The Gaffer
Yes, I did it, I put hellish gaffer tape on my beautiful Schimmel piano strings. I don't know why that piano still sticks around, the abuse it gets from me.
The story
On my endless quest to mute piano keys to find alternatives to the always-sad dulcet tones of our felted friends I decided to take some gaffer to the strings of my much-sampled schimmel. Duct tape as I believe our American cousins call it.
Reviews
Brilliant!
Simply breathtaking... so useful and useable! A million uses!
Very good deranged and noisy piano
I always like a deformed / deconstructed instrument, and The Gaffer is really good at being that. Sound is excellent throughout, with a nice stereo image that puts you very close to the piano. The variety of release noises was the highlight for me, together with the different mics.
Two minor points: when repeating a note, the release sound gets progressively louder (even with no change to velocity). I actually liked and used that, but it's a bit weird. Also, FX1 and FX2 could use names - they're easy enough to understand, but it's always nice to have a specification.
All in all a great pack.
A very unique instrument, mostly useful for blending (at least for me)
I really love the unique character of the instrument, If I were to use it, I would most likely blend it in with a textural work or use it more like a hammered tonal percussion instrument rather than a traditional piano, excellent free instrument!