Steinberg The Grand 3 Manual

							11
The Grand 3
The content
The recording of The Grand
The four acoustic piano models were recorded in Sweden 
by highly experienced recording specialists, in a large stu-
dio with a high ceiling well suited for the recording of 
acoustic instruments. The piano models were recorded 
using top-of-the-line recording equipment, and no filters 
or effects were applied during mixing to preserve the nat-
ural piano sound. For all keys of each of the 4 acoustic pi-
ano models, up to 20 velocities were recorded. 
The models
The Grand 3 includes five different piano models, each 
characterized by individual attributes. You can choose be-
tween 3 grand pianos, one upright model and an electric 
grand piano. The virtual acoustic pianos are available in 
the two recording perspectives “Close” and “Player”:
The following section gives you an overview of the charac-
teristics of the different piano models.
Yamaha C7
The unparalleled tone of a Yamaha C7 Grand was re-
corded in its whole beauty and musical range. Its incredi-
ble sound, resulting from the tonal projection and long sustain, and response with super realistic playing behavior 
delivers the musical equivalent of perfection. This virtual 
piano is truly in a class of its own and conveys the expres-
siveness of the player. If you prefer a brilliant, crisp piano 
sound, you should use the Yamaha C7.
Model D
A Steinway D Grand was recorded to obtain the Model D 
samples. The enchanting depth of tone and ultra-respon-
sive touch of the Steinway D grand piano is reflected in 
the Model D. Its warm and vibrantly rich sound and its 
overall performance simply make playing this virtual piano 
a pure joy.
Bösendorfer 290
The wider register of the Bösendorfer 290 Imperial Grand 
adds to the piano’s timbre which has intricately been sam-
pled to give you the required control when playing the soft-
est pianissimo through crescendos to the reserves of 
power needed for the loudest fortissimo. This virtual piano 
model shines in every musical aspect, providing the exuber-
ant sound quality and assertiveness of its corresponding 
real piano pendant. The recording for The Grand includes 
the full extended key range of eight full octaves (97 keys) 
provided by the 290 Imperial Grand.
Upright Piano
The upright by Nordiska Pianofabriken definitely has per-
sonality of the right sort! And its characteristic tone has 
been captured in the virtual upright piano model, designed 
to get the job done when looking for that little extra edge 
to your song. It might be rock, blues, jazz, gospel or any 
other style that simply needs some attitude — when your 
track requires a less “grand” sound this model is definitely 
your first choice.
Yamaha CP80
The Yamaha CP80 Electric Grand is one of the most fa-
vorable classic electric grand pianos around and comes 
with the built-in effects tremolo, phaser, flanger and cho-
rus. Here, the samples come directly from the source: the 
content experts at Yamaha.
Option Description
Close In this recording perspective the focus is nearer to the 
keyboard, delivering a very bright and shiny sound with a 
minimum of ambience. It is ideal for adding a reverb effect 
(see “The Ambience page” on page 17).
Player The focus of this recording perspective is closer to the 
strings and hammers and offers a mellower, pleasing 
sound with natural ambience. 
						

							12
The Grand 3
Parameters
General plug-in controls
In the upper section of the plug-in window, you will find a 
number of general controls. Here you can load and save 
presets and adjust the main volume. In addition, there are 
buttons to activate the ECO Mode (see “ECO Mode (gen-
eral controls)” on page 24) and the RAM Save functions 
(see “RAM Save (general controls)” on page 24). The Re-
set MIDI function (the “lightning” icon) allows you to reset 
the plug-in. Use this function when you lose the MIDI con-
nection, for example, while performing on stage. On the 
upper left, you will find a button for switching between the 
Editor and the Player view. Finally, you can click the plug-in 
and company logos to open the about box or to get in con-
tact with Steinberg. The general plug-in controls are de-
scribed in detail on the following pages.
ÖAll controls in The Grand can be set to their default 
value by holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] and clicking on 
the control.
Preset handling
To the right of the plug-in logo, you will find the preset 
pop-up menu of The Grand. The presets you load and 
save here include any sound settings of The Grand, i. e. 
the settings on the Model page, the Equalizer page, the 
Ambience page, etc. You will find the factory presets for 
each piano model on separate submenus. The factory pre-
sets are separated from your user presets by a line.
