Thank you for purchasing Light and Sound Concert Grand. We’re sure 
you’ll be happy with your purchase, and while we do our best to make 
everything as intuitive as possible, we have created this manual to ensure  1. Welcome & Introduction 
all the technical specifications and nuances within the instrument and 
scripting are covered.  Light and Sound Concert Grand features the famous Steinway 
 
C in Studio One, Windmill Lane, Dublin. Recorded by expert 
Table of Contents: 
engineer Debbie Smith.  
1. Welcome & Introduction 
2. Instrument overview 
3. Mic Control  This Steinway C piano 
3.1 Mic Output  was hand-picked by Elmer 
3.2 dB Fader  Bernstein (while 
3.3 Purging Microphones  composing the score for 
3.4 Panning Microphones  'My Left Foot') from the 
3.5 Stereo Width  Steinway factory in 
4. Microphone Positions  Hamburg. Word spread 
5. Control  across the industry and it 
5.1 Calibrate  soon made a name for 
5.2 CC11  itself as an exceptional 
5.3 Dynamic Range  sounding piano. Nowadays, many artists will record at 
5.4 Pedal Volume  Windmill Lane specifically to use this piano.​ ​
6. Character 
6.1 Resonance 
Artists who have performed on this piano include Elvis 
6.2 Reverb 
Costello, David Bowie, Van Morrison, R.E.M, Ben Folds, The 
6.3 Release Volume 
6.4 Room Tone 
Rolling Stones and Lady Gaga. 
7. Settings 
7.1 Silent Key  Combined with unique scripting and editing by Paul Stapley, 
7.2 Sympathetic Resonance  and a beautiful intuitive user interface by Jack Everitt, the 
7.3 Re-pedalling  result is a playable and intuitive instrument that helps shape 
7.4 Half Pedalling  your music while inspiring maximum creativity. 
7.5 Velocity Response   
8. Presets 
  This is the user interface by default. It is split up into 3 main 
Before we begin, please ensure you have the latest NKR file  sections, the M
​ ic Positions​ (lower half) the C
​ ontrol​ section (top left) 
installed, this can be found here: ​Latest NKR  and C
​ haracter​ section (top right). 
To install this, please place the file in the “instruments” folder. 
 
3. Mic Control 
Concert Grand comes with 12 microphone positions (5 stereo mics, 
2. Instrument overview  6 mono mics and 1 stereo mix). Each mic has a purge button, a dB 
fader, a pan pot and an output. The stereo mics also have a stereo 
expander for further mixing options. 

3.1 Mic Output 

Changing the output of the microphone can be 
done by left-clicking on the button above each 
microphone, and changing the output to 
another desired channel within Kontakt. This 
is useful when creating a template, as it allows 
you to then re-balance pieces based on a 
project level, rather than instrument level, a 
technique preferred by most. 
 

3.2 dB Fader 
The dB Fader adjusts the level of that microphone 
output. Each p ​ reset​ will have a specific value for each 
microphone position, and while you can have the level 
  high all the time, you will only hear notes from that 
  microphone while having the mic u ​ npurged​. (tip: 
Ctrl+Click resets to default) 
 
 
  to your preference to increase space or even create a mono sound. 
  By default these are set to the settings as recorded in the studio. 
 
 
  4. Microphone positions 
The microphone positions available in our Concert Grand are 
3.3 Purging Microphones  designed to not only be unique and original on their own, but also 
The purge button indicates whether or not a mic  give the ability to compliment each other and add character. The 
is activated and will play a sound when you hit a  mics used were among the finest available in the world, and are as 
key. Clicking on this will change the state, with  follows: 
grey being off and gold being on. Disabling mics   
helps save CPU and RAM overhead.  Decca 
A set of three microphones in a “T” like arrangement, a few feet 
  above the conductor's head. This is a standard for most orchestral 
recordings, though less so for solo recording. We included this 
  option as a standard should the desire to put the piano into larger 
spaces/arrangements be needed. Blending Decca with varying 
3.4 Panning Microphones  amounts of reverb can create fantastic space and width. 
 
The pan pot, located above every mic fader, can 
Sides 
be used to pan each mic left or right 
Otherwise known as outriggers. Two microphones placed at the 
individually. It is recommended that the only 
same height and depth as the Decca Tree, but at the far left and 
mics you pan are mono microphones, however 
right of the hall. This is great for capturing the wide sound of the 
the option is there should you wish to do so. 
acoustic space. 
Ctrl+Click resets each mic to the position is was 
 
recorded in. 
Rears 
 
Two microphones placed at the same width as the outriggers, but 
placed further back, near the brass section. These are the most 
3.5 Stereo Width  distant microphones and great for matching with much wetter 
Each stereo mic, has a stereo width slider which  libraries. 
can be used to increase or decrease the stereo   
width of the microphone. These can be altered   
   
XY  M149 
A pair of N
​ eumann KM84i mics placed next to ​each other in an XY  The Neumann M149 is one of 
formation, positioned at the rear right of the piano.  the finest microphones 
  available. Positioned at the 
LR  rear of the piano, it is a fine 
The most common recording technique for solo piano, one facing  choice for any recording 
the lower strings, one facing the higher. We used the beautiful  style. It also works as an 
Neumann KM184s for this. When combined, these form a beautiful  alternative to the Piano Rear. 
stereo image.   
   
