GSi Piano Studio - User's Manual.

GSi Piano Studio is a software that recreates the sound of a gorgeous Grand Piano using Physical Modeling techniques.

INSTRUMENT BACKGROUND

There are two ways to recreate the sound of a Grand Piano digitally: either using large sample sets, or using synthesis. As for the sample approach, GSi offers Genuine Sounds Vol. I that includes a wide variety of large sample sets directly recorded from actual acoustic instruments. Piano Studio, instead, recreates the sound using mostly digital synthesis techniques, by replicating the single elements that constitute the complex mechanic assembly of an actual piano: keys, hammers, strings, soundboard, enclosure, lid, etc. Some of these elements can also be modified via user parameters, such as the string dampening, detuning, sympathetic resonances, impact on the duplex-scale, hammer hardness and so on, so that the sound can be further refined or altered in order to obtain a different flavor of sound, or even something that goes beyond the natural sound of a Grand Piano.

Does this instrument use any samples at all?
Actually yes, there is a small fraction of the overall sound that is covered by using short samples, mostly for what concerns the mechanical noises like keys, hammers, or pedals. Since a noise is a complex union of irregular harmonics, it's not always possible to recreate realistic noises using only synthesis. But the rest of the sound is obtained by emulating each single string using complex mathematical string models; the soundboard is recreated by using modal synthesis; ambience and piano enclosure are recreated by using impulse response convolution, directional filters and virtual microphones.

What is the Duplex Scale?
Beyond the bridge, each piano string has extra segments that aren't struck by the hammer but are still free to vibrate. On many grand pianos these segments are tuned to harmonic ratios of the main note, so they resonate sympathetically and add a subtle shimmer to the sound.

What is Sympathetic Resonance?
When a note is played, other strings that aren't struck can still vibrate along with it, if their pitch relates harmonically to the note played. On a real piano this happens because all strings share the same soundboard and frame, adding a natural richness and sustain to the sound.

Main features

Full polyphony
Virtually unlimited dynamics
Long and natural decays
Supports real sympathetic resonance
Supports half-pedal and re-pedaling
6 Ambience selections
12 Virtual microphones
9 Preamp types
Built-in limiter/compressor
6-band visual equalizer with spectrum analyzer
Ping-Pong delay and Reverb
Customizable velocity curves
Session Recorder: records while you play, loads/saves SMF
Program manager with unlimited Programs
Resizable UI (Desktop only)
Available as Stand-alone application and audio plugin
Low CPU load and RAM usage

MAIN SCREEN

The controls on the main screen are pretty much everything you need to create your sound and start performing in a heartbeat. In the top middle of the screen there is the programmer, here's where you can store or recall your Programs (or Presets). To recall a Program just click/tap on the name and pick a Program of your choice from the drop-down list. Alternatively, use the left/right arrows to navigate through available Programs. Programs can also be recalled from MIDI Program Change events, as long as the relative option is enabled in the Settings page, and the host provides support for this kind of feature.

To store a Program, after having adjusted all parameters to your liking, click/tap the icon with the + symbol at the right of the Program box. You can either overwrite the current Program by leaving the name unchanged, or you can type a new name which will create a new Program to be added to the list.

Click/tap the Menu icon on the left of the Program box to open a utility menu. Here you can:

Initialize a Program: return all parameters to their default values. This will not alter any Program.
Delete a Program: use only in case you have added a Program that you don't need anymore.
Reload the Factory Bank: this will replace the current Program bank with the Factory Bank of Programs.
Open this User's manual or view the About Screen.

The top row shows the main controls. From left to right:

Volume: according to other settings, this instrument can play rather loud and easily reach the digital clipping state (even though it will sound mostly like an overdriven analog circuit). To prevent this, keep the volume at acceptable levels and also use the Limiter.
Limiter: this pushes the volume a little bit and, at the same time, limits the peak level to prevent audio overload.
Reverb: adjusts the digital reverberator level. Other Reverb parameters can be accessed by clicking the small dot near this knob.
Lid: adjust the piano lid position, this has an impact on the sound. You can also move the lid by dragging vertically the mouse on the central part of the UI.
Ambience: select the preferred ambience from this drop-down list. The background image will change accordingly.
Microphone type: choose a microphone from the list. When a microphone is selected, microphone images appear on the piano image and can be moved around or rotated.
Preamp type: choose a preamp type from the list. Preamps can also be used without microphones.
Mic Angle: these two knobs rotate the microphones. Rotation is also possible using the mouse wheel.
Ambience Level: if an ambience has been set, this adjusts the level. Please note: ambience level also depends on the microphone positions.
Resonance: adjust the amount of Sympathetic Resonances. Extra sound parameters can be accessed by clicking the small dot near this knob.

