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Plucked Grand Piano

PLUCKED GRAND PIANO
Produced by Tonehammer Team
Welcome to the Tonehammer Plucked Grand Piano.
As die-hard art-weirdoes and do-it-yourselfers, we here at Tonehammer are big fans of
some of the early classic piano experimentalism of the mid-20th century, where a few
brave musical souls began to peel back the more rigid layers of instrumental dogma that
had encrusted musical theory over roughly the previous 100 years. Just as musical
traditions are built over time, so must they inevitably and righteously be again
dismantled for the good of the art form.
This library is the rst part of a 2-volume set that explores the Emotional Piano a few
classic unusual ways. This part is dedicated to plucked and hammered grand piano
strings. We captured every note, with sustains and release triggers, over multiple
velocities and round-robin variations, using an massively over-sized nylon guitar pick for
the plucked articulation. We then used a small 1-oz. stainless steel hammer to strike
each string for the hammered articulation. Once we completed our little masterpiece,
we tunneled even deeper into the sound, building-in a broad interface packed full of of
custom performance, tone and effect controls to allow plenty of creative freedom.
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About The Plucked Grand Piano:
After spending so much time and effort searching
out the right piano for our Emotional Piano
library, we decided to keep it around for awhile
longer. There were just some things that needed to
be done to it.
The unique thing about plucking or hammering a
piano string that creates such a starkly different
sound from simply playing it with the normal keys
is that rst, you only strike a single string, rather
than the full choir of 2-3 identically tuned strings
that a pianos hammer normally strikes to achieve
the full sound typical of a piano.
Even though the other strings resonate
sympathetically with the primary string being
struck or plucked, the sound is much more
singular, focused and narrow, with more buzz and
wah in the sound. Its much more like a harp
crossed with a gigantic 88-string guitar, yet
completely unique.
The piano itself descended from earlier stringed
percussion instruments that were played with
ngers, picks or hammers, such as dulcimers, and
zithers, so in a sense, playing a piano in that fashion
is not really that experimental. In addition,
throughout the last two centuries, various
alternate versions and popular modications to
the piano have branched out into what we now
term the prepared realm of piano design and
playing methods.
Like many of the more unconventional methods of
utilizing a piano, plucking, hammering and bowing
the strings was essentially rediscovered in early
and mid 20th century by artists like John Cage,
Henry Cowell and others, who composed a great
many scores specically for plucked, bowed and
otherwise modied piano congurations or
articulations.
The purpose of this library was essentially to
focus on the clean and most direct interpretation
of plucked and hammered piano, presenting it as a
massive ultra-wide-ranged zither/dulcimer-esque
instrument, as a clean, fundamental starting point
on what is becoming our long journey into the
inner world of the piano.
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TONEHAMMER
Plucked Grand Piano
OVERVIEW
16 Kontakt patches
1406 Samples
2.6 GB Installed
Lossless NCW compression (2:1 ratio)
Custom Convolution Reverb Impulses
Powerful custom performance control interface
Note: Native Instruments Kontakt 4.1.1 Player or Kontakt 4.1.1 full retail version required.
Credits
Produced by Michael Peaslee
Recorded & Engineered by Gregg Stephens and Michael Peaslee
Scripting and UI design by Chris Marshall
Sample Editing by Erik Smith
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RESOURCES
After downloading, use Winrar (version 3.80 or later),
UnrarX, Unrar or other .rar-compatible program to
uncompress the download les.
Click Here to download Winrar for PC.
Click Here to download UnRarX for OSX.
This library is designed for the full retail version of
Kontakt 4 and later. This library can also be used in the
free Kontakt Player, available from Native Instruments.
Click Here to download Kontakt Player 4.
This library requires registration through the Native
Instruments Service Center. For Installation and
registration instructions, please consult the Getting
Started guide included with this product or by clicking
here.
Please note that only certain Tonehammer libraries are
supported by this free Kontakt Player. The vast majority
of Tonehammer products are not supported by the free
Kontakt Player and require the full retail version of
Kontakt. Please read the instrument specications for all
products before purchasing all Tonehammer products
to see the full list of software requirements, features and
format compatibility for each library.
