The Crow Hill Company – Origins Mystic Piano v1.0.1 for WiN

The latest in our esoteric “collectables” range of instruments and tools to inspire you and your listeners with sounds that sit outside the mainstream. Transcend the ordinary with a piano like no other (and bring your bendy rubber spoon).

Other-worldly so often results in resorting to all sorts of processing and trickery. For this release we have kept the trickery firmly out of the box to create a unique and playable take on the piano through “performance-design”. What started out as a simple “palm muted” experiment (where a hand is placed on a string to mute it into a dull thudding piano sound). Into a week’s worth of experimentation at Castlesound studios ultimately deconstructing and reconstructing the different resonating elements of a piano into a newly imagined instrument that is full of surprises.

Christian Henson the producer and performer of this library asked himself “what would a piano sound like if it was built by hand from scratch by Caractacus Potts?” (the inventor father from Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). What we have delivered also ultimately gives you control of those different elements (or partials as we call them) to set and forget your preferred timbral profile or indeed use to colour your performance and recordings in real-time.

The 5 key elements (of which you have total balance control) of the mystic piano are muted palms, a combination of plucked elements (depending on which dynamic layer is being triggered); fingers, rubber spoon, guitar plectrum. Isolated sustains including octave harmonics and damper-off. A rare fingered tremolando which builds up performance layers depending on dynamic layer.

Finally with clunking release triggers to accentuate that Caractacus Potts nature of the audio invention we have created. Everything is recorded with numerous round robins, dynamic layers and a fully dedicated set of samples for the pedal down resonance of the piano.

The otherworldly so often necessitates all manner of tricks and deception. For this release, we decided to cut through the gimmicks and create a unique, playable piano experience through performance design. It all began with a simple experiment with palm muting (placing your hand on a string to muffle the sound and create a dull, heavy piano sound).

We spent a week experimenting at Castlesound Studios, disassembling and reassembling various resonant elements of the piano to create a new instrument full of surprises. Producer and performer Christian Henson posed the question:

“What would a piano sound like if it were built from scratch by Caractacus Potts?” (the father-inventor from Ian Fleming’s novel “Bang Bang”). Ultimately, we’ve created a tool that allows you to control these various elements (or partials, as we call them) so you can set and forget your favorite tone profile or use it to add expressiveness to your performance or recording in real time. The five core elements of the Mystic Piano (with full balance control) are palm muting, a combination of plucked elements (depending on the dynamic layer being activated), fingerpicking, rubber spoon, and guitar pick.

Isolated sustains, including octave harmonics and damper overtones, are also present. A rare finger tremolo overlays the playing layers depending on the dynamic layer. And finally, silent triggers for sound production highlight the characteristic Caractacus Potts nature of the audio-innovative instrument we’ve created. Everything is recorded using multiple loop repeats, dynamic layers, and a custom sample set for piano pedal resonance.