ÖThe presets do not include the setting of the Disk ver-
sus RAM usage on the Options page.
To load a preset, proceed as follows:
1.Click the arrow button to the right of the preset field to 
open the preset pop-up menu.
2.Open the submenu for the desired piano model.
3.Select the preset you wish to load.
Performance 
meters (see “Per-
formance meters” 
on page 25)
Editor view (see 
“Switching views” 
on page 13)
Keyboard display 
and pedals (see 
“Preview key-
board and pedals” 
on page 14) General plug-in 
controls
The controls for the 
standalone player (see 
“Additional controls 
when using The Grand 
as a standalone instru-
ment” on page 21). 
						

							13
The Grand 3
ÖWhen you select a preset from a different model than 
the one that is loaded, the respective samples have to be 
replaced. Therefore, the loading process will take longer.
To save a preset, proceed as follows:
1.Click the disk icon to the left of the preset pop-up 
menu.
2.Specify a location and file name in the file dialog.
3.Click Save to store the preset and close the dialog. 
Click Cancel to close the dialog without saving the preset.
To delete a preset, proceed as follows:
1.Select the preset you wish to delete from the preset 
pop-up menu.
If necessary, wait until it has been loaded.
2.Click the trash icon to the left of the preset menu.
A dialog opens.
3.Click Yes to delete the preset and close the dialog. 
Click No to close the dialog without deleting the preset.
ÖFactory presets cannot be deleted.
Adjusting the main volume
Use the Main Volume knob to adjust the overall volume of 
The Grand. The maximum value is +12 dB (the default 
value is ±0 dB).
•Turn the control clockwise by clicking on it and drag-
ging upwards to raise the volume.
•Turn the control clockwise by clicking on it and drag-
ging downwards to lower the volume.
Switching views
The Grand includes two views: the Editor and the Player 
view.
The Editor view
The Editor view shows the piano viewed from above. In-
stead of a lid there is a display with controls for accessing 
the sound parameters and plug-in settings. Below the dis-
play there are buttons for switching between the Model, 
Equalizer, Ambience, Control and Options pages. The 
keyboard and the three pedals in the lower section can be 
used to preview the pianos.
The Player view
The Player view focuses on the piano display. It shows a 
high-quality 3D model of the selected piano model. Above 
the piano display, there are the general plug-in controls, 
which give access to the presets and the main volume. 
Apart from that, there are no distracting controls in the 
Player view. Just load a preset from the pop-up menu 
above and start playing.  
						

							14
The Grand 3
ÖWhen you load the plug-in, it always opens in the Edi-
tor view.
Before you can switch to the Player view, you must load a 
piano in the Editor view.
To switch to the Player view, proceed as follows:
1.From the Editor view, load a piano model or a preset.
2.In the upper left section of the control panel, click the 
“p” button to the left of the plug-in logo. 
The Player view opens, showing the selected piano model.
To switch back to the Editor view, click the “e” button in 
the upper left of the Player view.
Reset MIDI
Sometimes, notes can get stuck, e. g. because the plug-in 
lost the MIDI connection, or the plug-in receives the wrong 
MIDI controller data. In such a case, you can “emergency-
reset” the plug-in:
•Click the Reset MIDI button (the lightning icon) to the 
right of the Main Volume knob, to send an “All Sound Off” 
and “Reset All Controllers” message to the plug-in.
This is the same as sending the MIDI controllers 120 (All Sound Off) and 
121 (Reset All).
The plug-in stops playback immediately and resets the 
controllers to their default values.
Steinberg logo and about box
If you click on the Steinberg logo in the upper right corner 
of the plug-in, a pop-up menu opens. You can open the 
manual in pdf format by selecting Help. Selecting one of 
the other options opens your default internet browser and 
direct you to the Steinberg web site. To check for soft-
ware updates and to find information for trouble shooting, 
select the appropriate link from the menu.
ÖTo open the manual in pdf format a pdf reader applica-
tion must be installed on your computer.
