What's new

Best Felt Piano?

Una Corda for me. Bought it when it first came out and never felt (pun intended) the need to replace. Love the interface and the many options and most-importantly, the sounds I can coax out of it.
 
Another +1 for NOIRE... It's got a great tone, and is very versatile. There is a ton of possible adjustments that let you go from a very clean, acoustic sound to more complex layered ones.
I use both the Pure and Felt version and I am extremely impressed with it.

I've also got Une Corda, which is lovely but as others have said is single stringed which gives it a very specific tonality.
 
Another +1 for NOIRE... It's got a great tone, and is very versatile. There is a ton of possible adjustments that let you go from a very clean, acoustic sound to more complex layered ones.
I use both the Pure and Felt version and I am extremely impressed with it.

I've also got Une Corda, which is lovely but as others have said is single stringed which gives it a very specific tonality.

Yep - Noire for this project is perfect. Can't wait to submit this cue - I hate jinxing stuff but I am thinking it is approved. (having said that - later, I'll pick up OA and UC)
 
Una Corda is usually my first choice, but I also have and like Felt Piano from Spitfire Audio. I'm also using Soft Piano from Spitfire Labs quite often (as well as the rest of the Labs products in a Kontakt form).

I'm mostly happy with these options, but if the budget allow me in the future I would gladly purchase the pianos from Fracture Sounds as well. I'm particularly keen to those atmosphere layers they provide.

I also recommend anyone interested in felted piano sounds to check what is on offer at Pianobook.com There are some nice entries there (my personal favorite in this category is "Tatak Felt Piano", at least at the moment).
 
I'm not sure if I could call one of them 'the best' felt piano. They all are different and unique.

Depending what you are looking for these are in my experience the most important libraries and their differences:

- Una Corda : very detailed, very close up. If you need a piano that sounds like it's only inches away this is the one. It has a very pre-defined character. Also it's an upright piano (shorter strings, smaller soundboard, etc). If you don't like the sound from the demos you're not going to be able to do much about it. There are various tweaking options, but based on the very same upfront una corda (single strung) upright piano sound. Very unique

- Noire: a grand piano, very clean recorded in a great room, lot's of tweaking options and great realism too. The particles engine is fun but it will take up a lot of space in your mix. If you plan a busy arrangement you might end up not noticing the particles going on in the back. If you plan to arrange modestly there's some real fine detailing to get out of this instrument. Also the instrument has the felt option and sounds great without felt too, giving you the option to arrange toggling between felt and clean piano as you please without really swapping pianos on the scene. A lot of dynamic range! (For people not used to work with compressors it's harder to get that typical cinematic sound, but there are presets using the build-in compression that help you get closer to that... though I would suggest trying a dedicated compressor plugin while mixing).

- Olafur Arnalds: a grand piano with a very cinematic pre-defined felt sound. If you are looking for a very woolly type of felt, it doesn't get any woollier than this. This type of piano does not require much dynamic range. It needs to sit on top. The mic options are all pretty close to achieve this. But the woolly character works against the impression of closeness. It's almost impossible to mix this one 'on top' of a busier mix, but in a light setting it's a charm. Not much tweaking options besides some FX (there are far better processing plugins out there that do the same fx a lot better). Personally I think the add-on synthesizer layers don't really sound much helpful or interesting. Would have been far more interesting if they had the spitfire matrix engine for this instrument too...

- Fracture Sounds - Midnight Grand : very affordable, great character, interesting extra 'layers', sounds like you're sitting somewhere weirdly deep inside the piano. Not very much dynamic range (which for cinematic ends is not really necessary). Much less clean then Noire, but because of it's imperfections also more interesting (depending on what you need).
 
Last edited:
I love the Woodchester Piano, really great sound and a lot of flexibility and cool effects, same with the Olafur Arnalds one from everything I’ve heard although I don’t own it.
 
Sorry for being a bit off topic, but how would something like Noire, felt or natural, sit in a neo-classical chamber / orchestral mix?

Is it exclusively for "close" intimate mixes? I am looking for a mellow grand piano for contemporary neo-classical music in "larger" spaces, sounding as if it were in the same room as Albion IV or V.
 
Sorry for being a bit off topic, but how would something like Noire, felt or natural, sit in a neo-classical chamber / orchestral mix?

Is it exclusively for "close" intimate mixes? I am looking for a mellow grand piano for contemporary neo-classical music in "larger" spaces, sounding as if it were in the same room as Albion IV or V.

My personal thoughts:
Naturally without any use of compression felt pianos aren't - by design - really fit for typical full orchestration. Being soft and mellow all it could hope for is add some blending warmth in the right combination.

