USER MANUAL

ORIGINALS
INTIMATE GRAND
PIANO

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 1 USER MANUAL

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 3
QUICK SPECS 3
DOWNLOADING & INSTALLING 4
THE SPITFIRE APP PREFERENCES 5
THE DEDICATED PLUGIN 6
HAVE A LOOK AROUND 7
PRESET SELECTOR 8
MAIN CONTROLS 10
SIGNALS AND EFFECTS 11
TOP MENU 12
MICROPHONE SIGNALS 15
APPENDIX A — FAQS & TROUBLESHOOTING 16
APPENDIX B — TECHNIQUES/MICS/MIXES 20
APPENDIX C — DEFAULT CC MAPPINGS 21

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 2 USER MANUAL

INTRODUCTION

A versatile, up-close-and-personal piano, designed to suit a range of styles —

whether for solo composition, accompaniment, or as part of a larger ensemble. A
vintage Steinway Model A grand, expertly recorded in the intimate acoustics of
Castlesound Studios, Scotland. Three bespoke signals capturing the rich timbre,
delicate nuance and wide dynamic range of the instrument in pristine detail:
Condenser, Ribbon, and Binaural (providing a true-to-life image of the piano in
the room). Seven presets — from tight and bright, to profoundly deep, dark and
cinematic. Four controls — Reverb, Tightness, Hammers and Pedal. Available in
our easy-to-use plugin.

• 3 signals
• 7 presets
• 4 controls
• NKS Compatible
• ~4GB

QUICK SPECS MAC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Mac OS 10.13 to OS X 12

PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 or
Windows 11 (latest Service Pack, 64-bit)

32-bit operating systems not supported.

• Disk space required: 4GB

• Dedicated plugin (AU, VST2, VST3, AAX)

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 3 USER MANUAL

DOWNLOADING & INSTALLING

If you are a total newbie to this kind of thing you can get up to speed here:
http://www.spitfireaudio.com/info/basics/

First though, grab the ‘Spitfire Audio App’ from this link, this app will enable
you to download the library: http://www.spitfireaudio.com/info/library-manager/

THE SPITFIRE AUDIO APP behaviours as described on the next page.

2. FILTERS clicking these filters will quickly

When you launch the app you will be display products you’ve yet to install, those
prompted to login using the same details already installed, and any available updates.
you use at our site. Then you’ll see the page Clicking again will remove the filter.
pictured below:
3. LIBRARY All libraries and plugins in your
collection will appear with their artwork on
the My Products tab. Clicking this artwork
will open the product page. This is a great
place to find information such as system
requirements and instructions as well as
where to find Reset and Repair options.

4. INSTALL/UPDATE buttons allow you to

quickly start a download directly from the My
Products tab, instead of clicking through to
1. TABS the default tab is My Products, which the Library. Next to the button the size of the
shows all of the libraries on your Spitfire download is shown, you will need twice as
Account. Downloads will show currently much available space to allow the download
downloading products and Preferences to unzip correctly.
allows you to set default locations and
1 2

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 4 USER MANUAL

THE SPITFIRE APP PREFERENCES

If this is your first time using the Spitfire

Audio App for a download you may wish to
first navigate to the Settings tab. Here you
can set the Default Content location as the
location where you wish to download your
libraries too. Also you can set the default
VST2 install location to the folder where your
DAW expects to find VST files.

Here you can also enable Auto Login to save

time in future.

Once you are happy with your preferences,

simply click the Install button for the library.
This is either directly on My Products tab
under the library artwork, or it can be found
by clicking on the library image and clicking
the install button on the page that appears.

Clicking either of these will prompt you for a

location, the default content location in your
preferences will be suggested but you can
select any suitable location.

Once you are happy with the location click

Download.

After clicking download you will be directed

to the Downloads tab where you can watch
the progress if you like. You can of course
leave the Downloads tab and start other
downloads but at this point you should leave
the Spitfire App open until the download
completes.