ÖYour computer needs an active and working Internet 
connection for accessing the Steinberg homepage.If you click on the plug-in logo in the upper left of the con-
trol panel, the about box opens. It contains information 
about the version and build number of the plug-in. With 
the plug-in version and build number you can verify if your 
software is up-to-date. Please visit www.steinberg.net 
regularly to check for updates. To close the about box, 
click on it or press [Esc] on your computer keyboard.
Preview keyboard and pedals
Typically, you will play the pianos with your MIDI controller 
keyboard and MIDI pedals. However, you can also preview 
the pianos by clicking on the keys of the keyboard and the 
three pedals below it in the Editor view.
•To play the piano with your mouse, click the desired 
note on the keyboard.
In the Editor view, the closer you click to the tip of the key, the higher the 
velocity and vice versa.
In the Player view, the keyboard always plays with full velocity.
•To play the pedals with your mouse, click the desired 
pedal to press it. Click the pedal again to release it.
The order of the pedals is as follows (from left to right): 
soft pedal, sostenuto and sustain. The four acoustic piano 
models support all three pedals. The CP80 only supports 
sustain. 
The function of the pedals is as follows:
Pedal MIDI controller 
numberFunction
Soft  pedal 67 This modifies the tone quality towards a 
softer sound.
Sostenuto 66 Notes that are held while pressing the 
sostenuto pedal will sustain. Any suc-
cessive notes (after pressing the soste-
nuto pedal) will not sustain.
Either the pedal or the keys must be 
controlled externally to produce the 
sostenuto effect.
Sustain 64 This lifts all dampers from the strings 
adding sustain resonances to the 
sound. All notes played will sustain. 
						

							15
The Grand 3
The Model page
On this page you can select the piano model and adjust 
its sound. All important aspects of the acoustic pianos 
were sampled separately. This does not only include the 
sustain resonances, but also release sounds and mechan-
ical noises from the keys and pedals. You can control the 
loudness for each of these aspects separately. This way, 
you can adjust the character and sense of playing of the 
piano to your liking. For example, if you want a more inti-
mate character and sense of playing, just like sitting in 
front of the piano, you can increase the mechanical noises 
of the keys and pedals.
Note that this page is different for the CP80 model. Since 
the CP80 is an electro-acoustic instrument, it does not 
produce any mechanical noises that would be of interest. 
For creating sound variations, the Model page of the CP80 
provides a tremolo and a modulation effect (Chorus, 
Flanger and Phaser) instead.
The virtual acoustic piano models
By selecting the piano model, you choose the basic char-
acter and sound of your piano. The virtual acoustic pianos 
are available in two recording perspectives: Close and 
Player, see “The models” on page 11. 
ÖIf you change the piano model, only the samples are 
exchanged. All other settings, e. g. on the Equalizer and 
Ambience pages, remain unchanged.
To select the piano model, proceed as follows:
1.In the Editor view, click the Model button to open the 
Model page.
If the Player view is active, click the “e” button in the upper left corner to 
open the Editor view. 
2.Click on the picture of the piano model.
The five available piano models are displayed above the picture.
3.Select the desired piano model and recording per-
spective.
During the recording of the acoustic pianos not only the 
notes were recorded, but also every sound produced by 
the piano, e. g. by damping vibrating strings, releasing the 
hammer, the sound of the pedals when stepping them. On 
the Model page you can activate or deactivate these “ad-
ditional” sounds by clicking the corresponding buttons 
and set their volume with the knobs. The following param-
eters are available:
Option Description
Sustain 
ResonanceWhen you press a key on an acoustic piano, only the 
damper of that key is raised. All other strings are damped 
and only the sound of the string hammered by that key is 
audible.
When you step on the sustain pedal, all the dampers of 
all keys are lifted from all strings. Now when you hit a key, 
the vibration of its string causes surrounding strings and 
the housing to resonate. The sound produced by this 
could be described as something similar to a reverb. This 
effect is only audible when the sustain pedal is used. 
String Release When a key on a piano is released, the felt damper falls 
on a string that is still vibrating. It doesn’t stop vibrating 
abruptly, but continues to travel to complete that last os-
cillation thus producing a sound that we call String Re-
lease.