TONEHAMMER.COM
4
8. The nished library should now be about 2.6 GB, containing 32 les and 5 folders.
9. You are now ready to add the library to Kontakt using the "Add Library" function in the Library Browser
10. Open Kontakt 4
11. Go to "Libraries" (its in the upper left corner of Kontakt - to the right from the "les" menu)
12. Click "add library"
13. Point to the folder where you installed this library, called Tonehammer_Plucked_Grand_Piano.
14. The library is now installed and you can active it by using your serial number with the Native Instruments
service center. However you must follow this procedure for the service center to recognize your serial
code.
15. You may need to log in as administrator and/or restart computer to complete the activation process.
You can load the library with the Add Library button in the Library view of the browser pane or by loading the
instruments through the standard File browser or the Load/Save system at the top of the instrument view. For
further details and trouble shooting, please refer to the ofcial Kontakt manual.
If during the extraction process, any les were accidentally moved and can no longer be automatically found by
Kontakt when loading an instrument le, then you can use the "Batch Resave" command in the Load/Save menu
at the top of Kontakt to automatically x any missing le links. Just point it to the Plucked Grand Piano Piano
folder when it asks which library you'd like to re-save. Then, when it asks where any missing samples are, just
point it to the same Plucked Grand Piano folder, press OK and it should quickly and automatically nd and x
any issues.
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Installation Instructions
1. After ordering this instrument library, you'll
receive the download links for the library and a
follow-up email with the subject line "Plucked
Grand Piano Purchase". The email will contain
your 25 digit serial number. Keep this number
stored in a safe place.
2. If you are already the owner of full retail version
of Kontakt 4 - please skip to step 3. If you do
not own Kontakt please start at step 2.
3. Download the Free Kontakt Player by clicking
this link (supports both PC and MAC). You need
to have at least version 4.1.1 of the Player or
later.
4. Please download all parts of this archive. Keep in
mind that e sizes are reported slightly
differently on the Mac and PC.
5. Once all les are downloaded completely, place
them all into the same folder on your
computer. You can choose the nal installation
directory location of your choice.
6. Once the library has nished downloading, use
Winrar or UnrarX to extract the contents of
the .rar archive le. Make sure to keep the
internal directory structure of the Plucked
Grand Piano library unchanged.
7. Extract the rst part of the archive, called
"Tonehammer_plucked_grand_piano.part1.rar".
The extraction process will automatically
extract ALL content from the other 5 parts of
the archive all by itself. You DO NOT need to
extract them manually.
5
System Requirements
Please be aware that many instrument and multi-instrument programs in this library are extremely ram/
cpu and hard disk-streaming resource intensive. We recommend that you have at least 2GB of system
ram, a dual-core cpu and at least a 7200 rpm SATA II hard disk with an 8MB buffer, before purchasing
this or any Tonehammer library. Large sample sets like those found in this library may load slowly and
may cause system instability on older machines.
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Front Panel Controls:
We've added a variety of specialized tone, effect and
performance shaping controls on the front instrument
panel, providing everything from subtle tonal reshaping to
dramatic otherworldly effects. Please be aware that the
value ranges for many of our controls allow you to go way
beyond realistic behavior for this or any real-world piano.
We provide such extreme variability to allow more creative
potential. Extreme values on any one control that sound
horrible by themselves can sound amazing when combined
with complimentary values on another control. It's quite
easy to introduce distortion or clipping if you increase EQ
or Convolution Effect values without properly re-
attenuating your signal output to compensate for the
increase.
Please also note that numeric values ranges and intervals for
each control do note necessarily correspond to
milliseconds, decibels, cents, or any other specic scale. They
are simply mathematical multipliers that control underlying
processes. Some of them are on linear scales while others
follow distinct mathematical curves. Therefore, they're best
used by ear and feel, rather than by following any arbitrary
set of rules.
Attack Knob
This knob shapes how quickly the note bites, ranging from
natural and quick to very smooth. More moderate values
allow you to simulate softer hammer felt, while extremely
high values allow for a long, slow fade-in.
Release
This knob controls the decay duration of the release
samples. These are the sounds of the overtones and residual
vibrations fading away after a string has been dampened by
the felt, whether after releasing a single note, or multiple
notes at once when releasing the sustain pedal.
Pedal Volume
This knob controls the velocity and volume of the sustain
pedal up and down sound effects. Since midi sustain pedals
can only transmit "on" and "off" messages, there's no way to
automatically tell how much intensity and force you're
playing the pedal with. This knob allows you to adjust the
sound to appropriately match the tone and feel of your
performance. The pedal sound effects were recorded in
several velocity layers and with multiple round-robin
variations to provide greater natural realism. Turning the
knob all the way down to 0 will disable all pedal sound
effects.