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 5 USER MANUAL

THE DEDICATED PLUGIN

Unlike many Spitfire libraries, you don’t need

Kontakt Player or the full Kontakt to run
this library. Originals - Intimate Grand Piano
is its own, all new, self contained plugin
built for VST, AU and AAX, so once you’ve
downloaded and installed you’re ready to go.

LOGIC PRO X

• On a fresh project, a track dialogue box will

automatically pop up

• Choose ‘Software Instrument’, and then

look beneath the ‘Instrument’ dropdown

• Select AU Instruments > Spitfire Audio >

Originals - Intimate Grand Piano.

CUBASE

• Right-click the track window and choose

‘Add Instrument Track’

• Underneath the ‘Instrument’ dropdown,

choose Originals - Intimate Grand Piano.

• Select ‘Add Track’

PRO TOOLS

• Go to the ‘Track’ menu at the top of the

screen, and select ‘New’

• In the pop-up, select Stereo and Instrument

Track, and press ‘Create’

• In the first Insert slot, select multichannel

plug-in and ‘Instrument’

• You should see the Originals - Intimate

Grand Piano available as an option

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 6 USER MANUAL

HAVE A LOOK AROUND

ORIGINALS — INTIMATE GRAND PIANO

OPENING YOUR FIRST PRESETS 1. TOP MENU

When you first open Originals - Intimate 2. PRESET SELECTOR

Grand Piano , this is similar to what you will
see, It opens on the Intimate Grand Piano: 3. MAIN CONTROLS
Intimate preset.
4. SIGNALS AND EFFECTS

5. KEYBOARD & INFO

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 7 USER MANUAL

PRESET SELECTOR

2 4 5 6
7

1. PRESET NAME 3. NEXT, PREVIOUS AND SAVE

Here you can see the currently selected With the presets view collapsed, you will
preset. Note that all presets are single be able to see the Next, Previous and Save
technique, like “Snare Hits” icons. Next and Previous will simply send
you to the next available preset - if you have
2. FILTERS a filter enabled, you will scroll through the
filtered set of presets. Save allows you to
Each filter sorts the patches based on how save your own preset, click save, name the
they sound. The "Starred" filter will show preset and it will appear under the “user”
patches and presets that have had the star filter.
to the left clicked.

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 8 USER MANUAL

4. STAR

Clicking this star icon will add the preset to

the “Starred” filter.

5. PREVIEW

Play back a short example of the preset

without having to load it! Enormously helpful
when choosing a sound.

6. PRESET LIST

Scroll through the list of presets here.

Double-click to load a preset or click the
‘Load’ button.

7. INFORMATION

Hover over on the “i” icon to see some

information about the preset.

8. LOAD

Select a preset and then press “load” (or

double-click the preset).

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 9 USER MANUAL

MAIN CONTROLS

1 2 3 3.1

1. VOLUME

Often referred to as “Expression” in our

Kontakt Libraries, this is a simple control that
adjusts the level of the technique.

2. DYNAMICS

This will limit the lowest velocity playable,

acting like a dynamic range compressor.

3. KNOB

The configurable knob allows you to control

any of the other available parameters for the
particular technique.

Hover over the knob and it will light up

3.1 CLICK: Click in the center of the knob

and you will be able to assign any of the
remaining available controls to the knob.

Right click on any of these controls to assign

them to a MIDI controller. Remember that if
you assign a MIDI controller to a parameter
via the knob, the MIDI controller will follow
the parameter rather than being permanently
assigned to the knob.