Note that when you deactivate this option, the response 
of the instrument will sound a little less natural.
Hammer 
Release 
(Yamaha C7, 
Model D and 
Bösendorfer 
only)When a key is released, the hammer returns to its initial 
position and generates a sound best described as low 
and woody. We call this effect Hammer Release. The 
pianist seated at the grand piano hears this sound very 
clearly, though, depending on the position of the micro-
phones, it may not be audible in recordings.
When this option is activated, you get the pianist’s sonic 
perspective: The Grand sounds as if you were seated in 
front of a real concert grand. When it is disabled, The 
Grand sounds like what the audience hears.
Key Sound 
(Yamaha C7, 
Model D and 
Bösendorfer 
only)When you press a key on a real piano, the sound is also 
shaped by a subliminal noise that is produced by moving 
the key and its mechanics. This noise can be described 
as wooden, soft and unobtrusive. Use this feature to em-
ulate a listener’s position close to the piano.
Damper Pedal 
Sound 
(Yamaha C7, 
Model D and 
Bösendorfer 
only)This sound is produced when you step on one of the 
pedals. 
						

							16
The Grand 3
CP80 model
Modulation effects are a vital part of the CP80 sound. The 
CP80 model offers a tremolo and a modulation effect. You 
can use these effects for sound variations.
Tremolo produces amplitude (volume) modulation. The 
modulation signals for the left and right channels have a 
fixed offset of 180°. Hence, the sound image is moving 
between left and right.
1.Click the button at the top left of the Tremolo section 
to activate the Tremolo effect. 
The button turns red.
2.Adjust the Speed and Depth controls to your liking:
Modulation effects thicken and broaden the sound by 
means of pitch or phase modulation. The CP80 model al-
lows you to add Chorus, Flanger, or Phaser as a modula-
tion effect.
1.In the Modulation section, click on the button to the left 
of the pop-up menu to activate the modulation effect.
The button turns red.
2.From the pop-up menu, select a modulation effect: 
Phaser, Chorus or Flanger.
3.Adjust the controls to your liking.
The following parameters are available for the modulation 
effects:
The Equalizer page
The Equalizer page gives you access to a high-quality 
4-band parametric stereo equalizer. With the four fre-
quency bands, 1 Low, 2 Mid, 3 Mid and 4 High, you can 
shape the tone color of the piano, e. g. for a brighter or 
darker sound. The two midrange bands act as peak filters, 
while the low and high bands act as shelving filters. All 
bands are fully parametric with adjustable Gain, Fre-
quency and Q factor. 
Adjusting the equalizer settings
1.Click the EQ button to the left of the equalizer controls 
to activate the equalizer.
This activates all 4 EQ bands.
2.Adjust the Gain, Freq, and Q parameters as desired. 
To adjust Gain and Frequency simultaneously, drag the 
points in the EQ graph to the left.
Each frequency band offers the following controls:
Option Description
Depth This sets the intensity of the effect. The control range is 
from 0 % to 100 %.
Speed Use this to specify the frequency of the modulation in 
Hertz (Hz). The control range is from 0.01 Hz to 10.0 Hz.
Option Description
Depth This sets the intensity of the effect. The control range is 
from 0 % to 100 %.
Feedback This adds resonance to the effect. The control range is 
from -100 % to +100 %.
Mix This controls the mix between the dry and the wet sig-
nals. The control range is from 0 % to 100 %. At 100 %, 
you will hear the wet signal only.
Speed Use this to specify the frequency of the modulation in 
Hertz (Hz). The control range is from 0.01 Hz to 10.0 Hz.
Phase This widens the sound image of the effect from mono to 
stereo. The control range is from 0° to 180°.
Option Description
Gain Use this to set the amount of cut or boost for the EQ 
band. The control range is from -24 dB to +24 dB.
Freq This sets the frequency that is cut or boosted by the Gain 
parameter. The control range is from 20 Hz to 20000 Hz. Option Description 
						

							17
The Grand 3
The Ambience page
The settings on the Ambience page allow you to position 
the piano in the room and to add reverb to the dry piano 
sound.