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oDynamics
This knob shapes the overall dynamic response of the piano,
to allow for a wide range of personal playing styles, tonal
avors and performance characteristics. The lower the knob
setting, the less the tonal and dynamic difference between the
lowest and highest velocities. Turning the knob to 0 sets the
piano to behave exactly as our microphones hear the piano
naturally, without any ltering, attenuation or other
alterations in the signal path. Turning the value to 100 creates
an exaggerated tonal and dynamic spread from the softest to
loudest notes.
Swell
This control sets the overall volume and is mapped to the
modwheel (CC1) to allow smooth volume swells and fades.
Rel. Volume (Release Volume)
This control sets the volume of the note release samples.
Harp Button
Activating this mode changes the instruments behavior from
piano to that of a harp, so that all notes ring out while the
sustain pedal is up. Pressing down on the sustain pedal while
in this mode will damp/mute any currently playing notes.
Dulcimer Button
Activating this mode changes the instruments behavior to
simulate a hammered dulcimer, with each strike triggering a
trailing set of bouncing repeats.
Echo
This control sets the number of dulcimer bounces/repeats
that are triggered by each note.
Velocity
This control adjusts the intensity fall-off scaling from one
dulcimer bounce/repeat to the next as the sound trails off.
Delay
This control adjusts the time scaling between each dulcimer
bounce/repeat. Natural rate fall-off is calculated
automatically, regardless of the delay settings
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Special LFO Effects
Vibrato Controls
This is a LFO-based pitch bending effect.
Intensity
This controls the overall mix of the vibrato effect. Setting it
to OFF disables this effect.
Wobble
This controls the oscillation speed of the effect.
Depth
This controls the pitch sweep depth. Higher settings result in
more extreme pitch warping during each up and down bend.
Tremolo Controls
This is a LFO-based volume swelling effect.
On/Off Button
This button turns on and off the Tremolo effect.
Pulse
This controls the volume pulse rate of the effect.
Depth
This controls the volume swell depth for each pulse. Higher
settings result in more extreme dynamic swelling.
Panner Controls
This is a LFO-based pan sweeping effect.
On/Off Button
This button turns on and off the Panner effect.
Sweep
This controls the left-right pan sweep rate of the effect.
Depth
This controls the left-right pan range for each sweep. Higher
settings result in wider pan sweeps.
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Reverb Dry Mix
This knob controls the amount of "dry" or "clean" signal
returning from the convolution reverb effect. This knob is
only active when a reverb impulse has been loaded in the
Impulse Select drop-down menu located to the right of the
"wet mix" knob or in presets that come with an impulse
already pre-loaded.
Reverb Wet Mix
This knob controls the amount of "wet" signal returning
from the convolution reverb effect. This knob is only active
when a reverb impulse has been loaded in the Impulse
Select drop-down menu located to the right of the "wet
mix" knob or in presets that come with an impulse already
pre-loaded.
Low Pass
This knob enables and controls the high-frequency roll off
amount that is applied to the convolution output. Use this
to dull, darken and soften the sound.
Convolution Reverb Impulse Menu
This drop-down menu allows instant access to a variety of
custom convolution impulses that we've captured in some
of our favorite locations or created using various special
techniques.
As soon as you load an impulse from the menu, the effect
is activated and the impulse you've chosen is loaded into
the signal path. Once an impulse has been loaded, the "Dry
mix" and "Wet Mix" knobs become active.
You can disable and bypass the convolution effect entirely
and unload any loaded impulse le at any time, by selecting
the "None" option at the top of the list.
EQ Processing On/Off
This button enables or disables all 3 EQ tone knobs When it is disabled by choosing the "Bypassed" option, the
signal passes through without being processed by the global EQ. To restore tone control, select "Active" once again.
EQ Gain Controls
These 3 EQ Gain knobs control bass, mid and treble tone characteristics.
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Uberpeggiator System
We designed a custom arpeggiator system to expand the
instant creative potential of these instruments. It includes
a wide range of automatable performance controls that
shape all aspects of the arpeggiator. Weve built it into
special nki presets specially designed to work well with it.
