Alpine Piano - Upright Piano Library for NI Kontakt

Alpine Piano is a Young Chang upright piano hidden in a cottage on the Dôme glacier Italian region of Monte Bianco or "White Mountain", the highest mountain in the Alps. At an altitude of 10,000 feet, this upright has been exposed to frost in below freezing temperatures. The effects of the cold conditions give this "character" piano a raw emotional sound with unique flaws.

An eerie, muted stillness that’s unique to snowy weather was perfect for huge sustains during recording. Each key was captured at 6 velocities with separate release samples unique to each warm, resonant note. Different variations of pedal "on" and "off" samples were also recorded.

Everything about this ivory beauty is authentic including a shivering low A# string that plays the correct tone but with the buzzy-metallic ring of a soon-to-snap frozen piano string. Alpine Piano has a velvety low-end and snappy upper range full of rich harmonics.

The untuned raw sound captures the body of this arctic upright. But its soul is in the attack of the notes.

Even though this was my first sampling attempt, I was careful to maintain as much of the natural sample attack. The mechanical noise of striking the key before the actual note sound gives Alpine Piano its character. This "true" action may take some getting used to since the sample is cued when the note is completely depressed on your keyboard controller. Many sample developers remove this natural attack, stripping it of its soul. Alpine Piano feels real and is unlike many other upright piano libraries. It's designed from the player's perspective - as if you are sitting down playing it.

Alpine Piano is perfect for pure songwriting, creative scoring, or just playing until you lose sense of time. However you decide to use it, I'd love to hear it! If you have the programming chops, feel free to customize it. The wav files are unlocked. My goal was to immortalize this beauty and I hope you enjoy it.

Features:

• 3.2 GB installed

• 630 samples uncompressed

• 24-bit / 48kHz stereo wav

• 6 velocity layers per key

• 88 unique release samples

• Pedal on/off samples

• Natural mechanical key noise

• Huge sustains

• Untuned raw sound

• One semi-broken string (lowest A#)

• Ivory Young Chang Upright

System Requirements:

Native Instruments Kontakt version 5.3.0.6464 (or later)