Positioning the piano
With its two stereo outputs, The Grand supports quad 
surround (4.0 channels). You can activate this to the right 
of the graphical control.
When surround panning is activated, you can position the 
piano between the front and rear of the room.
ÖTo hear the rear channels, you must assign the second 
stereo output of the plug-in to the physical outputs of your 
audio hardware.
You can position the piano in the stereo or surround pano-
rama by using the Left/Right and Rear/Front parameters 
or by dragging the piano to the desired position in the 
graphical control on the left.
•Left/Right
Use this parameter to adjust the position of the piano between the left 
and right boundaries of the room. The control range is from -100 % to 
+100 %. Positive values move the piano right, negative values left.
•Rear/Front
Use this parameter to adjust the position of the piano between the front 
and rear boundaries of the room. The control range is from -100 % to 
+100 %. Positive values move the piano towards the front, negative val-
ues towards the rear.
ÖThe Rear/Front parameter only comes into effect when 
the rear channels have been assigned to an output and 
the surround option is activated.
The graphical control on the left indicates the position of 
the piano in the room when viewing it from above. With 
the graphical control, you can adjust the Left/Right and 
Rear/Front parameters simultaneously.
Applying reverb
You can process the dry piano sound with the built-in 
high-quality reverb. With the reverb parameters, you can 
specify different ambient spaces, e. g. concert halls, 
churches, or studios. In addition, you can adjust the char-
acteristics of the reverb.
ÖTo hear the reverb in surround, the surround option 
must be activated.
To add reverb to the piano sound, proceed a follows:
1.From the reverb pop-up menu, select an ambience 
preset.
The On/Off button to the left of the pop-up menu turns red.
2.If necessary, adjust the parameters Room Size, Time, 
Pre-Delay, and Mix, see below.
ÖTo deactivate the selected preset, click the On/Off 
button to the left of the pop-up menu.
The following reverb parameters are available:
Q This sets the quality factor. Use this to adjust the band-
width of the midrange peak filters from wide to narrow. 
By increasing the Q value on the low and high shelving 
filters, you can add a dip to their shape. The control range 
is from 0.5 to 10.0. Option Description
Click here to activate 
surround panning.
Click here to activate 
stereo panning.
Option Description
Reverb pop-up 
menuThe integrated reverb effect can use two different reverb 
engines, a convolution and an algorithmic reverb. For 
both, the Reverb menu offers various ambient spaces, or-
ganized in correspondingly named submenus. When you 
change the Reverb preset, the parameters Room Size, 
Time and Pre-Delay are updated accordingly to match 
the characteristics of the selected room. Only the Mix 
parameter remains unchanged.
Room  Size This parameter lets you scale the dimensions of the room. 
The control range is from 0 % to 100 %. For example, by 
decreasing the Room Size you can turn a concert hall 
into a small room.
Time Use this parameter to shorten or extend the reverb time. 
The control range is from 0 % to 100 %. With lower set-
tings, the reverb decays earlier and vice versa. 
						

							18
The Grand 3
The Control page
Unlike an acoustic grand piano, The Grand is played using 
a MIDI-enabled keyboard or digital piano. We recommend 
the use of an instrument with weighted keys to benefit 
from its sensitive and complex dynamic response. How-
ever, not everyone has this type of instrument at hand and 
response and handling vary from keyboard to keyboard.
Therefore, you can adapt The Grand to suit your MIDI key-
board and style of playing by means of ready-to-use ve-
locity curve presets. In addition, you can create your own 
velocity curves and save and load them as presets.
On the left of the Control page you will find the velocity 
curve editor. The editor plots the incoming velocity (the hor-
izontal axis) against the outgoing velocity (the vertical axis). 
By default, the curve is a straight line from the lower left to 
the upper right corner. This means, the incoming velocity is 
mapped one-to-one to the outgoing velocity. You will hear 
the piano with its original dynamic range. By changing this 
curve, you change the dynamic response of the piano. For 
example, if you prefer a harder sound of the piano, select an 
inward bent curve. If you prefer a softer sound, select an 
outward bent curve. You can even create your own curve 
by editing the user-definable curve with the mouse.To the right of the velocity curve editor you will find but-
tons for selecting the shape of the velocity curve. The top-
most button selects the user-definable curve. The other 
buttons select the nine factory preset curves.
