kamoepiano301
An old upright piano at the Kamoe Art Center in Japan.
The story
“kamoepiano301” is a software instrument (SFZ) created as part of the 2025 (First Term) Artist-in-Residence program hosted by the Hamamatsu City Kamoe Art Center. This work was presented as one of the pieces in the exhibition “Music Becoming a Sign.”
For this project, the upright piano installed at the center was carefully sampled and reconstructed within a software environment. While preserving the unique character of the original instrument, the design emphasizes delicate dynamic control and is crafted as an instrument dedicated to expressive real-time performance.
Rather than being bound by existing conventions or the pursuit of mere “realism,” the goal was to pursue a sound that I genuinely wished to have. Mechanical noises and other elements that might interfere with musical expression were intentionally avoided, in order to shape it as an “instrument” that allows the performer to fully concentrate on expression.
It is my hope that this sound will spread across the world via the internet, carrying the resonance of the Kamoe piano beyond places and borders, encountering diverse forms of expression and giving birth to new music.
Reviews
Excellent!
Sounds wonderful... feels great when playing it. And I love that it is SFZ format.
Wow! Wow! Wow!
This is one of the best piano instruments I’ve ever heard – I really felt in love with this sound by hearing it at my very first time :-) Fantastic at all, offering much more realism – even when it was not ‘the’ goal – than many other instruments. Crafted at champions level – what a great work! Thank you for sharing this here! :-)
Stunning
Sounds great, full of character, and plays really nicely. It rewards nuanced and expressive performances better than most sample instruments I've played.
I'm not gonna dock points on the GUI for SFZ instrument (which is the main sampler I use now)