Get intimate with Spitfire Audio’s pristine new virtual piano

After several ambitious instrument libraries in recent months, including working with Gaika on the dark soundscaping tool War Island and Fink on a Signatures acoustic guitar library, Spitfire Audio has gone back to basics and unveiled a new virtual piano in its Originals series, the Intimate Grand Piano.

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Furthering the concept of the popular Soft Piano in its free LABS series, the instrument delivers all the cinematic sensitivity you’d expect from an expertly captured vintage Steinway Model A grand.

Recorded at Castlesound studios, the same studio used to record Spitfire’s Albion Solstice Modern Cinematic Folk Noir library, the 4GB instrument combines three distinct mic signal types: condenser, ribbon and binaural. The result is a resonant, realistic and flexible piano sound that really does seem to deliver. The instrument’s seven presets promise to range from tight and bright to deep, dark and cinematic. Four parameter controls, Reverb, Tightness, Hammers and Pedal, add further flexibility.

“Suppressing the practice, or Celeste pedal lowers a layer of felt between the strings,” says Spitfire Audio’s Dan Keen. “Because it’s a dead end sound and an ultra fundamental frequency, it becomes even more intimate, even more vulnerable, even more dramatic, perhaps.

“That’s why I think felt pianos have dominated film and TV scores over the last few years. I think we’ve all grown accustomed to it. I certainly hear it on most dramatic TV scores. So I think it’s time we put it back in our toolkit and consider a new approach. [Intimate Grand Piano] is our answer to that question of what might replace the felt piano, and I absolutely love it.”

Take a look at the introductory video below.

Spitfire Audio Originals: Intimate Grand Piano is available now for £29 / $29 / €29 in VST, AU or AAX formats. For more information visit spitfireaudio.com