Under   
A FET47 positioned under the piano, great for picking up some of   
the lower frequencies. Because of its positioning, we recommend  p.Rear & p.Front 
keeping this mic centered.  These two microphones form a stereo image side on, used more for 
  concert recordings. Two Neumann U87s once again capture the 
Ribbon  true beauty of this Steinway C. 
   
The famous AEA R84, often called   
the perfect ribbon mic. We  Mix 
positioned this in the same area as  Finally, we provide a 
the XY to capture a similar sound,  single stereo mix; perfect 
but with different character.  for those looking to save 
Because of this we recommend not  CPU usage or when 
using both at the same time.  using laptops on the go. 
 
 
MKH80 
The MKH80 is another 
alternative to the XY, 
somewhat darker than the 
Neumann but brighter than 
the Ribbon. 
 
5. Control  5.2 CC11 
This is the volume for the instrument. If you wish to reduce the 
overall volume on the fly, CC11 is your friend - generally with a 
piano this is only set once to set the master volume and never 
changed again. 

5.3 Dynamic Range 

The dynamic range of the instrument, the default (ctrl+click) is set 
to represent the real recorded levels, you can increase or lower this 
by dragging the slider accordingly. The lower settings do increase 
the volume of the lowest velocities which were recorded on the edge 
of silence, so use with caution! 

5.4 Pedal Volume 

We sampled all three pedals to add to the realism when performing. 
The volume here can be used to dial in the amount you wish to use. 
The default value is an accurate representation of what was 
recorded in the studio. 

5.1 Calibrate 
This feature allows you to ensure your MIDI Controller responds to 
all the available MIDI velocities, from highest to lowest. Some 
MIDI keyboards will not respond correctly or can degrade over time 
- if you ever have a mistake here, just double click the button and it 
will revert to factory settings. 
 6.2 Reverb 
6. Character  Our very own custom impulse response is provided, while we do 
generally recommend using external reverbs, we included the 
option to use one within Kontakt - turning down to the left will 
bypass the effect, saving on CPU usage. 
 

6.3 Release Volume 

True releases were sampled and can be adjusted, the default 
(ctrl+click) will reset this to the recorded volume. 

6.4 Room Tone 

The room tone option will play 
whenever kontakt detects the host to be 
playing or recording. Note: you need the 
“Ext” option enabled within kontakt at 
  the top. 

6.1 Resonance 
We have t​ rue​ pedal down samples capturing the resonance that 
occurs when holding down the sustain pedal. Sampling this 
separately allows you to dial in the amount of resonance that you 
desire. 
 
 7.3 Re-Pedalling 
7. Settings  Re-pedalling (often referred to as “catch pedalling”), continuous 
re-pedalling (re-pedalling a re-pedal) and sympathetic resonance 
re-pedalling are all supported and can be enabled or disabled within 
the settings menu. Sympathetic resonance re-pedalling is an effect 
we highly recommend leaving enabled, while it does increase 
polyphony it drastically increases realism. 

7.4 Half Pedalling 

Half pedalling (requires continuous controller) allows you to slightly 
  dampen notes - this is done continuously, meaning that you can 
play softly to let notes “get through” while louder notes will get 
dampened due to them hitting the damper. 
 
 

7.1 Silent Key 

7.5 Velocity Response 
This option enables and disables the silent key. A silent key is 
The velocity response graph can be configured by adjusting three 
pressed when you play the lowest MIDI velocity and no sound will 
controls below the response graph. The minimum and maximum 
occur.  controls allow you to control how much of the minimum and 
maximum velocity layers are available when hitting the keys. By 
7.2 Sympathetic Resonance  raising the minimum value the lowest velocity layers won’t be used 
and by reducing the maximum control the loudest velocity layers 
Sympathetic resonance occurs when you hold down a note and play 
won’t be used either. The curve control allows you to fine-tune how 
another note that shares a harmonic or fundamental. This is 
each velocity layer is delivered, and can be used to tailor the 
supported for up to 16 notes in the harmonic series (both up and  instrument to work most effectively with your MIDI keyboard. 
down). 
  
 
8. Presets   
 
Light and Sound Concert Grand has a number of presets   
pre-programmed into the UI to accelerate the process of finding the   
sound you are looking for. Choosing from one of the presets   
provided you are quickly able to achieve a sound suited to a number   
of musical styles. Each preset has a custom setting for the velocity   
response graph, reverb, mic volumes, mic purge states and the   
dynamic range.   
   
 
 
 
 
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