Product Review - XLN AudioAddictive Keys

AK has no built-in library of style-based phrases, licks, loops or other automated musical assistance — it’s all down to you and your fingers. Like Addictive Drums, AK’s sample library is not cast in stone; AK itself is merely the host player for whatever instruments XLN produce for it. For this initial release, three instruments are available: Studio Grand and Modern Upright acoustic pianos, and a Mark One Fender Rhodes electric piano, which are purchasable separately or as a bundle with a price break. A free demo of the Studio Grand can be downloaded from XLN’s web site. Note that the AK player itself is freely downloadable, it’s the instruments that you have to pay for. The demo is restricted to a 49-note range and three mic perspectives, otherwise it’s fully functional and gives a full taste of the sound-creation abilities of the AK player. So is Addictive Keys just another piano sample library, adding to the terabytes of existing sampled pianos languishing on the world’s hard drives, or does it have something unique to offer?

The Studio Grand is a Steinway Model D, recorded in a large studio from six mic perspectives. Four stereo pairs cover close, mid and ambient positions, with two mono mics to capture side and body tones. The impression is of a real instrument in a real space, with plenty of mechanical detailing and resonance. The natural recorded tuning is just imperfect enough to impart life and movement, and, while it’s perhaps not Deutsche Grammophon perfection, the overall effect is pleasing. There’s plenty of body and sustain, so you don’t feel compelled to add compression to bolster it, although that option is open to you! An impressively wide range of tones is possible simply by careful mixing and matching of the mics, even before adding any other processing. For a highly detailed, in-yer-face tone suited to rock and pop, the close X/Y pair mixed with a touch of the close wide pair delivers the goods; adding some top-end EQ to the X/Y pair really helps it cut through. By way of contrast, a careful blend of mono body, wide mid and wide ambience makes for a mellower, classical sound, particularly when boosting sympathetic resonance above its natural level.