mp3 Demo - Tschaikowsky - The Nutcracker Suite: Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy
Demo track by Tobias Birkenbeil
mp3 Demo - Franz Schreker - 'Hörst Du den Ton' from the Opera 'Der ferne Klang'
mp3 Demo - Mozarts 'Zauberflöte' - 'Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen'
Demo tracks by Steffen Fahl
The performances contain additional reverb.
Dulcitone Celesta: Kontakt® surface
This is a hidden gem that may seem unimpressive at first glance: Built around 1910, it has been patina'ed over time and looks like a little version of a piano. This unique tuning-fork piano sports a vibrant, mellow and charming sound remeniscent of a vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba and a piano - yet a sound of its own.
At that time, it was inspiring to those looking for a new sound - Pjotr Tschaikowsky wrote some parts of his Nutcracker for a celesta like the dulcitone. Being a rather quiet instrument, it seemed inappropriate for orchestral use, so its parts were often played by a glockenspiel instead - luckily, this is not a problem in a sampler.
Back then, no one had ever dreamt that a celesta would be as relevant today as ever - being the acoustic ancestor of the most popular vintage electric pianos, which share the same basic sound principles.
Providing a warm and full bass, it carries more weight than a toy piano and is great for any track demanding an unconsumed yet familiar sound.
Photo: Andreas E. Beurmann
An original Dulcitone celesta is very hard to play, offering a very rough-running and tight dynamic response. Capturing the dynamic shades of the instrument, we recorded every note with 8 samples.
The Dyson & Sons owes a huge part of its character and life to the unique release sounds of its keys - hence we recorded these sounds as well, providing 4 varitions of each key release sound to complete the Dulcitone experience. Breathe life into your sampler!
For the recording of this marvellous little fellow, we employed vintage Neumann™ TLM170® microphones with Crane Song™ preamps and Universal Audio™ 2192® converters. The library contains two versions of the instrument recorded with different stereo settings. The samples were recorded at 192 kHz/24 bits, downsampled to the resolution of your choice.
Sporting that new sound: Dyson & Sons Dulcitone (logo). Photo: Andreas E. Beurmann
The Dulcitone delivers - and it does so for Native Instruments™ Kontakt® (both the free player and the full version).
The sample library contains nearly 1.500 single samples.
Furthermore, the Dulcitone Celesta sample library contains an essay in German from collector Andreas Beurmann, explaining the background of the instrument.
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