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 10 USER MANUAL

SIGNALS AND EFFECTS

1
3 5
4

1. MIXER PRESETS B. TIGHTNESS

Load and save your own mixer presets This control cuts into the beginning of the
here, this is a good way for you to share sample to make the timing more responsive.
your mixes across different instruments and
presets. Click on the down arrows to save C. HAMMERS
and the up arrows to load.
Controls the volume of the piano's hammers
2. SIGNAL ON/OFF
D. PEDAL
Here you can turn signals on or off (you can
also turn them on by fading them up). If you Controls the volume of the piano's sustain
turn a signal on, pay attention to the LED in pedal
the top left of Originals Intimate Grand Piano,
if it is flashing red, it means that the samples
are still loading into RAM and you should 5. MIXER LOCK
wait before playing again to avoid glitches.
Locks/Unlocks the mixer settings in the
patch.
3. SIGNAL FADER

Adjust the level of each signal here,

rightclick to learn MIDI cc# automation.

4. CONTROLS

A. REVERB

Controls the level of a spacious and rich

reverb.

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 11 USER MANUAL

TOP MENU

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

1. LED that the instrument will react to any incoming

MIDI messages.
Shows when an instrument is loaded by
lighting solid green. If this is flashing, your 8. TUNE
instrument is not loaded yet
Move this knob to tune in semitone
2. CPU METER increments, shift-click to move in increments
of 0.01 of a semitone. Alt-click to reset to
An indication of how much your CPU is being default
taxed, the green flash next to the CPU meter
will turn red when you are overloading it. 9. PAN

3. DISK METER Pan the whole plug-in left and right in the
stereo field. Alt-click to reset to centre.
How hard are you taxing your hard drive? If
this is close to, or going over 100% it’s time 10. VOLUME
to consider a faster drive. See next page for
settings that can help get the most out of a Control the overall volume of the instrument.
slower drive
11. LEVEL
4. MEMORY
A visual indication of the level of the
This shows how much RAM you are currently instrument.
using in this instance of Intimate Grand
A
Piano. While the preset is loading, this will
show the instrument loading into memory. B

5. VOICES
12. PRESET SETTINGS
Shows how many voices are being used at
A. VELOCITY RESPONSE — Pick from
any one time.
4 different velocity curves to suit your
controller.
6. REFRESH
B. CC MAPPINGS — Clicking on Reset
Refresh the instrument, alt-click to refresh will reset all of the CC mappings for this
the whole plug-in. This can be useful if you instrument to the defaults - useful if you’ve
have hanging MIDI notes or have moved got yourself in a mess!
samples in your file system
Clear CC Mappings - Delete all CC mappings
7. MIDI CH - this is good if you want to start from a clean
slate!
Set the MIDI channel that will control the
instrument here. If in doubt select “any” so

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 12 USER MANUAL

For a list of all the default CC mappings, instrument is when you open it as a fraction
please see Appendix C. of its original size. Here you can “get” the
current scale of the instrument or change
13. PLUGIN SETTINGS the value and press set to change the scale
of the instrument. Press “save” to save the
current scale as the default and press “reset”
to change the current scale to the default
value..

A E. AUTOMATIC UNLOAD WITH MIXER FADER

— Toggle this to unload data from RAM
when fader is pulled down to the bottom.

F. GAIN UNITS — Toggle this if you want your

gain to be displayed in dB instead of as a
A. COPY SETTINGS — Common Controller
percentage.
values will transfer over to other Spitfire
Products
G. DISABLE HOST AUTOMATION — Turn this
on to enable the Host Automation from the
DAW.
B
H. CHANGE KNOB DRAG TYPE— This option
C changes how the knob interacts with your
computer mouse, turn it off for a circular
drag and on for vertical drag.
D
I. DISABLE WARNINGS FROM MISSING
E SAMPLES — This option will stop error
messages appearing when you are missing
F samples, only enable this option if you
intentionally delete samples you are not
G
using.

J. DISABLE AUTO HIDE KNOB PARAMETER

H
GROUP — Normally the Knob parameter list
will disappear when you click on another
I
control, enable this option to have it stay
visible instead.
J
K. MAXIMUM VOICES — Enter the maximum
number of voices that can play at once. More
voices = More CPU and memory used.

