Best odd/unique character pianos / pianos with a twist?

[TW5011]

I don't know how much odd / character you want, but Zupfpiano by Sturmsounds is made from plucking the strings of a piano with various effects and it has some neat sounds.  (I should someday make a track with just that to really explore it deeply.)

[PavlovsCat]

I was going through my piano libraries and thought I'd add some recommendations to the list (beyond my past posts): 

- e-Instruments Session Keys Upright -- features two upright pianos that have a lot of character. Very nice.
- SonicCoture 's Xtended Piano is a really interesting prepared piano.  I recommended Xperimenta's prepared piano earlier in the thread, I like that the most. 
- NI's The Giant is one I don't see mentioned much, but it's pretty interesting. as is NI"s Una Corda. 
- Echo Soundworks The Loft Piano -- the main patch is a kind of plain upright, but the patches are really nice and creative and it only costs, I think, $15 USD (requires KONTAKT). A no-brainer for the price. 
- Sampletekk Rain Piano - an upright with a lot of character.
- EZKeys  Small Upright - this has a very Jon Brion-ish character to it that I love. 
- Spitfire Jangle Box -- Instant vintage upright piano vibe that reminds you of the piano on many Beatles' classics -- because it is that piano. I love it. It's like taking a virtual trip to Abbey Road Studios.  
- NI Noire - My favorite piano library of all. It's a grand piano that isn't what I'd call a character piano, but it also includes a felt version and many  very dark and strange patches that I find beautiful and inspiring that does bring it to the realm of character pianos, IMO. If I could only have one piano library, it would be this one. 

FREEBIES I really like/love
- Heavyocity's Foundations Piano is really interesting (KONTAKT Player). 
- Westwood Upright Felt Piano (requires KONTAKT full version)
- Lofi Audio The Hoffman (requires KONTAKT full version) - - I believe I picked this up at the Pianobook site

Edited September 19, 2022 by Peter Woods

[abacab]

2 hours ago, Peter Woods said:

- NI Noire - My favorite piano library of all. It's a grand piano that isn't what I'd call a character piano, but it also includes a felt version and many  very dark and strange patches that I find beautiful and inspiring that does bring it to the realm of character pianos, IMO. If I could only have one piano library, it would be this one. 

I'd have to agree on that opinion of Noire. That one and Una Corda are the only NI pianos from Komplete that I have installed here. Might need to check out that Giant.

And the EZKeys Upright Piano is the only keys library that I have from Toontrack. I figured that since I already have other grands, I would get some variety going. A very piano sounding piano! Sounds like it belongs right in the living room for singer songwriter stuff, rather than in a concert hall.

Edited September 18, 2022 by abacab

[Fleer]

Yep, interesting company Klavins: https://klavins-pianos.com/products/una-corda/

[abacab]

 

[PavlovsCat]

29 minutes ago, abacab said:

I'd have to agree on that opinion of Noire. That one and Una Corda are the only NI pianos from Komplete that I have installed here. Might need to check out that Giant.

And the EZKeys Upright Piano is the only keys library that I have from Toontrack. I figured that since I already have other grands, I would get some variety going. A very piano sounding piano! Sounds like it belongs right in the living room for singer songwriter stuff, rather than in a concert hall.

My mother was a professional musician and piano/organ/guitar teacher who majored in classical piano and organ performance in college so , at various points in my childhood, we had a baby grand piano, an upright piano, a Wurlitzer electric piano, an organ, a Leslie speaker, a Les Paul, an acoustic guitar (I believe, a Martin), a Mandolin, an accordian, my drum kits, percussion... Consequently, I have this fondness for the instruments that goes back to my childhood. While I love Rhodes and Orange Tree Samples' Famous E is -- by far -- my favorite Rhodes library. I ended up using a Wurlitzer electric piano on a recent demo I made for OTS (and I don't even love the Scarbee library I was using, but it's a Wurly). I love upright pianos dearly. While I love grand pianos and fell in love with a Yamaha grand at my mother's music studio -- and loved it more than the Steinway there. I have a fondness for baby grands too. But uprights, for me, for most rock and folk rock, an upright sounds so good. There's something about the charm of certain upright pianos that I love. They 're  humble,  They're not polished or as sophisticated as a grand. The EZKeys Upright Piano is very nice, but I like their Small Upright even more. 

Edited September 18, 2022 by Peter Woods

[abacab]

 

[abacab]

23 hours ago, Peter Woods said:

- NI's The Giant is one I don't see mentioned much, but it's pretty interesting.

OK, I've checked out The Giant. That's an impressive one!

Especially The Giant - Cinematic, it has some very ethereal presets! That part definitely falls under the "odd/unique character pianos / pianos with a twist" category! Layer that with the Giant - Basic Giant, and you have a "Giant" piano pad!

Edited September 18, 2022 by abacab