When used normally, pressing a key causes the note to
self-repeat as long as a key is held down. If additional
notes are played, it adds them to the sequence of repeats
in various ways, depending on the settings you choose.
This is used to produce complex melodic chains, plucking
patterns and other effects.
Mode
This knob controls the Arpeggiator mode. Choosing OFF disables the Arp system entirely. ON sets it to respond
only while a note is pressed., cycling through all held notes as it arpeggiates. HOLD sets it to automatically sustain
one note at a time, (monophonic) so that changing keys changes the note that is repeating. HOLD + sets it to allow
new notes to be added to the automated chain of repeats.
Hits and H. Scale Knobs
These settings are similar to the dulcimer Echo and Velocity knobs, with the difference being that HITS sets the
number of repeats of each note BEFORE moving on to the next note in the arp sequence, and H.Scale sets the
intensity fall-off rate for each repeat, before resetting for the next note in the sequence.
Duration
This shapes the note decay damping amount. Lower settings result in sharper staccatos, while higher settings allow
each note to ring out more fully.
Pitch
This is a strange effect that might not do what you think it does. It sets the pitch up or down in quarter-tone
intervals for each repeat AFTER the initial note is pressed and it remains in a pseudo legato state as long as any key is
held down. This setting allows extreme glitch stutter and stair-step effects and can self-generate strange grooves
and beats, based on the combination of notes you hold and the pitch setting at any given moment.
Rhythm
This sets the speed of arpeggiation, as measured in musical time, ranging from whole bars to 128th notes. Fast
settings can yield interesting results, but keep in mind that the faster the speed, the more voices you use.
Swing
This sets the amount of rhythmic offset (swing) that the arpeggiations fall on.
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oArpeggio Direction Menu
This drop-down menu allows you to select any number of
simple or complex cycle patterns that the arpeggiation will
follow as it plays through the sequence of notes you have
triggered. Choosing As Played will cause it to follow the
original order you played the notes in, with the newest note
always added to the end of the chain.
Midi Thru
This button allows midi messages to be passed through the
script the the instrument, which allows you to play normal
sustaining notes on top of the arpeggiation.
Repeat Setting
This sets the direction of the up or down repeats.
Velocity Graph Step Sequencer
This customizable graph allows you to draw the velocities
that you want each step in your arpeggiation sequence to
play at. The RESET button resets the Graph to blank
Steps
This setting determines the number of steps that are used by
the velocity graph step sequencer, starting from the left.
Table Velocities
This activates the Graph. When it is active, the arpeggiation follows the note velocities that youve drawn on the
graph. When it is bypassed, each note repeat is played at the velocity that its original note was played at.
Key Selector Knob
This control binds the arpeggiation scale youve chosen to a specic key.
Scale Selector
This control binds the arpeggiation sequence to a specic scale that you can choose by turning the knob.
Key Root Note Button
This sets the root note of the Key youve chosen to the next higher or lower octave.
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Instruments:
We've created a variety of ready-made presets that
present some of the many sides our Plucked Grand Piano
has to offer. You can modify all preset values. If you which
to restore any knob setting to it's default value after
you've changed it, simply hold the control key and press
your right mouse button. This only works for knobs
however, bot for buttons or the impulse drop-down menu.
Plucked Grand_Piano.nki
This is the standard Plucked Grand Piano instrument
patch, with all velocity layers and all dynamic, tone and
performance settings at default. This is the sound of our
actual piano, essentially just as it feels and sounds in the
esh. We played it by using a giant guitar-syle pick, roughly
3 inches wide and plucking the strings slightly behind the
pianos normal hammer action striking position.
Plucked_Grand_Piano_lite.nki
A light reduced-memory version of the master program.
Plucked_Grand_Piano_ultralite.nki
This special preset is just stripped down to the bare
essentials for maximum efciency.
Plucked_Grand_Piano_Uberpeggiator.nki
This special version of the preset incorporates our special
arpeggiator system, rather than the built-in harp and
dulcimer modes.
Hammered Grand_Piano.nki
This alternate articulation was recorded by striking each of
the strings with a small 1oz. stainless steel hammer.
Hammered_Grand_Piano_Uberpeggiator.nki
This special version of the preset incorporates our special
arpeggiator system, rather than the built-in harp and
dulcimer modes.
