Blair Masters Signature Grand is a truly high-end virtual piano that competes with the best on the market, while eliminating the issues that make them risky to use in a live setting.

It sounds stunning and plays like a dream while using very little CPU overhead, especially compared to its competitors.

When Nashville session veteran Blair Masters set out to capture his Yamaha Grand, he focused on top-notch tone and playability. He succeeded where many have failed; many sampled pianos are, in Blair’s words, “all frosting and no cake.”

In addition, many virtual pianos suffer from one issue or another that makes them challenging to use in a live setting. They tend to be resource-heavy and choke even the most recent CPUs, or they suffer from dropouts even when streaming from solid state drives.

Blair Masters Signature Grand solves all of these problems and gives you one of the best-sounding pianos ever recorded!

• Native Instruments Kontakt 6.4.2 or later (full retail version, not the free “Player” version) for Mac or Windows

• 16 GB free space on an SSD (solid state drive) for sample streaming

Blair Masters Legacy Grand (included with BackStage Pass) was sampled from the same Yamaha piano as Blair Masters Signature Grand - but they are very, very different!

Legacy Grand is much smaller - about 2.5 GB - as it was recorded with a “bare minimum” approach. It has far fewer velocity layers, no separate pedal up/down samples, effects noises, etc. It was also recorded with different mics & preamps, so it has a darker, more mellow tone. It’s still an absolutely fantastic piano, however!

Signature Grand is the stand-alone version of this piano, vastly expanded in every way: up to 40 samples per note (both pedal up and down x 20 velocity layers), separate pedal noise layer, much longer record time, and recorded with special line-level mics for vastly reduced noise. It also has a much wider tonal and dynamic range!

• BMSG for Kontakt is $99 (or a $29 crossgrade for existing MainStage version users) and includes all the samples and core patches from the original MainStage/Logic version

• Includes dry versions of every patch, as well as fully processed & editable versions that use Kontakt’s built-in effects, plus piano soundboard impulse samples for added realism

• Includes custom “Nonlin” reverb sample from the AMS RMX16 - part of an upcoming separate expansion, for adding that crucial ingredient to 80s synth sounds

While the MainStage version is meant for live performance, with its elaborate onscreen controls and a dedicated iPad control surface - Kontakt is meant for simpler use inside a DAW. However, both versions contain the same core sounds.

Kontakt takes these sounds even further with a handful of “options” patches that make use of Kontakt’s built-in effects and impulse samples of real piano soundboards.

Absolutely! There is a $19 “loyalty” crossgrade for those who purchased a license for the MainStage version. The crossgrade requires an existing MainStage version installation & samples; inquire about your crossgrade at support@backstagepass.store and I’ll get back to you ASAP!

Yes! Send me an email at support@backstagepass.store and let me know what you want!

No, all BackStage Pass instruments are designed to be standalone products and work by themselves.

So, while you do NOT need BackStage Pass, they do compliment each other really well and are designed to work together as a whole “ecosystem.” The pad sounds from BackStage Pass make the perfect partner for Blair Masters Signature Grand!

BackStage Pass gives you pianos, electric pianos, pads, etc.; DX Dreams gives you tons of famous 80s synth sounds; and Blair Masters Signature Grand gives you a top notch acoustic piano.