Selecting velocity curves
•To select a velocity curve, click on the button for the de-
sired curve to the right of the velocity curve editor.
The button indicates the shape of the curve.
Editing the user-definable curve
You can create your own velocity curve by editing the 
user-definable curve. Proceed as follows:
1.Activate the topmost button to the right of the velocity 
curve editor.
2.In the velocity curve editor, double-click to add curve 
points.
•Click and drag each curve point to the desired position.
•To delete a curve point, double-click on it.
•Drag the curvature up and down for a more inward or 
outward bent curve.
ÖThe nodes in the bottom left and top right corners can 
only be moved up and down.
Pre-Delay With Pre-Delay, you can add a short delay to the reverb 
signal. The greater the delay, the later the reverb will start 
and the more separated the reverb signal will be from the 
direct sound of the piano. The control range is from 0 ms 
to 500 ms.
Mix This determines the mix of the piano and the reverb. The 
control range is from 0 % to 100 %. At a setting of 0 % 
you will hear only the piano, just like the player sitting 
close to the piano. At a setting o f  1 0 0 %  y o u  w i l l  h e a r  o n l y  
the reverb, just like sitting in the audience. Hence, by in-
creasing this parameter, you increase the distance be-
tween the listener and the player. Option Description
Drag the curvature up 
for a harder sound of 
the piano.
Drag the curvature 
down for a softer 
sound of the piano. 
						

							19
The Grand 3
Saving a user-definable curve
To save a user-definable curve, proceed as follows:
1.Click the disk icon to the left of the velocity preset pop-
up menu.
2.In the file dialog that appears, specify a location and a 
file name.
3.Click Save to store the preset.
Loading a user-definable curve
•To load a previously saved user-definable curve, select 
it from the velocity preset pop-up menu.
ÖIf you modify a velocity preset, an asterisk is shown 
behind its name to indicate that the settings of the preset 
have changed. The asterisk will disappear when you save 
or recall the preset.
Deleting a user-definable curve
To delete a previously saved user-definable curve, pro-
ceed as follows:
1.Select the preset you wish to delete from the velocity 
preset pop-up menu.
2.Click the trash icon. 
A dialog opens.
3.Click Yes to delete the preset and close the dialog. 
Polyphony settings
Using the Polyphony settings below the velocity preset 
pop-up menu you can specify how many voices, or sam-
ples The Grand will play simultaneously.
The following settings are available:ÖTo avoid drop-outs during playback, The Grand ex-
cludes voices automatically when the CPU load exceeds 
95 %.
The Options page
Tuning
To match The Grand with the tuning of accompaniment in-
struments or recordings, use the Master Tune control. The 
control range is from 415.3 Hz to 466.2 Hz, which equals 
-100 cents to +100 cents. The default value is 440 Hz, 
which in The Grand corresponds to A 3 and is the com-
monly used pitch for tuning. 
The default tuning of The Grand is the tuning the pianos 
have originally been recorded with. This is a “stretched 
tuning”, i. e. in order to compensate for the inharmonicity 
of the piano strings, the upper notes are tuned increas-
ingly higher and the lower notes are tuned increasingly 
lower. For the most genuine sound of the piano, leave the 
tuning as it is. By deactivating the Stretched Tuning but-
ton you can apply an equal temperament. This can be nec-
essary when you want to layer the piano with other sounds 
that come with a pure equal temperament.
Additionally, The Grand comes with many ready-to-use 
tuning scale presets, e. g. historical tuning scales in differ-
ent keys like the Werckmeister, Kirnberger, and other 
scales.
Option Description
Max Voices Here, you can specify a hard limit for the total number of 
voices The Grand will be able to play simultaneously. Each 
sample counts as a voice. When the number of simulta-
neously played voices exceeds this limit, The Grand starts 
excluding notes from playback. You can specify a value 
between 1 and 256 voices. This setting is particularly help-
ful to limit the system load when using The Grand.