AMBIENCE, MICROPHONES AND PIANO LID

In the middle of the main screen a piano is depicted. When a microphone is selected from the list, you have two microphones, one for the left channel and one for the right channel; you can move them around and adjust their angle by using the knobs or the mouse wheel.

SOUND PARAMETERS

This is where you adjust some parameters of the physical model. Please note: this instrument is not intended to be a sound design tool, so don't expect night and day variations, some of these parameters apply subtle changes that are not immediately effective unless you really play some music and start noticing the differences. The main goal here is to maintain the sound of a real piano as much as possible, even if some unnatural sounds can easily be reached.
Extra sound parameters include (left to right, top to bottom):

Soundboard level: adjusts the amount of soundboard resonances that affect the piano sound.
Duplex Scale: adjusts the amount of duplex scale effect that can be heard.
Pedal Noise: every time the sustain pedal is pushed and released, it makes some noises. This adjusts the level of the pedal noises.
Dampers: when keys are released and dampers stop the vibrating strings, an extra sound can be heard. This adjusts the level of that extra sound.
Key Noise: when playing keys, many mechanical parts move and make noise. This adjusts the amount of key noise that can be heard.
Harmonic Shift: this adjusts a model's internal parameter that establishes the way the harmonics are aligned the moment the hammer strikes the strings. Try different positions. Clockwise the sound tends to emphasize the fundamental frequency, while counterclockwise you'll hear more 2nd and 4th harmonic presence.
Hammer Hardness: by adjusting this knob you can obtain a variable attack from softer to harder. Adjust to your liking.
String detuning: for all the keys that use 2 or 3 strings, this adjusts the amount of detuning between them. Central position is the normal setting.
String dampening: this adjusts how slow or fast is the natural dispersion of the string vibrations.
Inharmonicity: This is like adjusting the length of the strings, from a length that would be unrealistically long for a real piano, to as short as a toy piano's. Shorter strings produce inharmonic content almost like a bell.

On the right side you can find the Delay and Reverb parameters. It's worth noting that the Reverb effect also features the Shimmer mode, that adds a light chorus along with a pitch shifter 1 octave up in the feedback chain, so that a sort of spatial synth sound is created. To obtain a good effect, set Size, Decay and Level at a high point.

The bottom part of the screen contains the 6-band Visual Equalizer with built-in Spectrum Analyzer. Move bands left and right to set the frequency, up and down for the gain. The EQ is automatically turned on as soon as at least one band is altered in gain. There's a small switch on the left side to control its state.

SESSION RECORDER

The session recorder is a very useful function that helps your creativity. When this function is enabled, a MIDI recorder is always active in background, silently recording everything you play. Each new session (i.e. every time you launch Piano Studio) the recorder starts recording. If you want to audition what you played, just click/tap the small tape recorder icon on the left of the main screen. This opens the audition page.

The playback starts immediately, showing the notes you've played on a typical sequencer piano roll. If you're happy with the result, click/tap Save MidiFile and export your recording to a standard MIDI File that you can later open in an external sequencer application. When you leave this page, the recording is automatically discarded and a new recording session starts.

The Midi recording can also be rendered to audio and saved to a file (only in stand-alone mode). This will create a standard WAV file containing the performance exactly as you hear it, including effects. The rendered audio starts from the cursor position. If you want to render the entire recording, make sure you've put the cursor at the beginning of the track by clicking the Rewind button. Or move the cursor to the desired starting point, then start the rendering process.

You can also load an SMF (Standard MIDI File), but remember that if the Session Recorder is enabled, playback stops immediately and the MIDI file is unloaded as soon as you leave this page. To keep the song playing, disable the Session Recorder, then you can return to the main screen and adjust parameters while the music is playing.
If you load a multi-channel MIDI File, parts that don't belong to a piano sound will sound weird (especially the drum part on channel 10). Use the MIDI Channel selector in the Settings page to have the piano sound respond to a single channel of your choice.
You can also enable the Apply Velocity Curve switch if you wish to alter the velocity levels in the MIDI recording. This is a temporary setting that is automatically set to off every time the program loads.

VELOCITY CURVE EDITOR

Why is it so important to have a custom velocity curve? Because not all MIDI keyboards are the same. Some keyboards have a fast response, some are slower, and the whole thing gets worse when a MIDI keyboard is used to play a virtual instrument. It's not the same as buying a digital piano with built-in sounds as the keyboard and the sound engine haven't been crafted by the same hands, there's no direct connection between the two, and there's no guarantee that the velocity response is correct.

