Upright Piano Vst AU Kontakt sample library virtual instrument VSTi

Adam Monroe's Upright Piano was sampled from a Schafer and Sons VS-40 upright piano using Oktava Mk-012 (in cardioid pattern) and AEA Ribbon microphones (in wide stereo) into Grace M101 and AEA TRP preamps. The piano was sampled with both small diaphragm condenser and ribbon microphones in order to capture both the transient details and warmth of an upright piano. This approach allows the user to blend between microphone positions, in order to achieve a more percussive SDC sound, or a laid-back Ribbon warmth, depending on the needs of the track. With both mic positions equal, the piano library achieves a punchy, present, balanced sound useful for pop and solo piano tracks.

The piano was sampled with the lid and front-panel removed in order to further accentuate the string and hammer sounds, and mics were positioned directly over the hammers, in spaced pairs. Naturally, some phase issues arose, so the phase was inverted on the Ribbon mics in order to allow the bass frequencies to come through. The piano was recorded in a slightly reverberant room, a bit of which can be heard in the ribbon position.

Adam Monroe's Upright Piano contains 10 layers of velocity for each note, with 2 note round-robin, which equates to approximately 3500 audio samples. The instrument includes built-in reverb and some anticipated frequency cuts, which can be engaged via switches. The cuts centered around 10.6 kHz and 13.5 kHz are the frequencies where the piano's hammer noise is most prevalent, and the 120 Hz cut is intended to clean up mud in bass-heavy mixes.

Our intention in developing this library was to create a piano voice that was both punchy and clean without sounding sterile or boring. We think the end result is a sampled upright piano that fits nicely into mixes without sounding too clean or fake, and that has enough presence to breath life into pop and rock tracks, well also being versatile enough to sound good as a solo instrument.