Soniccouture Hammersmith Pro 1.2 EV’s Lite Version [KONTAKT]

Hammersmith is great piano library, for pretty much any use. However you may not want or need the full 48GB package, either due to limited download bandwidth, or HDD requirements. Yes, 1TB of hard drive space is cheap, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to bloat one’s hard-drives with unnecessary content.

Same as with Berlin Strings and LASS, I tried to retain all articulations and functions of the GUI, as well as compatibility with older Kontakt versions.

Changes in this lite version:

– removed 5 mic positions (1 close, 2 mids, 2 rooms) – 82% size reduction

– reduced bit depth from 24bit to 20bit – 40% size reduction

I took great care not to cause any audible difference with the second process. Below you can see original 24bit sample (velocity 14, C1, no pedal):

And this is the altered, bit-reduced, 20bit version of that sample:

The 20bit dither removed only non-audio content (white noise), that occupied last 4 bits of every sample. As white noise is virtually incompressible through means of lossless compression algorithms, it takes a lot of space. Fortunately it’s easily removed through rather simple trick (gain reduction on all samples by -24dB, then 24bit dither and gain compensation +24dB).

Through these means, I’m proud to present you release, that is 88% smaller than retail version of Hammersmith.