The Consord Piano
A unique Kontakt library with aleatoric phrases and individual notes, featuring dissonant, sinister sounds, 3 keyswitches to move between patches and built-in effects.
This entire project began as an exercise for my university coursework. I knew immediately that I wanted to learn how to create my first Kontakt library. After numerous experiments with different recording techniques using contact microphones on an upright piano, I stumbled upon an Instagram reel where someone imitated a Saz (a Turkish plucked string instrument) on a grand piano by muting and moving down strings to add some microtonal inflections. I was excited to try this technique myself, as I had never experimented with muting individual strings on a piano before.
I decided to test this on a Steinway Model B grand piano. Pleased with the sound I achieved, I proceeded to record some aleatoric phrases and individual notes. The samples were recorded with one large diaphragm condenser and one small diaphragm condenser in a mono-stereo technique, with the large diaphragm condenser being duplicated, panned hard left and right, and inverting the phase. While creating the library, I accidentally dragged multiple samples over each other, which resulted in a really cool, dissonant, and sinister sound. Consequently, the library includes three different patches in a keyswitch format, with built-in reverb and delay effects.
In keyswitch D0, the modwheel can be used to move between the nine round robins, similar to sliding down the string.
Please enjoy!
