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Hallelujah Here Below

In this video I’m on the Akai MPK88, and this is a great example of how IK sounds live. All these patches come with Intuitive Keys, and this Patch Set is available for FREE in the IK Users Group to paid owners of IK. You’ll notice that these sounds are not designed to “cut”, they’re designed to sound great in a mix, and in this case provide lots of atmosphere. The Nord Controller in a piano shell is triggering Alecia’s Keys.

On the verses I’m playing on the backbeat using “IK Simple Roades” with an additional verb send cranked up, split at C4 with one of my new favorite chill pads called “Still Soft Voice” a layer of “Vintage Pad” and “Purify” (IK owners will recognize all these sound names). On the first Chorus I’m playing just the “Still Soft Voice” pad below the split point. [MultiTracks calls this part “Keys 4”]

On the 2nd Chorus I’m playing “DynaStrings” (from the orchestral set). The attack and sustain rates are modulated by the mod-wheel, so the thematic line is played with mod-wheel all the way up, but then the last note is played, the mod-wheel is all the way down so it’s got a nice slow attack and release. When we revisit the chorus after the bridge, I layer “Fantastic Synth” (first patch in the synth set) with “DynaStrings” for more bite on the string line, and then move back to just “DynaStrings” near the end. [Multitracks calls this “Aux Strings” and the synth “Keys 2”]

The other thing is, because the Church runs digital out to their board, they ask I use their hardware. So I really only bring three things: a NanoKontrol2 for some familiar buttons to go to the next patch, my in-ears, and a jump drive with my concert file. Bottom line: I’m not playing on the machine I rehearsed or prepared with, I run my concert file from the desktop, and everything just works.


 

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IK Version 3 is Official Live!

Intuitive Keys is designed to provide the absolute best-sounding, most comprehensive library of sounds from stock MainStage.

Expanded

IK is now drastically expanded over the first version released in 2017. Today, IK is built on 80 instrument instances, which significantly expands its sonic palette. IK is efficiently built around layers and aliases. Included preconfigured are:

  • 60 pads  (warm, bright, chaotic)
  • 20 synths (14 polys / 6 monos)
  • 20 keyboards (Rhodes, EPs, Organs)
  • 15 Orchestral (plucks, strings)
  • 40 Movement* (arps, pulses, animations)

Stock Pianos + Audio In

Intuitive Keys supports two stock pianos at the concert level (always available at the touch of a button), and also supports hardware input! So if your hardware keyboard isn’t getting much love these days, try running it through our piano engine, and breathe new life into even older machines. If you’re running a Nord as a controller, here’s your chance to put that machine to some good use!

The brightness/darkness of the stock Yamaha and Steinway pianos is tuned with the mod wheel. In the default mod wheel position, the pianos are tuned to be warm and sit under the vocals. Three compression settings are available on the pianos: Soft (default), Lush, and Hard, and two reverbs are available, Spacious and Dense, plus a spectacular Shimmer effect. An Add 8va button is available which puts an octave on top of the note you’re playing. This is extremely useful for featuring thematic elements on breaks between song sections. Taken together, the piano engine has a powerful emotional range that allows you to tell the story of the song in a compelling way!

Intuitive Keys optionally supports Piano 162, Grand Rhapsody, Alecia’s Keys, The Giant, with piano instrument channels, all of which can be configured through the piano engine. In this way, IK maintains the efficiency of using just one instance of a piano sound, with the full flexibility of configuring it as needed.

*not included in Light version

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King of my Heart | Demo and Tutorial

View the video demo and talk-through tutorial (below) to learn:

  • How I approach this song (useful for any template).
  • How IK is designed to support this workflow.
PRO-TIPs
  • The secret to a crescendo is starting soft, so strategize a series of pads that start low and help you build the song.
  • This isn’t a piano song, despite starting and finishing with piano. Don’t try to make it a piano song by playing piano straight through.
Ideas Not On the Record
  • I use a warm pad under my piano to add support because I don’t think the piano should be so sparse.
  • I use shimmer on my dark piano to add some atmosphere because I think the song calls for it.
  • I use a “hovering” sound on top of my pads which really shows on the second verse and animates it more.

These are personal preferences and choices that are part of what I think serves the song, but are above and beyond what the record suggests. As with all “good ideas”, if the Music Director or the Producer doesn’t like them or thought they detracted, I’d immediately default to their position. Because we create scenes (see next section) that are all modular, it would take about 2 seconds to implement any requested change.

SCENES

Instead of a “one patch to rule them all” workflow which tries to tackle an entire song with one patch, IK thinks in terms of “scenes” for the different sections of each tune. I’ve found this is the easiest way to not get lost in a bunch of parameters and faders while playing live. This not only lets you treat IK as you would any other keyboard, it lets you incorporate other synths to cover specific sections of the tune if you prefer. Since IK uses aliases for its patches and combinations, duplicating a patch or combination requires no additional CPU overhead.

FEATURED SOUNDS
  • The Giant 3rd party piano supported in Series 3, with mod-wheel in default position, Lush compression, Dense verb, and Shimmer buttons selected in the piano engine (bottom row of buttons). Alternatively the stock Yamaha piano similarly configured is an excellent choice.
  • Vintage Pad (a default patch) for intro and verse 1.
  • Padalicious + Hovering (a new combination from a combination and a patch) for chorus 1, verse 2, and outro.
  • Grand Narrative (default combination) is used for the first build on the repeat chorus.
  • Archangel Pad (default combination) is used on the bridge for holding the A chord for 16 bars.
  • Red Shifted Universe (default combination) is used to build the bridge and for the walk-up.
  • Digital Glory (default combination) is the final build, first build down.

Purchase Intuitive Keys for our very best stock MainStage product including support for The Giant.

Purchase Intuitive Keys Light for our most affordable product (includes stock Yamaha).

 

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V2.1 Update

Version 2.1 contains an important update to the Legacy version of IK Ver 2

  • Ensures mod-wheel controller data gets routed to all 3rd party pianos (so they get brighter with a higher mod-wheel value, and darker with a lower mod wheel value).
  • Eliminates requests for some Alchemy samples at startup.
  • Maintains cosmetic consistency.
  • Improves chord text readability.

Download today!

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Version 2 Release!

Version 2 has just been released as a free upgrade for owners of Intuitive Keys Light and Intuitive Keys Legacy!

The updates for the Intuitive Keys Light version are cosmetic, but the sheen of old school purple is sure to make this version stand out on its own.

The Intuitive Keys Legacy version gains a classic blue color, and now includes several features released first on the Light version – specifically the +8va and Shimmer. These were implemented slightly differently for the Legacy version via dual-use buttons, but we’re sure users of that version will be able to use them even more effectively while playing live.

The Intuitive Keys Legacy Series 0 gains an audio-through functionality, which allows a user to insert audio (such as your own hardware piano) into the signal path of the stock MainStage pianos!

Series 1 continues support for Ivy Audio’s Piano 162 (with those notes in the upper velocity range nicely tamed).

Series 2 continues support for Waves Grand Rhapsody. This piano sounds so good – you’ll want to pick it up as soon as you possibly can.

Series 3 supports NI The Giant for the first time, largely considered to be a gold standard for 3rd party pianos. We’re extremely proud to be bringing our particular implementation of this piano, with the mod-wheel carefully mapped to the brightness function. This piano begins with a moody darkness and grows brighter to work with the dynamics and flow of the song, without having to implement multiple instances of the piano into separate patches.

The synth engine remains unchanged for now, and we remain committed to bringing you the best stock MainStage can deliver with the Intuitive Keys Legacy version. For an updated list of all Intuitive Keys versions, please visit /versions.