PreSonus Blog

Looking for some of the best-sounding pianos you can get for Studio One? Look no further than this Piano Collection from Chocolate Audio. Three different pianos are available, each recorded with high-quality mics and expensive preamps. They also take advantage of Presence XT’s advanced scripting functionality to simulate the behavior of these beloved instruments as accurately as digitally possible.

If you’re not sure which piano is right for you and your music, check out the descriptions below. And if you’re still not sure after reading, get the combo pack of all three. The Chocolate Audio Piano Collection for Studio One is available only at shop.presonus.com.

The Concert Grand:

A recreation of a world-class concert grand piano sound as found in a Steinway D274 grand coda. This piano is gorgeous and rich in sound with a very well-balanced tone, very well fit for classical but equally at home with jazz and any scenario where a full piano sound is called for.

Great attention was paid to recreate this huge concert’s signature full and balanced sound through sampling. The sample set features 11 dynamic layers and a sustain pedal resonances layer, 12 release sample layers and pedal and key release noise effects tuned to perfection using Presence custom scripting. Studio One Professional users can load the multi-instrument preset which combines the two microphone sets for an even fuller control on its sound.

The Concert Grand offers two different phase-coherent recording setups: a player’s perspective recorded with Schoeps CMC6 microphones and a listener’s perspective recorded right at the edge of the lid with Neumann KM microphones, all matched-pairs going through Millennia preamps.

Electric Grand: 

A top-notch rendition of a famous Japanese electric grand piano. At that time it was dubbed as “compact,” which it actually was when compared to the weight and size of an acoustic piano. Its mid-rangey character is due to the presence of a piezo pickup under the saddle of each string. Full restoration was carried out and proper tuning applied on the piano before sampling. A classic sound heard on countless hit records in the 70s-80s is now reborn inside Studio One.

Achieving a quality level on par with our goals from this piano was tough. The onboard electronics are noisy and the piano picks up a lot of ambient noise even if it’s electric (imagine a guitar with 88 strings!). Through attention and care, we managed to capture what we believe is the best rendition of this classic electric grand piano. The sample set features 12 dynamic layers, a sustain pedal resonance layer, nine release sample layers, and pedal and key release noise effects tuned to perfection using Presence custom scripting.

The Electric Grand was sampled direct from the output to the preamp and converter. All of the behavioral details of the piano have been re-created through the use of Presence XT’s custom advanced scripting.

Steinbach Upright:

A high quality Italian-made upright piano sampled in full detail. The recording techniques used make this piano fit for many different uses, from classical to pop, country, rock and beyond.

This is a world-class piano recorded in a state-of-the-art studio with choice microphones and audiophile preamps and converters. Great attention was paid to recreate Steinbach’s signature full, organic, sound through sampling. The sample set features eight dynamic layers and a sustain pedal resonances layer, four release sample layers and pedal and key release noise effects, tuned to perfection using Presence custom scripting.

The Steinback Upright was recorded with two different phase-coherent setups: Blumlein stereo and Spaced stereo, recorded with Royer R121 matched-pair ribbon mics through Millennia preamps. Studio One Professional users can load the multi-instrument preset which combines the two microphone-sets for an even fuller control on its sound.

Last but not least:

The Chocolate Audio Pianos are compatible with Studio One 3.2 or later: Prime, Artist, and Professional editions.

All of the pianos in this family have the following onboard script controls:

• Tuning: 440/442 Hz
• Level control for Sustain Resonances, Pedal Noise and Release samples
• Velocity Curve control
• Hold, Decay, Release envelope controls
• Touch Response* control: sets the amount of pre-attack key noise heard, sets the attack time at higher settings.