L. PRELOAD SIZE — The minimum number

B. HELP TEXT — Turn this on to display
of sample values preloaded into memory for
parameter information in the bottom left
each audio recording. Increase for slower
corner of the plug in.
hard drives. Default is 12888.
C. DEFAULT SIZE — Set whether the
M. STREAM BUFFER SIZE — The number of
instrument opens up collapsed or expanded
sample values kept in memory for each audio
by default.
recording stream at any time. Increase for
slower hard drives. Default is 65536.
D. DEFAULT SCALE — How big the

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 13 USER MANUAL

 K

N. MASTER TUNING — The default tuning (in

Hz) of the A above middle C.

O. DEFAULT PRESET — Choose a preset that

you wish the plug in to load by default on
launch

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 14 USER MANUAL

MICROPHONE SIGNALS

RIBBON

A pair of ribbon microphones, for a warm and

colourful close signal.

CONDENSER

A pair of condenser microphones, for a

contrasting clear and full close signal.

BINAURAL

A binaural signal captured with a dummy

head, to create a realistic image, as if you
were sitting at of the piano yourself.

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 15 USER MANUAL

APPENDIX A —
FAQS AND TROUBLESHOOTING

Q: WHAT ARE THE SYSTEM Q: I SEE A RED EXCLAMATION MARK

REQUIREMENTS? IN THE TOP LEFT OF ORIGINALS
- INTIMATE GRAND PIANO, WHAT
MAC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS X DOES THIS MEAN?
10.10 to OS 11
This means that there is an error, you can
Minimum: Intel Core 2 Duo click the exclamation mark to open a log
with further details. It is likely that using the
Machine must be connected to the internet “Repair” and “Locate Library” features in the
during install Spitfire Audio App will solve the problem
but if not, contact our support team at
PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Windows 7, spitfireaudio.com/support and attach the log.
Windows 8, or Windows 10 (latest Service
Pack, 64-bit)
Q: CAN I INSTALL ON MORE THAN
Minimum: 64-bit) Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD ONE COMPUTER?
Athlon 64 X2
With our products you have two licenses.
Machine must be connected to the internet This means that you are allowed to download
during install and install on two computers you own, say
your main rig and your mobile rig. If you have
purchased the library on a hard drive, you
Q: I WANT TO RESET MY INTIMATE
should copy the contents of the drive on to
GRAND PIANO SETTINGS TO THE the destination machine before completing
DEFAULT the download with the Spitfire App. If you
downloaded Originals - Intimate Grand
You can delete the Originals - Intimate Grand Piano, you can copy the library folder over
Piano.settings file to reset the settings to to the second machine and then use the
default. This is located at Users/username/ “Repair” and “Locate Library” features in the
Music/Spitfire Audio/Settings on a Mac Spitfire Audio App.
and C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\
Spitfire Audio\Settings on a PC. Q: I CAN’T SEE THIS IN THE
KONTAKT LIBRARIES PANE AND
Q: MY LIST OF PRESETS IS EMPTY,
WHEN I TRY AND LOAD IT INTO
HOW DO I SOLVE THIS?
KONTAKT IT SAYS NO LIBRARY
If you have moved your Originals - Intimate FOUND
Grand Piano Library folder, you can solve
this problem by using the “Locate Library” This library does not run in Kontakt, it is a
feature in the Spitfire Audio App. standalone plug-in that you can run in your
chosen DAW.
If this does not solve the problem, the library
likely needs reauthorising, to do this, use the Q: HOW DO I AUTHORISE ORIGINALS
“repair” feature in the Spitfire Audio App. ON A MACHINE NOT CONNECTED TO
THE INTERNET?

It is currently not possible to authorise

Originals - Intimate Grand Piano on a

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 16 USER MANUAL

machine not connected to the internet. is the stage where the compressed files are
Authorisation is done with the Spitfire Audio extracted and placed in their final locations
App and an internet connection is required. on the hard drive. There could be hundreds
of GB of content to unpack, so it really can
Q: HOW CAN I REDOWNLOAD A take hours. If you’re unsure whether it has
PRODUCT? crashed or is simply extracting files, visit
the installation folder you chose when you
This can easily be done via your Spitfire started the install. If everything is working
Audio App. To reset both your entire library normally you’ll see various files appearing in
download or the latest update; the folder (or one of its sub-folders).

