It is with great pleasure that we announce the release of the Garritan Abbey Road Studios CFX Concert Grand. Every aspect of this inspiring new virtual instrument – the piano, the studio acoustics, the recording process – represents the very highest quality available.

The Piano
The mighty CFX concert Grand is Yamaha’s flagship piano. It represents the pinnacle of what is truly possible when no expense or resource is spared to create the ultimate concert grand piano. In fact, a team of 40 of the world’s most talented piano designers, craftsmen and pianists spent 20 years developing this piano; it truly is a masterpiece of craftsmanship, power and beauty. Each CFX is painstakingly hand-crafted by a small, dedicated team and each CFX has a fully removable action that can be specifically calibrated for the setting, performer and even the repertoire. Additionally, it has never been sampled for a software library before!

The Studio
Since it’s inauguration by sir Edward Elgar in 1931, Abbey Road Studio One has become one of the most famous and busiest recording spaces in the world. From the Beatles to Adele and from Star Wars to James Bond, it is almost certain that you have something in your media collection that was recorded in Studio One. It is the venue to which the world’s top musicians and composers turn when they require the very best.

The Recording
The sound of the CFX was captured by a team of highly experienced Abbey Road Studios recording engineers, each contributing decades of knowledge in recording pianos for a variety of applications. At their disposal was arguably the richest and most storied microphone collection available anywhere.

Microphone set-ups, also referred to as perspectives, have a huge effect on the overall sound of the recorded instrument. Each of the three included perspectives speaks specifically to various musical settings:

• Classic — This most faithfully captures the natural tonal character, clarity and nuance of the instrument.
• Contemporary — This creates a piano sound that is bright and hard with lots of attack from the hammers, but also maintains the piano’s warmth.
• Player — This perspective offers the experience of playing the CFX from the bench in Studio One, particularly when reproduced over high quality headphones.

The entire Garritan team has endeavored to create a virtual instrument that is an organic, expressive and versatile tool for the creation of piano music of any kind. Garritan’s dedication to accessibility and excellence is epitomized in the CFX Concert Grand Library. Without this new virtual instrument, few would have access to Yamaha’s phenomenal CFX concert grand piano, let alone the opportunity to record in Abbey Road Studios’ historic Studio One with the greatest technicians and recording equipment in the world.

We truly hope you enjoy this stunning virtual instrument. Hear it for yourself today!