When the orchestration and dynamic range is intended to stay in the pianissimo - double pianissimo range there is logically more space for felt pianos to stand out. In a large concert hall with live audience this might not really get appreciated by people in the far back... Better for chamber concerts.

But with modern mixing techniques soft sounds meticulously recorded and with the right compression can be mixed 'upfront' without loosing character.
Adding the right reverb, EQ and compression (maybe some stereo placement tool), you will surely be able to fit Noire in your Albion ensemble and freeze off your toes while playing Islandic.
 
Last edited:
Spitfire free + Kush Clariphonic DSP Mk II is my suggestion, works brilliant on pianos. Plus, Clariphonic is awesome on everything else as well.
Funny, I tried exactly this yesterday before reading this thread! Yes, works fine!
 
There are some amazing libraries mentioned in this thread. I wonder if anyone has heard my Blühthner Style 6 PRO?
I would love you to check it out and let me know if it comes close to any of these mentioned. I think you might be surprised.

BLUTHNER_Product-Cover_PRO.png

Blüthner Style 6 PRO - Currently on sale at 50% off

Blüthner Style 6 LITE - FREE VERSION
A couple of suggestions:-

You have 2 prices on your site for this - one at $79 the other at $64 (50% off $129). It's ok saying there's a 50% off sale but it looks like $79 is the 'real price' ie. RRP

Also, I don't mind subscribing to your email list to download the free lite version but unless I can hear it first then I'm abit reticent as I've absolutely no idea what I'm signing up for! So from my perspective put up a couple of audio demos first on your site first and you might get more interest.
 
A couple of suggestions:-

You have 2 prices on your site for this - one at $79 the other at $64 (50% off $129). It's ok saying there's a 50% off sale but it looks like $79 is the 'real price' ie. RRP

Also, I don't mind subscribing to your email list to download the free lite version but unless I can hear it first then I'm abit reticent as I've absolutely no idea what I'm signing up for! So from my perspective put up a couple of audio demos first on your site first and you might get more interest.
Thanks @pmountford for spotting that error. I will fix in now. Thank you for your suggestions too, I will look into implementing that asap. Its a very good idea.
 
This is also a 3+ year old thread that you've necro'd for advertising purposes. Much better idea to learn what goes where here and advertise your product launch in the appropriate place.
 
Thanks @pmountford for spotting that error. I will fix in now. Thank you for your suggestions too, I will look into implementing that asap. Its a very good idea.

Hi @midiwood ,

I took the time to listen to the demos and wow... it is a gorgeous piano! ♥ Love the "particles" also.

Well done! :) I believe it should have its own thread. :)

May I also suggest that once you are ready to make it public, you come out and say so on this thread, which developers can use to share their news, until they are ready to advertise.


Commercial Announcements - Tier 2.

Hope this helps! All the best!

Andre

p.s. I hadn't heard of Papyrus, being in Canada. but the issue also exists here among our youth and adults. Good to know they help, moving clip...
 
Last edited:
A couple of suggestions:-

You have 2 prices on your site for this - one at $79 the other at $64 (50% off $129). It's ok saying there's a 50% off sale but it looks like $79 is the 'real price' ie. RRP

Also, I don't mind subscribing to your email list to download the free lite version but unless I can hear it first then I'm abit reticent as I've absolutely no idea what I'm signing up for! So from my perspective put up a couple of audio demos first on your site first and you might get more interest.

Did you see the audio demos here?

This is for the free version (on the right side).

This is for the paid version (you have to scroll down):

Cheers! :)
 
This is also a 3+ year old thread that you've necro'd for advertising purposes. Much better idea to learn what goes where here and advertise your product launch in the appropriate place.
Hi @LATABOM I'm a bit of a forum newb. I had to google necro'd... I consider myself schooled. I'll keep my "ads" in their rightful place in future. I still think Blüthner Style 6 deserves a mention among the best though :emoji_wink:
 
Hi @midiwood ,

I took the time to listen to the demos and wow... it is a gorgeous piano! ♥ Love the "particles" also.

Well done! :) I believe it should have its own thread. :)

May I also suggest that once you are ready to make it public, you come out and say so on this thread, which developers can use to share their news, until they are ready to advertise.


Commercial Announcements - Tier 2.

Hope this helps! All the best!

Andre

p.s. I hadn't heard of Papyrus, being in Canada. but the issue also exists here among our youth and adults. Good to know they help, moving clip...
Thank you @creativeforge Great suggestions
 
Top Bottom