Sound Magic Blue Grand3D Review

Sound Magic Blue Grand3D V1.2 Review When Sound Magic's Supreme Pianos first appeared on the market, it gained much attention for its realistic sound

compared with other modeling pianos. Now it is the second generation of supreme pianos, here we have Blue

Grand3D, a far more advanced version. Sound Magic claimed that it will have the same realistic sound as sampled

pianos while take advantages of physical modeling. Needless to say more, let's start our test from dynamic. Please

note it is necessary to read our review instructions before you read the review, we have detailed explanations and

procedures in review instructions.

1. Dynamic 10 of 10 Data 1 C8's Dynamic Range 57.1dB Data 2 A0's Dynamic Range 35.1dB Data 3 Average DR (C3, C4 and C5) (38+41.2+42.7)/3=40.6dB Data 4 Dynamic Curve: Fully adjustable

Data 5 Peak Level -4.7dB From recorded test file, we gathered data shown above. The three dynamic of Blue Grand3D are all larger than

35dB. That's a good dynamic. We could clearly see that there is a significant dynamic range difference between

lowest note A0 and highest note C8. This shows Blue Grand3D has true piano dynamic and it is an accurate

reproduction of natural dynamic of an acoustic piano. The Peak level of Blue Grand3D is about -4.7 dB which is

excellent. Blue Grand3D let users fully control the dynamic. Users could select over 10 types of curves through a down drop

list. It is easy to control the whole dynamic in Blue Grand3D. It is no doubt that Blue Grand3D will have no difficulty

in working with any keyboards on the market. Blue Grand3D has a perfect dynamic!

2. Sample Layering, Velocity Transition and Sympathetic Resonance 10 of 10 Blue Grand3D is a modeling piano. So it has fewer issues on velocity layer switching and sample stretching. Sampled

pianos often have difficulty in velocity layer switching, sample stretching and timbre matching issues. Blue Grand3D

won't be bothered by these issues. Also we notice that Blue Grand3D has great tone color variations than other

modeling pianos. As we look the velocity transition, we only see a bit strange on velocity 66. But it is not enough to

take marks off for this issue.

Blue Grand3D has most detailed Sympathetic Resonance setting we have ever seen so far. Users could adjust

volume, velocity sensitive and even harmonic partial of Sympathetic Resonance. With a beautiful Sympathetic

Resonance sound, Sound Magic did an excellent job here.

3. Pedal Activity and Microphone Positions 9 of 10 Blue Grand3D responds to all three pedals well. Also Blue Grand3D passed the most difficult item, half pedaling. So

it will be fun if the player has a continuous sustain pedal. But it fails on repedalling. Here we have to take 1 point

off. One of the key features of Blue Grand3D is that you can mix three microphones positions freely around the piano.

Users could mix between close, distant and room positions. This feature is powerful and useful when you need to

shape final sound.

4. Performance 9 of 10 It is a bit strange that newer version, v1.2 of Blue Grand3D, takes about 300MB space on your hard disk while the

old version only needs less than 150MB. But it still has a super fast loading time, nearly no waiting time. That's

fantastic! Thus we did expect it more on its performance. . During our test, Blue Grand3D has only 5% CPU usage when playing 128 polyphony. This is the lowest CPU we have

so far. And considering Blue Grand3D carries a lot of good features and most parts of its sound are calculated, we

should adore the programmer of Blue Grand3D.

When we check latency performance, Blue Grand3D does again give us an impressive result. It is could run well

under 128 samples.

We concluded even 5 years-old PC could run Blue Grand3D without any performance issues. The performance of

Blue Grand3D presents the new benchmark of virtual piano's performance.

5. Features 10 of 10 The same as Pianoteq, Blue Grand3D also allow you to design a piano. You can build your piano from hammer

hardness, then dynamic, and finally different kind of resonances. It is really fun if you have enough time to design

your own piano. As we try it several times, we feel that it has less room on tweaking sound than Pianoteq. But it is

still far better on the ability of tweaking than any sample libraries and it has over 40 controls to tweak sound. Blue

Grand3D still shows the beauty of physical modeling piano to its users.

Another great feature of Blue Grand3D is 3D Audio support, which could up to 7.1 channels. If you have a 7.1

monitor setup, you can really enjoy the realistic sound of it. But we have to point out the 3D unit is not inside main

instrument, but provided as a separate FX plug-in. This s will trouble the users a bit.

Blue Grand3D has a microphone modeler which we haven't seen this feature since Giga Studio 3. Users could use it

to simulate sounds from different classic microphones such as Neumann M149 and AKG C12VR. It is fun to switch

between different microphones. Standalone version is certainly one of the key features; you can record your playing through it. It is a very useful

function and will add more value to the product.

Finally we cannot forget to mention that Blue Grand3D's excellent sounding reverb unit. It has many controls and

the sound is really good.

6. Sound 5 of 5 We have been surprised when we first heard the sound of Blue Grand3D. As people known, sampled pianos often

have a truer or more authentic sound than modeling pianos. But even compared side by side with latest great

sounding piano sample libraries, the sound of Blue Grand3D is still in the same class. Considering its good features

and low CPU usage, we believe that time will prove that it is a milestone product! Blue Grand3D really captures the

soul of a Steinway sound. It has brilliant and singing highs, expressive mid range and magnificent lows. With

enough resonance, players could get a really good feel of it and may indulge in playing it for long hours.

Best Use

Blue Grand3D is a perfect combination of excellent sound, great performance and brilliant features. It is suitable for

those musicians who need a passionate piano in their music, especially classical music. Blue Grand3D will have a

wide usage for it is fit for many situations. For musicians need a quick sound, it has an authentic sound. For

musicians love tweaking, Blue Grand3D has many controls waiting for them to tweak. General speaking, Blue

Grand3D is a must have if you need a virtual piano for your track.

PROS:

Perfect Dynamic

Extreme low CPU usage and very small in size

Detailed Sympathetic Resonance controls

Excellent Sound Excellent Reverb effects Multi Microphones Positions

Microphone Modeler

3D Audio Support An incredible price (99 EUR)

CONS:

Repedaling is not working

3D Audio unit is not stable and hard to use

Dynamic 10 of 10

Sample Layering, Velocity Transition and Sympathetic Resonance 10 of 10

Pedal Activity and Microphone Positions 9 of 10

Performance 9 of 10 Features 10 of 10 Sound 5 of 5 Overall Rating: 106 (5 stars)

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