Bechstein C118
An upright Bechstein piano sampled in a single dynamic layer with a pair of AKG 414 microphones.
ByLinel
The story
I usually play plugin instruments with my 88 keys master keyboard…but something was missing. One day, I decided to visit a piano store and I had no idea about real pianos. There was about a hundred of different models exposed. The vendor was kind enough to let me try any pianos freely in the different space and rooms during a whole afternoon.
Suddenly I felt in love with the sound of a second hand C.Bechstein C118 built in 2010. My ignorance shocked the vendor because I had no idea about the piano brand C.Bechstein. I also truly love the sound of this felt piano sound. I tried to record this sound for you with a pair of AKG 414.
There are only one layer of sounds and a release noise. for a first experience of sampling, the result was a good surprise in Kontakt: not only it sounds quite interesting but it matches so well when layered with another spitfire library : British Drama Toolkit -especially with the patch Strings Ensemble Long-.
Lionel
Reviews
Good for a first instrument but some issues
This piano really has a beautiful mellow tone but there are two issues i cant really overlook. one is that theres not only alot of white noise but also background noise happening in the room which sounds like a chair is being moved around or something. I like a bit of room noise in my pianos but i just feel its tie much here. An even bigger issue is that there is an artificial click to the beginning of most notes which really ruins the instrument for me. The recording is beautiful, especially for a first time. I would love to see these issues corrected because the tone of the piano is beautiful.
Nice mellow piano with issues
This piano has a really wonderfully inspiring sound, and would be a top pick for me but for the issues in the Kontakt programing and recording. The samples themselves have not only white noise, but foley noise like the instrument wasn't recorded in a very controlled environment. Many notes have a click at the beginning. I thought it might be due to the sample time being set incorrectly, but upon digging into Kontakt, you realize that it's because the beginnings of the samples were clipped off when they were bounced. So fixing the clicks is not as easy as adjusting the sample start time. You could partially fix it by destructively applying a fade in to all of the samples within a DAW, but you quickly come to a point of diminishing returns in your investment of time. Some people may like this piano as it is and find it super useful, which is great. As a first sampling effort, it's excellent, and I'd really love to hear a library of this instrument, but sadly this library just has too many issues to work.
Dreamlike warmth
Lovely rich, warm felted sound slightly hampered by some noise artifacts as the notes are held. Certainly has it's own personality though.