For this reason, either the MIDI keyboard or the virtual instrument should adapt itself in order for the two to work well together. To solve this problem, Piano Studio lets you edit a custom velocity curve made of 9 points.

By default, the curve is perfectly linear, meaning that each incoming velocity value remains unchanged. To modify the curve, click and drag the points. To the left of the screen there are the low velocity values (pianissimo, piano, mezzo-piano, etc.). If you think that your keyboard is too sensitive to piano and pianissimo levels, you should drag the first 2 or 3 points a little up; otherwise, if your keyboard produces a higher velocity value even when you're trying to play piano or pianissimo, drag these points toward the bottom. The same applies for the middle zone (mezzo-forte, forte) and the right zone (forte, fortissimo). Once you've modified all points, what was a straight line will appear more like a curve... that's why it's called velocity curve.

Most often, high quality MIDI controllers have a good velocity response on their own and also offer their own choice of several different velocity curves, so if you think that the sounds respond already well, you probably don't need to edit this velocity curve. In fact, our advice is to try changing the velocity options of your keyboard before attempting to edit the velocity curve of the virtual instrument.

Once everything is done, you can save your curve by clicking on the icon with the + symbol. Type an appropriate name and click OK. The new curve is now saved and it will appear in the drop-down list. The last used curve is always restored when the application is launched. To delete an unwanted curve, select it and click the trash can icon.

GLOBAL AND SOUND SETTINGS

Click/tap the coupled gear icon on the top right to access the Settings page.

Please note: Global settings are valid for all sessions and are not stored in Programs.

Global Tuning: Select the global tuning between A=430 Hz and A=450 Hz.
MIDI Channel: The default value for this setting is OMNI (receive on all channels), but you can select a specific channel, which will affect both notes and all controllers.
Polyhony: This list contains three choices. If your computer/device produces glitches in the audio or saturates the CPU load while playing Piano Studio, try different settings.
Support Half Pedal: If your MIDI piano controller is equipped with a continuous sustain pedal, enable this to obtain the half pedal effect.
Receive Program Change: Enable this if you wish to recall Programs from MIDI.
Receive Control Change: Enable to respond to MIDI Continuous Controller events.
Output Level: The overall output level of this instrument can be boosted or attenuated to match that of the other instruments in the same setup.

Some extra settings may show up according to the platform and format.

Enable Background Audio: Only available for the Mobile version, keeps the audio engine running even when the App is in the background (Watch for battery consumption! Always kill unused Apps!)
Manage License: While running Piano Studio in Demo Mode on a Desktop Computer, click this to enter your license code.
Device Settings: Click here to select your Audio and MIDI devices and related options.

The Global Settings page also includes a useful MIDI Monitor. This displays all incoming MIDI events with different colors and all related information including a timestamp. Very useful if you're trying to troubleshoot your MIDI connections.

MIDI CONTROL MAP

This instrument has a fixed CC control map. All parameters are exposed to plugin host automation, but only some of them have been mapped to MIDI CC numbers.

CC# 7: Volume
CC# 12: Sympathetic Resonances
CC# 13: Pedal Noises
CC# 14: Release Noises
CC# 15: Key Off Noises
CC# 16: Hammer Hardness
CC# 17: String Detuning
CC# 18: String Dampening
CC# 19: String Inharmonicity
CC# 26: Reverb Shimmer
CC# 27: Piano Lid Position
CC# 28: EQ Switch
CC# 29: Limiter Amount
CC# 93: Delay Level
CC# 20: Delay Time
CC# 21: Delay Feedback
CC# 22: Delay Spread
CC# 91: Reverb Level
CC# 23: Reverb Decay
CC# 24: Reverb Damp
CC# 25: Room Size

If you're using the Desktop version (Windows or macOS), please read the instructions about activating a license.

END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

Copyright 2026 Genuine Soundware - www.GenuineSoundware.com.
UI design by Pierre Collard
All trademarks used in this document belong to their respective owners.

License Activation

PLEASE NOTE: this chapter only applies to the Desktop (Windows / Mac OS) versions.

If you haven't bought a license yet, the software runs in Demo Mode, which applies some limitations to its functionalities.
In Piano Studio the only limitation is the sound going silent for 2 seconds every 30. Inserting a license will remove this limitation.
In Demo mode, everytime the software is launched, the registration screen appears automatically.

