THEPHONOLOOP has announced the Cassette Piano.02, an instrument that features a completely new set of samples of an (not so perfect) old upright piano.

The piano was recorded in a ballet training room (in both stereo and mono, with mics at the back of the piano), resulting in surprisingly organic and tasty sound with all kinds of little imperfections.

THEPHONOLOOP Cassette Piano.02 Kontakt

In order to make the best use of those recordings, and to further expand the sound capabilities of the instrument, four different decks were used to process the samples.

The GUI of the Kontakt version has been redesigned – it’s still very simple and clear, but it offers much more editing possibilities, including extended modulation section:

  • 2 independent LFOs with 5 shapes and 4 destinations each
  • AMPLITUDE envelope with velocity modulation
  • FILTER envelope with invert switch
  • PITCH envelope with invert switch and attack curve knob

Another improvement is the use of impulse reverb with custom impulses (4 spring impulses, 4 hall impulses & 3 corridor impulses), along with a choice of whether you want it to be placed pre or post insert effects – same thing goes for the delay.

In addition, there are also features you may already know from previous instruments in this series, such as the sample start knob (controlled with the GUI or Mod Wheel) which allows you to control initial transients while designing your sound. Moreover, because of the fact that this kind of instruments sounds great when transposed down (it really adds to the overall ‘lofiness’ of the sound) there’s an octave down switch in the GUI now.

And as the last thing – there’s now also a simple 2 band equaliser (Instrument Tone) located at the bottom of the GUI.

Cassette Piano.02 features

  • Available in multiple popular formats: Kontakt 5, Ableton Live 9, Logic, SFZ & Multiformat.
  • 5 GB of samples (1325 samples in total).
  • Recorded on 4 different decks.
  • Mono and Stereo versions.
  • 5 noise samples (each around 2 minutes long).
  • 3 velocity layers.
  • Organic sound with lots of little imperfections.

Cassette Piano.02 is available for purchase from THEPHONOLOOP and distributor Plugin Boutique, starting at 25 EUR.