• Open up the Spitfire Audio App and log in • If you see a “Download interrupted”
with your account email and password. message may be caused by a change in IP,
usually the case with people using a VPN,
• Select the product artwork you wish to re- or people who for some reason started a
download download in one country and tried to resume
it in another. In this case, please submit a
• On this page is a “cog wheel”. Select this, support ticket and we can unblock you.
choose “reset” from the menu. Then “Reset
Entire Download” (for a full download) or • If your download gets stuck and is
(Latest Update) for the latest update. continually cycling and not resuming, please
get in touch with us, giving us as much detail
This will reset your latest update ready for as possible about your set up. It would be
install again. You can repeat this process for helpful if you can tell us your operating
any of the libraries you own. system, where you are downloading from
(your country, and also whether you’re at
Note that there is a limit to how many times home or work), your ISP, and whether there
you can reset your downloads in a certain are any proxy servers or firewalls between
time frame. If you do exceed your reset limit your computer and the internet.
please get in touch.
Q: I HAVE FAST INTERNET, WHY IS
Q: DIFFICULTIES IN DOWNLOADING / MY DOWNLOAD SLOW?
INSTALLING
We have no direct influence on your actual
Customers may find that they have some download speeds, our libraries are hosted
difficulties in the downloading process. If you on Amazon S3 servers which are normally
find that you are having some trouble, please very quick but it may well be that at certain
check the list below for possible causes: times of the day when traffic is particularly
busy, your ISP may throttle your connection
• The formatting of your drive, if it is FAT32 speeds.
this will cause errors, because there is a
maximum file size with this format of 4GB We would advise you to leave your download
and our download files will exceed this limit. running overnight as speeds should ramp
To solve this problem, reformat your drive or up at less busy times. Our Spitfire App
use a different drive. We recommend NTFS downloader aims to use as much of the
on PC and Mac OS Extended ( journalled) on available bandwidth as possible to give you
Mac. the quickest possible speeds, and may take
several minutes to reach its peak.
Other possible issues:

• Spitfire App freezes in the “Extracting”

stage for hours. This may be because our
libraries are often very large files, and this

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 17 USER MANUAL

 When it comes to downloading / updating
Q: CAN I TRY BEFORE I BUY? - if you have a folder called ‘Spitfire Audio’
always point the Spitfire App to the folder
No - it is not currently possible to demo our Spitfire Audio - never go into this folder and
products. choose the actual library in question.

If you go to our YOUTUBE CHANNEL you’ll Q: HOW DO I REDOWNLOAD THE

see many walkthroughs containing detailed LATEST UPDATE?
info about all our products -- you can hear
them being played in real time with no With the continuous improvements to our
smoke and mirrors! Spitfire Audio App, we have incorporated the
ability to reset your own downloads.
Q: MY LIBRARIES ARE NOT SHOWING This can easily be done via your Spitfire
UP IN MY SPITFIRE APP Audio App.