AUTOMATIC ACTIVATION

If your computer is connected to the Internet and the GSi website is reachable, in case you have purchased a license, all you have to do is copy/paste the 24-character license code into the registration form and click REGISTER. If everything is right, the software should authorize itself in a matter of seconds.
Instead, if the computer is offline, you have to use an online computer to create an authorization code and continue the process manually in a few steps.

MANUAL ACTIVATION

Take note of the Machine ID code that appears in the registration form, write it down on paper or copy/paste it in a text file and save it onto a USB memory.
Go to the online computer, open the browser and navigate to www.GenuineSoundware.com/Activate then select the appropriate software name from the drop-down list, insert your License Code and click Search.
Once there, paste (or type) your Machine ID into the appropriate field, and give a name to this Authorization then click CREATE NEW ACTIVATION.
At this point you should see a Response Code that may also be quite long, so copy it (click on COPY) and paste it into the text file you created before, then save it onto the USB memory again.
Return to the offline computer, back at the software's registration screen, paste your License Code, paste your Response Code and click REGISTER.
If everything was done correctly, the software is now activated.

To leave the license manager screen, just click on the dark area.

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END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

This License Agreement is a legal agreement between the User, hereafter called "you", and GenuineSoundware regarding Piano Studio software. Piano Studio in the following of the contract includes the computer software named Piano Studio and associated media, CD and product documentation. Piano Studio also includes any updates and supplements to the original Piano Studio provided to you by GenuineSoundware. By installing, accessing or otherwise using Piano Studio, you agree to be bound by the terms of this License Agreement.

1 - Piano Studio License

Subject to the limitations described below, GenuineSoundware, as licensor, hereby grants you, the licensee, a non-exclusive, perpetual License to use Piano Studio in accordance with the documentation provided by GenuineSoundware.
1.1 GRANT OF LICENSE This License Agreement grants you the following rights:
(a) Software. You may install and use Piano Studio for an unlimited period on at most three Computers provided that these Computers belong to you and that Piano Studio is used only on one Computer at a time.
(b) Reservation of Rights. All rights not expressly granted are reserved by GenuineSoundware.

1.2 LIMITATIONS

(a) Strict personal use. Your use of Piano Studio is limited to strict personal use. You may not rent, lease or share Piano Studio with another user. Transfer of License to another user is allowed once for each licensed product. A License transfer fee must be paid by the current License holder before the transfer takes place. For this purpose, please contact sales@genuinesoundware.com.
(b) Sound produced by Piano Studio can only be distributed within a musical context, and not in forms that allow the sounds to be used as sample based instruments or sample libraries.
(c) Limitations on Reverse Engineering, Decompilation, Disassembly and Modification. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or modify Piano Studio.
(d) Limitations on usage. You may not merge Piano Studio into another software nor create derivative works based on Piano Studio.
(e) Separation of Components. Piano Studio is licensed as a single product. Its component parts may not be separated.
(f) Termination. Without prejudice to any other rights, GenuineSoundware may terminate this Agreement if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this Agreement. In such en event, you must destroy all copies of Piano Studio and all of its component parts.

1.3 COPYRIGHT

Piano Studio is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. All title and intellectual property rights related to Piano Studio are owned by its authors. Unauthorized copying of Piano Studio, in whole or in part, is expressly forbidden. All title and intellectual property rights in and to the content which may be accessed through use of Piano Studio is the property of the respective content owner. This Agreement grants you no rights to use such content. You may print one copy of the documentation provided in Piano Studio.

1.4 BACKUP COPY

After installation of Piano Studio, you may keep one copy of the file provided by GenuineSoundware solely for backup or archival purposes, provided that its component parts are not separated. You may not distribute copies of Piano Studio or accompanying documentation.

1.5 OWNERSHIP

Piano Studio is licensed to you, not sold nor given. This License Agreement does not constitute a transfer or sale of ownership rights for Piano Studio. Except for the License rights granted above, GenuineSoundware retains all right title and interest for Piano Studio including all intellectual property rights therein.

2 - WARRANTIES

Piano Studio is licensed without any warranty. It is provided on an "as is" basis.

3 - LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

You agree that in no event will GenuineSoundware be liable for any kind of damages, material, immaterial or corporal, that arise as a result of the malfunctioning or misuse of Piano Studio. You assume full responsibility for all possible consequences of your use of Piano Studio.

4 - DISPUTE

This License Agreement is governed by the laws in force in Italy, and, in respect of any dispute which may arise hereunder, you consent to the jurisdiction of the courts sitting in Treviso, Italy.

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Exported by PianoStudio version 1.1.0 - Date: 10 Sep 2026 11:51:28