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Even so, it’s a valuable addition to the bundled plug-ins, and its bright tone is balanced by a mellower grand piano among Dimension Pro’s presets. We also found that the sustain part of notes (presumably the physically modelled element) weren’t quite as satisfying as the initial transients. It sounds rich and full-bodied, although the upfront tone resembles what you would hear by sticking your head inside a piano, and will be too abrasive for gentler forms of music. It has a modest collection of samples – the entire plug-in is just 120MB – but uses physical modelling to recreate the complex tone of a grand piano.
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The third new virtual instrument is TruePianos Amber. Then again, Stylus Xpanded costs £220 so the comparison isn’t entirely fair. Overall, Beatscape is a poor substitute for Spectrasonics Stylus Xpanded in both its interface and sonic palette.
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