"The Galaxy pianos are without a doubt one of the finest libraries, the plug-in market for grand pianos has to offer. The Galaxy II Grand Piano Collection and the Vintage D spoiled us with four beautiful, hand-selected instruments that were recorded wonderfully and processed with technical perfection to terrific sample libraries. The beautiful and clever new interface of version K4 is the best I've seen so far and offers intuitive and immediate access to an almost unbelievable range of parameters. The solutions for sound manipulation are all extremely felicitous especially if they, like the 'Color' control, work on sample basis. (...) All in all, an unconditional recommendation!"

Bonedo / Germany / July 2010

 

 

"Galaxy’s new star expands the sampled piano universe. (...) Although you’ll find other sampled Steinway Ds on the market, you won’t find one that matches the character of the Galaxy Vintage D (...). Vintage D combines size, warmth, luxury and a powerful bass with a crystal-clear top end."

Sound on Sound - Magazine / UK / July 2010

 

 

"Very good sound"

 

"Excellent sound editing possibilities"

 

"Very good value for money"

Keys / Germany / November 2010

 

 

"Galaxy Vintage D delivers the sound of the famous historic Steinway D-274 in outstanding quality. The basic character of the piano sound is unique: warm, full, lively and beautifully 'dusty'. At the same time the detailed sampling, the complex script programming, the engine and user interface provide for great flexibility."

Sound & Recording / Germany / August 2010

 

 

"The Galaxy II is currently my absolute favorite piano plug-in. Who would have thought that I would say so after 20 years of teeth crunching pioneering days in this field. It may be that in three years there might be something better. Currently not ... for me! BUY!

Plus: quality, variety, engine, price

Minus: piano stool available only separately"

Amazona / Germany / October 2010

 

 

"Cutting to the chase… we loved the sound of Vintage D! (...) There are few things that sound like an aged Steinway piano. There’s a certain depth and richness to the sound that only time can help create as the piano breaks in. (...) Vintage D captures all that sonic richness: depth to the bass and singing of the highs.“

Musicplayers.com

 

 

„Dans le concert grand, le preset le mieux adapté à la musique classique, on retrouve la sonorité colorée, d'une grande plénitude et très pure des médiums. Les aigus sont magnifiquement perlés et très riches en harmoniques tandis que le basses sont profondes et preécises.“ („In the concert grand, the preset best suited to classical music, we found a colorful, rich and pure tone. The highs are beautiful and very rich in harmonics while the bass is deep and precise.“)

Pianistemagazine.com

 

 

„Die Sounds aus dem Vintage D sind sehr gut geworden, man hat einen virtuellen Flügel 'unter' der Hand, der kraftvolle und lebendige Klänge liefert – all dass bei intuitiver Bedienung und übersichtlicher Oberfläche. Die 13 Velocity Switches ermöglichen ausdrucksstarkes wie dynamisches Spiel. (...) Hier hört man in jedem Sample die Arbeit, die in die Erstellung der Library gesteckt wurde. Der Flügel vermittelt ein realistisches Spielgefühl mit schönen Velocity-Abstufungen. Das Obertonverhalten des Pianos klingt fein aufgelöst, auch die pianotypischen Noisesamples sind gut integriert. Mit der integrierten FX-Sektion ergeben sich teils dramatische Effekte, die sich natürlich auch dezenter einsetzen lassen. ... der Steinway, der hier Vorlage war, ist ein sehr schönes Modell. Mit den ganzen Möglichkeiten hat man hier auch ein Modell für moderne Klänge in der Soundlibrary. Der Preis von 129 Euro erscheint ob der gebotenen Qualität angemessen."

Apfelwahn.de

PC

 

• Windows XP (SP2) / Vista / Win7 (32/64 Bit)

• Pentium or Athlon XP 1.4 GHz

• 2 GB RAM (at least)

 

Mac

 

• OSX 10.5 / 10.6

• Intel Core Duo 1.66 GHz

• 2 GB RAM (at least)

 

for all systems:

 

• 1GB free disk space for Native Instruments Kontakt Player installation

• 5GB disk space for the library content

• Internet connection for product activation (possible on a different computer)

• DVD drive

Q. What is Galaxy II Grand Piano Collection?

 

A: Galaxy II is a computer plug-in, based on Native Instruments Kontakt Player 2, offering 3 sampled grand pianos with three diffrenent characters. They are based on samples of a Steinway D, a Boesendorfer 290 Imperial and a Vintage Bluethner Baby Grand built in 1929.

button2  Q. Is there any way to 'blend' the sound of close mic samples with those of room mic samples, or does the 'space' function approximate that in some fashion?

 

A: Galaxy II does not provide different microphone settings. We thought about this, but decided against it for different reasons.

Using multiple microphones on one source always implicates phase problems. We used a couple of microphones in the mix of Galaxy II to emphasize the pianos different characters in different layers. To get those phase cancellations under control we worked with time-adjusting plugins, which made different settings even between halftones necessary. This would not work by just combining different mic sets within the instrument.

Secondly, a piano plug in is a very voice consuming instrument, and every additional mic setting doubles the number of used voices.

