Vienna Synchron Fazioli F212 Standard Library

Prepare to be mesmerized by the marvelous sound of the Synchron Fazioli F212, meticulously sampled at VSL’s Synchron Stage Vienna. Unlike its big brother, the F308 that was captured in the grandeur of Stage A, the F212 was recorded in the smaller, dryer Stage B, which turned out to be the perfect match for Fazioli’s classic mid-sized piano. In this intimate setting, with more direct signals and less room sound, every nuance of its rich sound shines, from the powerful bass to the warm mid-range to the crisp upper registers.

As with the C. Bechstein upright piano that is available as the Synchron Upright 1904, this Fazioli F212 is owned by pianist and film composer Mick Baumeister, co-creator of the Hornberg hb1 MIDI breath controller. Mick acquired this Fazioli 212 after some intense testing at Piano Fischer in Stuttgart as a birthday present to himself in 1998.

He compared this piano with the other available Faziolis (228, 278 and 308) and was looking for a well-balanced piano with a nicely rounded bass that would fit his recording room. After a few days of testing, the F212 won his heart with its intimate yet powerful sound.

There was only one thing holding him back, and that was the feeling of one specific octave. After tweaking the intonation of certain notes didn’t help, Mr. Paolo Fazioli himself made the trip to Stuttgart and brought with him a brand-new hammer-row that immediately made this instrument sing over the entire range, with beautifully rounded tones across the keyboard spectrum. Given its sound and the significant attention it received, including from the company's founder, this particular instrument became an obvious choice to complement Vienna’s esteemed virtual piano collection.

Download File Sizes for the Standard Library (20.2 GB). Installed File Sizes for the Standard Library (68.7 GB).

The Synchron Piano Player

In addition to creating your sound by mixing several microphone signals, the included Vienna Synchron Pianos software offers multiple options for shaping the sound of the piano and your playing experience. Hosting a high-performance playback engine, the software provides a full-blown mixer with a broad range of effects such as EQ, compressor, saturator, algorithmic reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, rotary, and many more. You may also adjust the volume of body resonances, sympathetic strings, and pedal noises right in the main Play window. In the Edit window you can even tweak EQ, volume, tuning, dynamic range, etc. for each individual key!

Microphone Positions

In order to capture this marvelous instrument on Stage B, Vienna’s recording engineers used multiple high-end microphone arrays, affording an abundance of options for creating your individual sound. The Full Library features three different sets of close microphones with condenser, ribbon and tube options, two pairs of mid mics, as well as the Decca tree with additional surround outriggers.