Scarbee A-200 - User Manual – 6
During test recordings, we determined that the dynamic response of the A-200 was quite
different to that of the MARK I, as it exhibits a high degree of characterful, timbral variation
in the forte area of its dynamics. Unlike the MARK I, the A-200’s piano’s action is very light,
making it easy for a keyboardist to play continuously in this range of the piano’s timbre. In
order to capture such a defining element of the piano’s personality, we decided to increase
the size of the the sampling project by 30%, with additional focus on the forte range of the
instrument. Once this was accomplished, a proprietary system was employed to ensure that the
sampler’s response to velocity variation was identical to the original piano’s keyboard action.
In order to accurately reproduce the dynamics of the original keyboard, both the sustained
and the released sounds of each of the 64 keys result in a total pool of over two thousand 24
bit .wav files. All samples are full length (no loops) and we recorded release samples for each
of the 16 velocities at the exact same level as the corresponding 16 sustain samples (except
those for the top five keys, which have no damper, causing the keys to ring out to their end).
Why did we go through this much trouble?
Technology is moving at an increasing pace, with music companies releasing new (almost
disposable) instruments every day, but still many of us find ourselves looking to the past for
sounds which truly inspired us. Organic tones with inconsistencies and chameleon-like char-
acter flaws, which are very difficult to program into predictable digital instruments. However,
the original electric piano from which the A-200 was sampled is electro-mechanical and infa-
mously difficult to maintain. The light action often results in the piano being played quite hard,
which leads to cracked reeds, electrical short circuits and tuning problems. Finding a source
of these reeds itself is a monumental task in some countries, and using a soldering iron to
tune your piano isn’t anyone’s idea of a fun break before the gig. Due to being so unpractical,
it won’t be long before such fragile instruments will disappear completely. To date, several
products have included limited attempts to describe this electric piano in software, but only
recently has the very technology supplied the tools required to capture the soul of the beast.
With the Scarbee A-200, musicians will have access to the inspirational sounds of this great
electric piano for generations to come—vintage sonic lightning preserved in a cutting-edge
software bottle.
Summary of Contents for Scarbee A-200
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