1) German Celesta

Invented over 125 years ago, the celesta remains a nicely obscure yet fascinating instrument: It sports a vibrant, mellow and charming sound remeniscent of a vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba and a piano – yet a sound of its own.

At that time, it was inspiring to those looking for a new sound – Pjotr Tschaikowsky wrote some parts of his Nutcracker for a celesta.

This instrument out of the Beurmann collection was built by Schiedmayer in Stuttgart, Germany around 1960. It cost a fortune (and still does) – as a result, only few concert halls keep those around. The steel plates are oppositely placed in the housing – this creates an unexpected stereo effect.

Capturing the dynamic shades, we recorded every note with 16 samples. We also recorded the key release sounds, providing 8 varitions per key to complete the virtual celesta.

The sample library contains nearly 1.200 single recordings.

2) Grand Piano

The Grand Piano library features a historical piano built by Erard in 1873 in London. This unique piano offers charming and warm sound full of character, dripping with life.

Remaining in great condition in the collection of Andreas Beurmann, it is available digitally for the first time, captured in its original tuning at 435 Hz (presets at 440 Hz are included).

We captured the sound with 32 velocity layers per note for great dynamics and expression. Furthermore, we recorded 8 key release sounds per key.

The sample library contains nearly 3.300 single samples.

3) Orphica Piano

The Orphica Piano library features a special little piano: The small portable instrument was built exclusively by Austrian piano maker Joseph Donal at the end of the 18th century.

Inventor Carl Leopold Röllig was reminded of the Lyre of Orpheus. He chose the name accordingly for what happens to be a predecessor of today’s portable keyboard. Produced for merely about 15 years, the Orphica remains one of the rarest pianos today – 30 instruments have been preserved at most.

The sampled instrument was built around 1798 and offers a slinky, charming and lively piano tone unlike any regular piano sound. Due to its small size featuring three octaves, it has a different focus: Twinkle-toed, yet present with chocolate-like mids and grace, it can be great for any piano track asking for an unconsumed sound.

We captured the sound with 16 velocity layers per note to compliment the surprisingly expressive dynamic range. Furthermore, we recorded key release sounds in eight variations of each key. The instrument was sampled in its original tuning at 402 Hz (presets in 440 Hz included).

This set contains nearly 900 samples.