A handful of customers may find that when Open up the Spitfire Audio App and log in
they log into their Spitfire App, some of with your account email and password.
their previously purchased products do not
show up in the ‘Installed’ section or in the • Select the product artwork you wish to re-
‘Download Ready’ section either. It may download
be that you have purchased these under
another email address. Checking other • On this page is a “cog wheel”. Select this,
possible email addresses for your previous choose “reset” from the menu. Then “Reset
purchases may help to find these missing Entire Download” (for a full download) or
products. If this is not the case, and these (Latest Update) for the latest update.
missing products were purchased a few
years ago, please create a support ticket • This will reset your latest update ready for
telling us your account email address, and install again.
any serial numbers you may have to go
with these missing products. Our support You can repeat this process for any other
team can also merge one or more accounts updates you wish.
together if you’d like to consolidate all your
purchases in one place. If you do not see the option to reset your
download in your Spitfire Audio App, we
The more information we have, the quicker would advise to download the latest version
we can get you back up and running!  of the Spitfire App from spitfireaudio.com/
info/library-manager/.
Q: HOW DO I UPDATE MY
PRODUCTS? Q: I’VE BEEN WAITING AGES FOR MY
DOWNLOAD LINKS...???
The main premise of downloading our
products is that our Spitfire App downloads We run all our orders through a fraud
into the folder you choose, so it is important checking process. The automatic fraud check
to choose the folder above where you want takes 20 minutes (but can take up to an
the download to go. The best file path for hour during a very busy period, e.g... Black
our products is something very simple, a Friday), but if your order gets caught at this
long file path will cause errors as there is a stage, we run a manual order check, and this
character limit on how far the Spitfire App can delay the processing of your order for up
can read. We advise a file path of something to 24 hours (though this would be a rare and
along the lines of: Samples Drive > Spitfire exceptional case).
Audio
You should however receive an order
confirmation email IMMEDIATELY upon

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 18 USER MANUAL

placing your order. This confirms that
your order has successfully been logged Q: WHAT IS YOUR REFUNDS /
in our system and that your payment was
RETURNS POLICY?
successfully taken. Please check your junk
folders before contacting our support. The
If you have NOT completed the download /
message will come from do_not_reply@
installation process, then we CAN refund /
spitfireaudio.com if you’d like to add us to
return your product, please contact support
your whitelist.
with your account email address and order
number so we can handle this quickly. If you
Q: CAN I DOWNLOAD ON A PC, HAVE completed the installation process
THEN TRANSFER TO A MAC OR VICE (even if you’ve not yet registered your serial
VERSA? number), please see our EULA in regards to
why we do not accept refunds and returns.
Yes, you can copy the library folder and We can refund hard drive orders up until
plugin files over to the second machine the point when the drive is dispatched from
and then use the “Repair” and “Locate our office. This is usually 1-2 days after you
Library” features in the Spitfire Audio App. order.
Please note that although the majority of
the download can be done on a separate Q: I’VE FORGOTTEN MY PASSWORD?
machine, you will always need an internet
connection to finish the authorisation If you have forgotten your password, please
process. see this link spitfireaudio.com/my-account/
login/, and click ‘Forgotten Password’. If
Q: HOW DO I DOWNLOAD at some point in the past you asked us to
PRODUCTS ON MAC OSX 10.9? merge two or more accounts but have since
forgotten, you MAY find that the forgotten
The version of the Spitfire App needed to password isn’t working for the email address
install Originals only supports Mac OSX 10.10 you asked us to merge FROM. In this case,
and upwards. please contact support with your name, and
any email addresses you think we might
Q: I HAVE FOUND A BUG know about, and we’ll work out what has
happened.
In some cases we can’t squash them all and
bugs shamefully make their way through.
If you think you have found a bug, please
contact us with all the relevant information;

• A description of the bug you have found

• A screencast (video) of the bug happening,

or an audio example

• The exact preset name (or presets) in

question and also the library giving us as
much detail as possible will help us get to
the bottom of the issue.

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 19 USER MANUAL

APPENDIX B —
TECHNIQUES/MICS/MIXES

INSTRUMENTS:

INTIMATE GRAND PIANO :

• Direct
• Intimate
• Soft Drama
• Subdued
• Reverberant Ribbons
• Ambient
• Dynamic

SIGNALS

• Ribbon
• Condenser
• Binaural

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 20 USER MANUAL

APPENDIX C —
DEFAULT CC MAPPINGS

Global Gain 7
Global Pan 10
Reverb 19
Expression 11
Dynamics 1
Ribbon 22
Condenser 23
Binaural 24

ORIGINALS - INTIMATE GRAND PIANO 21 USER MANUAL