[Review]UJAM "Virtual Pianist: VOGUE" review (grand piano library, evaluation of content, comparison with other piano instruments, etc.)

This is the first grand piano sound source, and expectations were high, so I have introduced this product.

Reference: UJAM

First, as is the case with most UJAM products since V2, the Player/Instrument mode allows the instrument to be used as a regular 88-key piano instrument.

In Player mode, the keyswitch provided in the lower register serves as a phrase switch, and by specifying the core chord pitch major (major 3rd degree) in the upper register, you can play a phrase that matches that chord progression. Automation can also be used to switch between the two while playing.

There are five types of tones available on the left side of the screen: Emotion for a felt piano-like sound, Ballad for a ballad-like sound, Concert for a classical miking sound, and Power for a crisp on sound ideal for backing up. These five types of sounds first determine the direction of the sound, but as is the case with other products, UJAM has a sound that is more universally convincing because it is prepared in a pinpoint manner so that what is needed for each application comes right out. You can tell that they are not just processing with effects, but also trying to optimize the spread of the sound, etc., to suit the genre. Plastic is probably a dance music type of music.

The right side of the screen is the effects section. Effects presets are provided. By combining modulation, delay, and other effects, you can create a new age piano sound, and you can also create the sound of the piano itself. (Even though you can create sounds, you cannot create sounds from scratch since you can choose from effects that are already in the effects chain.) On the right is the effects section. Although it is a grand piano, aggressive effects such as delays are also available, so it can be used for emotional rock and progressive music.

There are also factory presets for each sound characteristic (bright, dark, etc.).

After looking through the phrases, my miscellaneous impression is that they are usually of high quality. Some of the phrase patterns seem to be useless, but there is a good selection of phrases that I have heard somewhere before that can be used in the forefront of music. It may be slightly more Western music.

Also, the Dark-Bright parameter in the middle is a filter type. If you use it, the sound will become muffled.

Also, as you can see from the keyswitch, there is an export function.

It is quite nice that it is possible to export the sound as MIDI.

There are also functions to double the speed of phrases, swing, and even a humanize function.

Last but not least, the sound quality is so good that it is hard to believe that it is only 3 GB. Especially, the bass sound is very good. Of course, when compared to VSL, which has two different orders of magnitude of capacity, there is a feeling that the sound itself has less information, but when listening to it, it does not sound like the sound is lacking. Rather, it is a well and cleanly put together sound source. I wonder if the recording is well done. There was also an official or somewhere mention of the efficient UJAM sample engine technology, so I wonder if that also helped. Also, it is lightweight. (In terms of total capacity, the VSL series, which is probably No. 1 among all music sources, seems to take more than 5 minutes to load depending on the environment.)

I think it is more realistic in terms of pure instrument reproduction than XlnAudio's "Addictive Keys", which is also a popular source with many users.

As a person who uses UJAM in various ways, I think it is as good as I expected. It was a blind spot for me to be able to use the aggressive sounds of modulation systems right away. Also, the fact that the brightness and hardness of the piano sound can be selected immediately is a real plus.

The sound is taken well for its small capacity (and it's light), so it's easy to use for pop music. One weak point is that UJAM's chord recognition function is not compatible with 13ths and other chords, so it is not possible to play back phrases such as #9, which is unique to jazz, in the Player mode. I think it is probably not supported by the Altered system. Of course, it can be used as an instrument, but the variety of chords is limited to 7th, M7, sus2, 4, dim, etc., so the genre is limited to pop music and other genres. However, power chords, inversions, add9 11 aug 6 b5 type chords can be played, so it may not be a problem unless you are into jazz or city pop.

Even with this, I think it is a very well-made sound source. As a pure piano sound source, there may be many competitors, but UJAM is easy to use and the phrasing is quite good, so I suggest you check it out (UJAM also offers a free trial).