The Space-Section offers a convolution reverb with a couple of very nice IRs. The way, Galaxy II pianos are mixed, it is easy to ‚position’ them in different halls or rooms, without letting them sound too dry when not using the IRs.

 

btn3  Q: Where can Galaxy 5.1 owners purchase the upgrade to Galaxy II?

 

A: Galaxy II and the upgrade from Galaxy Steinway 5.1 are available from

 

USA & CANADA: SOUNDSONLINE.COM

 

GB & IRELAND: TIMESPACE.COM

 

JAPAN: CRYPTON.CO.JP

 

EUROPE: BESTSERVICE.DE

 

and from local dealers

btn4 Q. Will true sustain pedal samples at multiple velocity layers be included in the Steinway, Boesendorfer and Bluethner pianos in Galaxy II?

 

A: Basically there are 3 possibilities for 'creating' string resonance/pedal down. First is sampling every note and every velocity with pedal up and pedal down. We did not do this, because to my opinion it unnecessarily blows up the instrument without creating a real advantage.

We tried IRs and samples of just (!) the resonances for each note, that is the resonating strings without the played note. We went for the resonance samples, because to our ears they simply sounded better and livelier than the IRs. We will continue giving attention to IRs as well, though.

The big advantage of the Kontakt Player 2 is that by scripting you can really modulate the sound and the loudness of those resonances depending on the note on velocity and the time between hitting a key and pressing the sustain pedal. With Galaxy II there are also more resonance samples than with Galaxy Steinway (and different ones for each piano of course), but the main advantage for playability is based on the scripting.

Another advantage of using separate resonance samples is that you can control their level. Of course one could say that the level has to be "like on the real piano". But when we tried to find out the 'right' default level for the resonances in cooperation with a couple of pianist, their preferences were very different. Sound and level of resonances is also a question of taste and musical context.

btn4 Q. Which disk should I choose to install the Galaxy II library on

 

A: The Kontakt Player 2 is installed in the application or program folder on your system disk. We recommend to install the Galaxy II library not on the same drive as the system, nor on the same drive that is used for recording or playing digital audio tracks. Plus the drive for the library should be a fast harddrive (at least 7200 rpm), either internal of with a fast external interface (recommended Firewire 800, minimum USE  2.0 or Firewire 400). For the Galaxy Steinway 5.1 surround we recommend a Raid because  of the tough demands of DFD, especially when using the resonance samples as well.

btn4 Q. Can I move the Galaxy II library to a different hard drive? Do I have to re-install it to do so?

 

A: Yes, the library can be dragged to another volume without having to reinstall. Just move the Best Service/Galaxy II folder to the new location. The launch Kontakt Player 2 and go to the ‚info’ menu in the library box. At the bottom of the ‚About’ window you will find the ‚Library Installation Path’. Click on ‚choose’ and navigate to the new location of the Galaxy II library. Click ‚choose’ again. Now you have to relaunch the Kontakt Player 2, whereupon you will find Galaxy II in the library box again.

btn4 Q. Do I have to authorize Galaxy II in order to use it?

 

A: After installing Galaxy II and the Kontakt Player 2, you will be asked to install the NI ‚SERVICE CENTER’. SERVICE CENTER is a user-friendly application that helps you to activate Galaxy II on your computer. It guides you through the easy-to-follow step by step activation process.

You can launch Service Center from the ‚Register’ box in the ‚Library Info’ or from the installation folder,

e.g. C:\Program Files\Native Instruments\SERVICE CENTER on PC and Applications\Native Instruments\SERVICE CENTER on Mac.

You can create an NI User Account from Service Center or just log in, if you have one already. Thereafter you can activate Galaxy II with the ‚Activation Assistant’ by entering your Galaxy II serial number, which you can find on the back of the installation DVD.

For more information, please refer to the ‚Service Center Manual’ in the documentation folder of the ‚Service Center’ folder on you system disk.

btn4 Q. Where can I find updates for Galaxy II or the Kontakt Player 2

 

A: Service Center has an update manager which provides access to the latest updates of the Kontakt Player 2.

For library updates of Galaxy II please check the download page at www.galaxypianos.com or www.galaxypianos.de and register for the newsletter at the Galaxy Forum (link) to get informed as soon as an update is available.. You can select the files you wish to download, view information

btn4 Q. What does the yellow or red icon next to the ‘Galaxy II’ title in the library box mean?

 

A: After installing the library, it will run in demo mode for 30 days. When you launch KONTAKT PLAYER 2, in the Browser you will see the little caution icon to the left of the library title.

Yellow means the library is running in demo mode.

Red means the demo period has expired and the library can no longer be used until it has been registered. The red icon may also appear if the system ID of the computer changes due to new hardware components (CPU, motherboard, etc.) If this occurs, the library will need to be re-registered.

After a library has been properly registered, the caution icon disappears entirely.

btn4 Q. Can I install and authorize Galaxy II on more than one computer?

 

A: Yes, you can install and activate Galaxy II on two computers.  Please note that while you may install Galaxy II on two computers, only a single user should be using the machines and only one machine at a time.

btn4 Q. My keyboard only has 88 keys. How do I play the contra octave on the Vienna Grand?

 

A: You can transpose an octave down using ‚Transpose’ on Galaxy II’s Anatomy Menu.