VSL Studio Pianos: Fazioli F212

Dynamic Depth, Delicate Detail

The Fazioli F212 is a masterpiece of Italian craftsmanship, staying true to the iconic manufacturer’s rich heritage and tradition.

As a classic medium sized piano it offers a very different tonal characteristic compared to the massive flagship Fazioli F308, yet stands out with its own remarkably powerful sound.

From the strong bass to the warm mid-range and the crisp upper registers, this piano offers a wealth of tonal colors and is rightfully considered one of the finest in its class.

Its precise touch and excellent dynamic range allow you to express both delicate nuances and powerful chords, and facilitate the seamless switch between a multitude of genres.

Whether it's classical, jazz, or contemporary music, this piano reliably delivers.

Vienna's meticulous digital recreation obviously takes up less space in your recoding studio than the original, but it is also much more versatile, offering you a broad range of first class dry and reverberated options that ensure Italian Inspiration is always within reach.

Features

• Fazioli's classic medium sized grand
• Recorded in the smaller, drier Stage B of Vienna Synchron Stage
• Less room, more piano
• Huge sound, beautifully rounded tones
• 15 microphones for a multitude of timbral variations
• Pre-configured mixer presets and FX presets

Medium Size, Massive Tone

The Synchron Fazioli F212 was meticulously sampled in all its tonal glory at our Synchron Stage Vienna.

Unlike its big brother, the F308, which was captured in the grandeur of Stage A, the F212 was recorded in the smaller, drier Stage B.

With its highly controlled, tight ambience, this setting turned out to be the perfect sonic match for the unique tone of this instrument.

In this intimate environment, with more direct signals and less room sound, every nuance of its rich sound unfolds and shines.

To capture the specific sound of the instrument along with all its subtle details, our engineers deployed an exceptionally precise motion-control system based on a solenoid that controls a noise-free "robot finger".

The microcontroller moves the finger with superhuman precision, providing flexible curvatures for downstrokes and release movements, the latter corresponding to the preceding note length and various release speeds.

Striving for Piano Perfection

This Fazioli F212 is owned by pianist and film composer Mick Baumeister, co-creator of the Hornberg 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 to the other available Faziolis (228, 278 and 308) and was looking for a well-balanced instrument with a nicely rounded bass that would fit in his recording room.

After a few days of testing, the F212 won his heart with its intimate, yet powerful sound.

There was a single thing holding him back: one specific octave did not feel quite right.

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.

With this backstory in mind and the knowledge that this was an instrument selected by a man with golden ears and furthermore was improved by a master piano maker you just know that this not your everyday medium sized grand.

FX and Fazioli

In addition to creating your own custom Fazioli sound by mixing several microphone signals (with 8 microphone positions available), the free Vienna Synchron Pianos software offers multiple options for shaping the sound of the piano and enhancing your playing experience.

Hosting a high-performance playback engine, the software provides a full-featured mixer with a broad range of effects such as EQ, compressor, saturator, algorithmic reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, rotary, and many more.

You can also adjust the volume of body resonances, sympathetic strings, and pedal noises directly in the main Play window. In the Edit window, you can even tweak EQ, volume, tuning, dynamic range, and more for each individual key.

To capture this marvelous instrument on Stage B, our recording engineers used multiple high-end microphone arrays, providing 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.