The story
The last time I had an acoustic piano in my home was when I was 8 Years old and coming to the end of my first year of piano lessons. By this time the guitar was calling me, so unfortunately the piano was left to gather dust in the corner of the lounge before being unceremoniously removed a few years later. Alas, youth is wasted on the young. If I’d have stuck with it, things may have been different but I’m pleased to say that only 30 odd years later I longed for the sound of a ‘real’ piano again.
Much trawling through the inter-web finally brought me face to face with my destiny. A late 1970’s piano that many consider to be from one of the powerhouses of English Piano manufacturing – Danemann. They made robust and sweet playing pianos designed to resist a nuclear explosion for they were destined for a hard life – as school pianos! Imagining the kind of lives they must have had could bring a tear to ones eye but I am pleased to say that at least this one has now been rescued and made in to a virtual instrument.
I recorded it through a UA Apollo twin with the 1073 preamp emulation with no eq on both of the microphones. The mics were a recording in to Logic pro x.
Having just been tuned, I absolutely love my piano and the house is once again ringing with tones that only an acoustic piano can create. Many thanks to Christian for providing the templates and videos to make sampling a piano as straight forward as possible and I hope you enjoy the sound of this piano from one of the iconic piano makers of yesteryear.
Reviews for English Classic
- Sound
- Character
- Playability
- Inspiration
- GUI
Leave a review to let others know what you thought of the instrument!
Truly inspirational piano
This is one of the first pianos that I've downloaded from the piano book and since then it's been an unmovable part of my template. A lot of character, great dynamics, well-defined low end, and warm highs. All recorded with the right amount of ambient that makes the piano works perfectly with every kind of reverb. Less than 14 Mb of memory usage makes this piano perfect for very old laptops like mine.
Quite a distinctive voice that works for me
I'm far from being a pianist and would usually steer away from composing a piece of music centred around a piano. This was one of the first Pianobook instruments that I downloaded and the tone and feel just really gelled with me. I composed a track, that you can see in the top right called Woodlands. This piano, it's sound, it's character is what inspired the piece. That's what I look for in any instrument or sample library.
Good dynamic range across the octaves
Really well sampled piano. Weight and warmth in the low end and bright, glassy tones at the top. I feel like I'm playing this piano. That's hard to do. Well done.
English Classic is a very apt title.
The piano has been recorded fairly well, it translates really nicely into a larger mix, as the natural ambience of the room it was recorded in isn't overbearing. Really nice work!
Roomy tone
This piano is kind of noisy but not nearly as bad as some other pianos on pianbook. You did pretty good in that department. The piano has a royal and grand quality to it. Im usually more into felt pianos for their warm and characterful sound but i feel this piano possesses those qualities as well which is kind of rare for me to enjoy in a non felt. The sample editing on the releases could be a bit more natural but all around this is still a pretty great piano.
