This entire project began as an exercise for my university coursework. I knew immediately that I wanted to learn how to create my first Kontakt library. After numerous experiments with different recording techniques using contact microphones on an upright piano, I stumbled upon an Instagram reel where someone imitated a Saz (a Turkish plucked string instrument) on a grand piano by muting and moving down strings to add some microtonal inflections. I was excited to try this technique myself, as I had never experimented with muting individual strings on a piano before.

I decided to test this on a Steinway Model B grand piano. Pleased with the sound I achieved, I proceeded to record some aleatoric phrases and individual notes. The samples were recorded with one large diaphragm condenser and one small diaphragm condenser in a mono-stereo technique, with the large diaphragm condenser being duplicated, panned hard left and right, and inverting the phase. While creating the library, I accidentally dragged multiple samples over each other, which resulted in a really cool, dissonant, and sinister sound. Consequently, the library includes three different patches in a keyswitch format, with built-in reverb and delay effects.

In keyswitch D0, the modwheel can be used to move between the nine round robins, similar to sliding down the string.

Please enjoy!

Contributors

Valentin Joudrier

Recorded, did the programming and gui for the sample instrument.