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Hans Zimmer Piano: PC specs to run it well?

creativeforge

the plumber
Moderator
I'm playing with the idea of purchasing the HZP.

However I'm wondering what kind of system Windows) is needed to run it well in real-life?

Anyone knows if Spitfire may be working on a different version that would make its use easier for technology?

Thanks!

Andre
 
Depends on what you're trying to do with it but for my money fast i7 multi-core, 16gb RAM streamed from an SSD.

It would be for solo piano recordings mostly. Just to be immersed in the experience and improvise. Do you own it? I thought 16GB would be bare minimum from what I read elsewhere.
 
Just found this:

"With a sampled instrument this ambitious, a developer is inevitably going to push the system-requirements envelope. HZ Piano requires 211GB of drive space but headroom of about 400GB during installation. Spitfire can ship it to you on a hard drive, but one that’s for installation and backup, not streaming. (You do get two licenses, say, for desktop and laptop use.) For playing more than one mic position at a time on a laptop, I recommend at minimum a highly-rated SSD connected via Thunderbolt or at least USB3—but you can still cause dropouts here with intentional “torture test” playing. For truly worry- free blending of all those mic positions with lots of pedal-down note density, put on your big-composer pants and install it on a striped RAID made of SSDs. If you’ve been waiting to upgrade your storage infrastructure, the sonic rewards of HZ Piano are the best reason you’ll get this year."

https://www.keyboardmag.com/virtual-instruments/1185/review-spitfire-audio-hans-zimmer-piano/57493
 
It would be for solo piano recordings mostly. Just to be immersed in the experience and improvise. Do you own it? I thought 16GB would be bare minimum from what I read elsewhere.

yes, I own it and I'm giving you bare minimum. I also personally wouldn't ever use it for solo playing to be "immersed in the experience", there are better pianos for that.

HZP is an insanely sonically flexible scoring piano that is awesome if you want to use it with other SF libraries that were recorded at AIR Lyndhurst but it is not a satisfying solo piano from a player's perspective (IMO).
 
yes, I own it and I'm giving you bare minimum. I also personally wouldn't ever use it for solo playing to be "immersed in the experience", there are better pianos for that.

HZP is an insanely sonically flexible scoring piano that is awesome if you want to use it with other SF libraries that were recorded at AIR Lyndhurst but it is not a satisfying solo piano from a player's perspective (IMO).

That's interesting, since it was mostly used by Hans as a solo instrument, and they wanted to record the beauty of that experience...

What piano do you reckon gives you that kind of experience of "immersion?'
 
what do you mean by this?

Hans would go play on that piano by himself and loved it so much that Spitfire decided it would be a great idea to sample it. It is reported that the song Time, from the movie Inception, was born there. So, it would be strange if the sampling result didn't give us a taste of the experience Hans felt...

I'm very selective when it comes to a piano library. I play by ear, so I expect the instrument to actually reach me beyond the ears. There are events inside the piano that cannot be manufactured, only captured. I'd be disappointed if the HZP didn't bring me closer to the AIR studio's piano.
 
Hans would go play on that piano by himself and loved it so much that Spitfire decided it would be a great idea to sample it. It is reported that the song Time, from the movie Inception, was born there. So, it would be strange if the sampling result didn't give us a taste of the experience Hans felt...

actually it wouldn't be that strange as it is all in the recording and scripting. There is a huge difference between the experience of playing a 9' Grand Steinway at AIR Lyndhurst and playing a sampled version of that same piano.

Don't get me wrong, there are moments when the piano absolutely shines and is really beautiful. Dial in a distant miking, compress it, drench it in reverb and play something very soft, it's absolutely lovely. But it's not what I reach for when I want to sit down to play solo and be immersed in a close-miked sound.

For me, those pianos are Piano in Blue, Ravenscroft and Galaxy Vintage D.
 
What piano do you reckon gives you that kind of experience of "immersion?'

Agree. HZ Piano is a disappointment. It's good for certain things and has a really sparkling high end but definitely doesn't make me feel like I'm sitting at some magical piano of inspiration. As a piano player when I want to feel inspired I reach for emotional piano or Olafur Arnald's felt piano.
 
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