Fracture Sounds Glacier Keys: Cinematic Piano Harmonics KONTAKT

Glacier Keys is a collection of piano harmonics, performed on a Steinway D concert grand and sampled in incredible detail in a modern concert hall setting. Harmonics are produced by gently placing a finger on the middle of the string, producing a pitch an octave above the natutral note of the string, resulting in a beautiful glass-like timbre, perfect for neo-classical, ambient and minimal compositions, or any situation where you need a piano with a more evocative, glistening tone than usual.

Although this is an ‘extended technique’ library, we’ve spent extra care making it as playable as possible. You can approach it in the same way as a regular piano – it is programmed so that middle C sounds like middle C, even though the actual key that produced the note was an octave below. We also positioned the close mics further left than normal, so that the stereo image is centered around the sounding middle C.

The instrument was recorded in a modern concert hall environment using a selection of 14 top-shelf microphones (from DPA, Coles, Neumann) placed around the piano and further back in the room. From these microphone signals we created 3 easy-to-use mixes (Close, Mid and Far), giving you the flexibility to craft a custom mix which fits your needs, whether you want a dry ‘studio’ sound, or a spacious sound which sits at the back of a mix.

Mechanical Sounds and Sympathetic Resonance

As with our other piano libraries, we have gone the extra mile and captured details of the instrument beyond the notes themselves. You can control the amount of mechanical noise produced when the keys are released and the sustain pedal is used. For this library, we devised a method of isolating the pedal-down sympathetic resonance, meaning we are able to offer control over the amount of resonance produced when the pedal is down. This also means that sympathetic resonance will be produced when the pedal is pressed while notes are already held, instead of only notes which are played after the pedal is pressed.

Atmosphere Layers

Once again, we have brought back our popular ‘Atmosphere Layers’ – playable pads and textures which blend together with the raw piano beautifully.

The ‘Glisten‘ layer is a pad made from processed metallic instruments, giving a shimmering sustain.
The ‘Frost‘ layer is an evolving reversed granular texture, created by processing the raw piano recordings.
The ‘Thaw‘ layer is a smooth pad created from electric guitar feedback, processed through an FX chain.

These layers can be dialled in to taste using the Layer Mixer. Additionally, the global ‘intensity’ of these layers can be controlled using the ‘Atmosphere Intensity‘ dial, or automated in real-time using the mod wheel.

Features

Piano harmonics performed on a Steinway Model D concert grand.
Beautifully delicate, cinematic and nuanced sound.
Recorded in a modern concert hall environment, with 3 mixable microphone positions.
3 custom sound-design atmosphere layers.
Controllable key noise, pedal noise, and sympathetic resonance.
Simple and user-friendly interface.
Full NKS support – works with Komplete Kontrol hardware.
4.9GB download size (NCW compressed from a 9.5GB sample pool).
Runs in the free Kontakt Player (v5.6.8 or later). No additional sampler software needed!