Harpsimachord
Harpsimachord is a Decent Sampler deep sampling of my 1970s two-manual, three-rank (8/8/4) Douglas Van Dyck Brown harpsichord.
Bydknisely
The story
The instrument is a two manual/three rank (8/8/4) design with cabinetry closely styled to resemble a 1750 Kirckman English harpsichord. The sound resembles existing Kirckmans (easily found on recordings), but the mechanics are custom and modern. The long string length of the instrument produces a warm resonant tone with long reverberation.
I captured every note from the F1-F6 61-note range for seven manual/registration combinations:
– Lower Manual- Upper Manual (slightly more nasal quality)
– Upper Manual with the regular and Nasat plectras for a strong nasal quality
– Upper Manual with the Nasat plectra only for a softer nasal quality
– Lower Manual + 4′ Stop
– Lower Manual coupled to the Upper Manual + 4′ Stop (full instrument)
– Lower Manual with Buff stop (leather mutes applied to each string for a lute-like sound)
My goal was to capture all the quirks and mechanical noises that are different for every key press and delightful release, and for every manual/registration combination due to the hand-built design.
Reviews
Insanely Fun
This is now probably my favorite harpsichord library
all of the different ranges / combinations feel really good and the recordings for the samples are very pleasant and thorough.Noisy
The options are great but while I can hear the mechanics of the instrument I can also hear a lot of white noise that slowly fades out after releasing. Unless it gets cleaned up I most likely won’t use it