song.
• The Couch Experience: The fifth snapshot we made is also a great one. As musicians at our studio use the Oeser for playing and jamming during waiting time on recording days, as listeners we are used to the great sound the old baby gives us in our lounge. To emulate this we made this snapshot which will give you the experience you are sitting in our actual lounge a couple of meter away from the Oeser which is played.

When you load one of our instruments, you will see the “skin” of the piano. For an optimal user experience we have designed the skin with no additional pages. That is why all the knobs, you can use to tweak the sound to your taste, are on one page and categorized conveniently. As a result you can start playing right away! The first section of THE OESER’s User Interface is dedicated to finetune your sound. There you can customize your sound simply by turning the microphone knobs. As we have recorded the Oeser with perfect phase balance you can make any sound without compromising the stereo balance! Furthermore you can turn off each microphone and experience feature with the red mute buttons situated above each knob.

We have recorded the Oeser with three sets of stereo condenser microphones. In the first place we chose the top and bottom pairs to be close to the instrument. Secondly, the overhead pair of microphones were positioned 1,5 meter above the Oeser. Each of the pairs provide their personal sound through extensive matching of microphones and preamps. That is why you can benefit from each characteristic setup to create your own perfect balance.

Technical specs:

• Microphones used:
  • Top: Matched pair of Neumann M149 microphones
  • Bottom: Matched pair of AKG C414 BXL microphones
  • Overhead: Matched pair of Baby Blue Bottle microphones
• Preamps used:
  • Top: Avalon 2022 tube stereo pre-amps
  • Bottom: Neumann V476B pre-amps
  • Overhead: Rupert Neve Portico 5015 pre-amps

The second and third sections of THE OESER’s user interface are dedicated to add user experience. That is where, after customizing your sound in the microphone section, you can enhance your experience by introducing pedal noise and/or key mechanics. Additionally you can also add an amount of reverb which we have customized to match the acoustics of our lounge at Key Productions.

Following, the first tone aspect you can adjust is the velocity. By default the velocity setting matches the dynamic range of the Oeser as we profiled the piano with a custom made device. Do you prefer a softer or harder velocity response? Just turn the knob and play. At last you can adjust the settings of the lid. As we have experimented a lot with the lid positions, we have made it possible to choose between an open or closed lid setting. In addition to the open and closed setting you are also able to experiment with the lid position as you can turn the knob to resemble any possible lid position.