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Special Effect Presets:
These presets take the plucked/hammered piano a little
farther into to the unnatural, ranging from simple dulcimer
presets to total pan-dimensional chaos.
Basic_Grand_Dulcimer.nki
This preset has been dialed in to achieve a universal
hammer-dulcimer style sound and performance style.
Hammered_Grand_Wetspin.nki
A watery leslie-effect.
Hammered_Grand_What.nki
A strange washed-out wah-wah pulse blossoms out of
each note.
Hammered_Grunker.nki
4-bit-o-rama. Use the modwheel to wreck it harder.
Plucked_Grand_HelloOperator.nki
Droning robo-tears
Plucked_Grand_Infader.nki
Sinister inow
Plucked_Grand_PleaseHoldTheLine.nki
The future is now
Plucked_Grand_Revsmatter.nki
Apply rm suction
Plucked_Grand_Shimmer-ring.nki
Is what it sounds like it is
Plucked_Grand_Winderbender.nki
Oh God somethings gone wrong I think
PLEASE NOTE:
The special effect programs use custom convolution
impulses to morph the sound into a wide range of
melodic, dark, astral and often undenable sounds. Due to
the long, evolving nature of the impulses being used, these
presets use signiant CPU resources to load and play.
Please use caution when using these patches and consider
avoiding them completely if your computer only has a
single processor. Using these presets on an underpowered
system can cause performance problems, instability and
even crashing.
14
LICENSE AGREEMENT
By installing the product you accept the following
product license agreement:
LICENSE GRANT
The license for this product is granted only to a
single user. All sounds and samples in this product
are licensed, but not sold, to you by Tonehammer,
Inc. for commercial and non-commercial use in
music, sound-effect, audio/video post-production,
performance, broadcast or similar nished content-
creation and production use.
Tonehammer allows you to use any of the sounds
and samples in the library(s) you've purchased for
commercial recordings without paying any
additional license fees or providing source
attribution to Tonehammer, Inc. This license
expressly forbids any unauthorized inclusion of
content contained within this library, or any any
Tonehammer library, into any other sample
instrument or library of any kind, without our
express written consent.
This license also forbids any re-distribution method
of this product, or its sounds, through any means,
including but not limited to, re-sampling, mixing,
processing, isolating, or embedding into software
or hardware of any kind, for the purpose of re-
recording or reproduction as part of any free or
commercial library of musical and/or sound effect
samples and/or articulations, or any form of
musical sample or sound effect sample playback
system or device. Licenses cannot be transferred
to another entity, without written consent of
Tonehammer, Inc.
RIGHTS
Tonehammer retains full copyright privileges and
complete ownership of all recorded sounds,
instrument programming, documentation and
musical performances included within this product.
REFUNDS
Downloaded libraries can't be returned, so we
can't provide refunds. We may choose do so at our
own discretion,but please be aware that as soon as
you've downloaded it, you can't return it.
RESPONSIBILITY
Using this product and any supplied software is at
the licensees own risk. Tonehammer holds no
responsibility for any direct or indirect loss arising
from any form of use of this product.
TERMS
This license agreement is effective from the
moment the product is purchased or acquired by
any means. The license will remain in full effect until
termination. The license is terminated if you break
any of the terms or conditions of this agreement,
or request a refund for any reason. Upon
termination you agree to destroy all copies and
contents of the product at your own expense.
VIOLATION
This library contains anti-piracy technology due to
its compatibility with the Kontakt 4 Player, which
allows the library to be used by those without the
full version of Kontakt. It must be registered
through the Service Center in order to be used. If
you enjoy our instruments and care about the hard
work that went into this labor of love, then we
know you wont pirate. Remember, the more you
support us, the more awesome libraries we can
afford to make for you. We also reserve the right
to prosecute piracy and defend this copyrighted
creation to the fullest extent of the law.
TONEHAMMER
GENERAL LICENSING AGREEMENT
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15
THANK YOU.
We wanna thank you for buying the Tonehammer
Plucked Grand Piano.
If you have any questions, concerns, love-letters or
hate mail feel free to send it to:
info@tonehammer.com
Love,
Mike and Troels.
TONEHAMMER.COM
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All programming, samples, images and text Tonehammer 2006 - 2010. All Rights Reserved.
Tonehammer is a registered trademark of Tonehammer, Inc.
Kontakt and Kontakt 4 Player are trademarks of Native Instruments, Gmbh.