Westwood Instruments ALT PIANO v1 KONTAKT
ALT PIANO is the complete and unabridged big sister to our infamous Upright Felt Piano.
We recorded an old, humble and character-filled upright piano from the 60s, with and without felt making this a piano with two very different characters. Soft and beautiful or bright and lively, or blend between the recordings to achieve a tone unlike anything else.
We also re-recorded the piano samples in three distinctly different and unique ways to create a series of textural sound layers, which can be mixed with the natural piano or used on their own.
With dozens of other unique and interesting controls, you can create a very diverse range of sounds all from just one instrument.
Interface.
As with all our custom designed interfaces, we want you to have a logical and clear layout with everything to hand.
Natural or felted.
We recorded the piano twice. With and without felt which provides you with two very distinct characters. Both are full of subtle imperfections and individuality.
The natural sound of the piano without felt is bright and lively, whilst the felted recordings are soft and gentle.
But best of all, you don’t have to choose. We created a control that blends between the two recordings so you can dial in a sound that suits you.
When you just need something more.
If you need an interesting and deeper atmospheric feeling to your music, you can use the Texture control. We took the original piano samples and re-recorded, manipulated and filtered them to create a series of three different layers which blend perfectly with the piano because, well, they’re made from the piano.
A I R
A light breathy sound created by our custom plugin chain of reverse reverbs and granular manipulation. Wait for the tail to hear this peaceful but slightly haunting sound.
E A R T H
We recorded the samples to tape through a beautiful Tascam MSR24s and then slowed back the tape speed to achieve a tone that’s a full octave deeper. You’re going to want some bigger monitors.
This is how we recorded it.
We sampled the piano in the crypt of a church. It’s lived there for the past 10 years since a band we know have recorded all their albums in this unlikely place.
We used an absolutely world-class pristine signal path recording everything at 96kHz through legendary Neve 1073 pre-amps and Burr Brown AD convertors.
The signal started with a matched pair of Coles 4038’s as close as we dare put them to the hammers, to capture a really detailed sound. A stereo pair of AKG 414’s made an excellent job of providing a more natural and open perspective. We used a pair of SE-2‘s on the rear soundboard which gives you a boxy and bright sound. Finally we set up another stereo pair of AKG 414‘s right in the furthest and vaults of the room to record a really distant and ambient perspective.
All of these microphones can be mixed independently with the addition of a stereo width control per channel on the Kontakt interface so you can dial in exactly the sound you want.
REQUIREMENTS
Kontakt FULL 5.6.8 or above Will NOT work on the free Player
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