Low Notes 
ReservedYou can use this setting to prioritize low notes over high 
notes when The Grand has to exclude notes. For exam-
ple, if you play a long left-hand chord together with a 
right-hand solo, you might need to reserve a certain num-
ber of notes for the left-hand chord to avoid that it sud-
denly gets cut. Use the control to adjust the number of 
notes to be reserved for low notes.
Repedaling On a real acoustic piano, after releasing the sustain 
pedal, you can repedal the sustain as long as the strings 
are not yet completely damped and still vibrate. The ef-
fect is that the strings continue vibrating with the remain-
ing energy. You can achieve a similar effect by activating 
the Repedaling option. Please note that this feature de-
mands more performance and should be turned off on 
less powerful systems. Option Description 
						

							20
The Grand 3
Loading scale presets
•To load a scale preset, select it from the pop-up menu 
to the right of the Scale button.
The pop-up menu lists factory scale presets and user scale presets. Fac-
tory and user scale presets are separated by a line.
ÖTo deactivate the selected preset, click the On/Off 
button to the left of the pop-up menu. When turned off, no 
tuning scale is applied and the piano sounds with its orig-
inally recorded stretched tuning.
Saving user-defined scale presets
To save a user-defined scale preset, proceed as follows:
1.Click the disk icon to the left of the scale preset menu.
2.In the file dialog that appears, specify a location and a 
file name.
3.Click Save to store the preset and close the file dialog.
Deleting scale presets
To delete a scale preset, proceed as follows:
1.Select the preset you wish to delete from the scale 
preset menu.
2.Click the trash icon to the left of the scale preset menu.
A dialog opens.
3.Click Yes to delete the preset and close the dialog. 
ÖFactory presets cannot be deleted.
ÖIf you modify a scale preset, the preset name is shown 
with an asterisk to indicate that the settings of the preset 
have changed. The asterisk will disappear when you save 
the preset.
The factory tuning scale presets
The most common tuning scale in western music and the 
basis for all other tuning scales is the “equal” scale, where 
adjacent notes on the scale have an equal distance of 100 
cents. This scale is particularly useful if you want to layer 
The Grand with other instruments that are tuned to equal 
temperament, e. g. strings, synthesizer pads, etc.
Additionally, The Grand provides the following scales:
• Arabic 1 (for all basic keys)
• Arabic 2 (for all basic keys)
• Arabic 3 (for all basic keys)• Indian 1
• Kirnberger (for all basic keys)
• Pure Major (for all basic keys)
• Pure Minor (for all basic keys)
• Vallotti and Young (for all basic keys)
• Werckmeister (for all basic keys)
Editing tuning scales
You can create your personal tuning scales by editing the 
notes per octave (the tune offsets are applied equally to all 
octaves on the keyboard) or by editing the MIDI notes in-
dividually (the tune offsets are applied only to individual 
notes). Editing the scale per octave is particularly useful 
for creating different temperaments. Editing the scale per 
note is mainly useful for creating stretched tunings.
To edit the scale per octave, proceed as follows:
1.Click the Oct button to the right of the scale editor.
2.In the scale editor, click in the Offset text field of the 
note you wish to adjust in the scale editor.
3.Set the tune offset within the range of -100.00 cent to 
+100.00 cent.
The offsets of the 12 notes are applied to all octaves 
equally.
To edit the scale per note, proceed as follows:
1.Click the Note button to the right of the scale editor.
2.In the scale editor, click in the Offset value field of the 
note you wish to adjust.
3.Set the tune offset within the range of -100.00 cent to 
+100.00 cent.
The offsets are applied to the 128 MIDI notes individually.
Absolute and Relative Mode
MIDI notes can contain microtuning information, i. e. tune 
offsets per note. The Absolute or Relative Mode setting 
determines the way the incoming microtuning information 
is handled:
Option Description
Absolute The incoming microtuning information is filtered out and 
The Grand applies only its own scale settings.
Relative The incoming microtuning information is kept and offset 
by the scale settings of The Grand.