Created by pieca: "I’m Pierre Caillet, a French film music composer. During the Covid-19 pandemic in France we are all confined. All productions are stopped, recording studios and mixing facilities are closed. To be with my family, I’ve stopped to go daily In my own studio and days are long…

To do something, I’ve started to sample some instruments laying around at home. At first, I’ve managed to do a great Hand Pan for Kontakt and shared it with composers friends. Then, my friend Yan Volsy (also a French film composer) proposed me to record his Mustel Celesta to do a Kontakt program for Pianobook. He took the time to make a great record of this wonderful instrument, I then edited it and convert it into this Kontakt virtual instrument : “Confinement Céleste”

This is an original 4 octave Mustel Celesta, probably from the early 1900’s. Yan got it at a RadioFrance auction. It is old, rather abused, noisy, and its pitch is a bit high (the tuning was properly globally lowered in the Kontakt Instrument)

Recorded @ 48khz 24 bit with two pair of close microphones :
– Ribbon : Prodipe RSL (Blumlein stereo Ribbon microphone)
– Cardioid : Spaced pair with Aston Origin (left) and Lewit LCT540 (right)
All samples were denoised using Isotope RX

More or less chromatically sampled with 4 levels of velocity, key release noise and sustain pedal noise.

This Kontakt instrument gives control level for each pair of microphones.
An independent volume for key release noise and sustain pedal noise is also present.
No reverb as I prefer to use my own reverb in a mix, but Pianobook’s logo is included in the about page!

I’m not a Kontakt script programmer at all, so I was unable to keep note release noises when sustain pedal is on.
Anyone is welcome to correct this and let me know how to do it properly.

Should works with Kontakt Full 5.8.1 and up.

The “ConfinementCelesteV1.0_Kontakt” folder contains everything you need to use it with Kontakt (samples are lossless compressed by Kontakt)
The “ConfinementCelesteSamples” folder contain all the samples uncompressed as a Pianobook requirement, but this folder isn’t required for the Kontakt instrument.

No Soundcloud demo yet, I have to go back to my studio to get a proper 88 notes keyboard.
I hope I will be there soon!

Thanks for your great work with Pianobook and Spitfire. Also a special thanks to Christian for his great music and all those great videos."

Download it for free here: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/confinement-celeste/

Confinement Céleste

Created by Sachidanand: "I picked this Havana 8 String Mandolin a year back, just before a recording session. Ever since then, I wanted to sample this mandolin and finally sat down a week back to do that (thanks to the mandatory COVID-19 lockdown phase here in India).

It takes a while to get a decent intonation on this one but the 7th-12th frets always seem to be a bit off (which kinda adds a vibe to this instrument). Owing to this I have done some mild pitch corrections to ensure that it is not drastically off-key (you can notice a bit of a detune on the topmost E).
I have always loved the sound and the image of this mandolin when it was double-tracked and panned. So I have recorded two notes per sample (with two different picks and mics) and panned them halfway through left and right.

This instrument contains two Round Robins and one dynamic layer per RR. I personally love the way this turned out as it has a bit of a dulcimer vibe to it. I am building a much more detailed version with 5RRs and 2 Dynamic Layers per RR, which I hope to release soon.

The samples were recorded with MXL 603s and MXL 991 microphones in my home studio at 24bit 48Khz.

Requires Kontakt 5.8.1 or above.

This is my first ever sampling project and I am really delighted to share it with the Pianobook community."

Download it for free here: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/the-lockdown-mandolin/

The Lockdown Mandolin

Created by BunkerSamples: "I have lived in Vietnam on an off since 2013, and have always had a deep fascination with traditional Vietnamese instruments. I have an ever growing collection of Vietnamese instruments, and the Dan Bau is my favourite of them all. It’s a monochord, and is traditionally played by plucking the string with a long bamboo pick, while stopping it at a natural harmonic with the palm of your hand. It’s very difficult to play it “properly” since only the notes of the harmonic series are available, and all other notes are produced by changing the tension in the string with a flexible bamboo handle. This handle is all used for vibrato and intricate ornaments. Being a string player, and the founder of Bunker Samples, my natural instinct was to bow the string rather than pluck it, and thus began a long exploration of what is now slowly becoming a commercial sample library to be released soon. Along the way I experimented with using and eBow, which uses electro magnetism to vibrate the string. That experiment turned into this simple pad, which is a single sample processed with delays and reverbs. It has a beautiful, slow natural attack, but I have included the option of cutting into the sample and setting your own attack time. It’s a simple, but beautiful pad and I hope it will be useful to the Pianobook community."

There is a walkthrough video available here:

https://youtu.be/4TfWEIk-Zuk

Download it for free here: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/dan-bau-pad/

Dan Bau Pad

Instrumental Music

Big thank you to Pierre Caillet for creating the 'Confinement Celeste' virtual instrument that features in this composition I created.

Find out more at
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/confinement-celeste/

Carnival of the Absurd - featuring Confinement Celeste from Pianobook

Created for Olafur Arnalds' Discord Server community challenge. This month, the challenge was to create a track with free instruments from Pianobook.
To find out more about the Pianobook project, how you can get involved and to download the 'Confinement Céleste' and many more free instruments visit: http://www.pianobook.co.uk

Instruments used:
Steinway Grand, Ghost Piano, The 'Cool' Piano, Confinement Celeste, One After 969, Brodero, Hunter's Ampex Ecosystems, ASAT Classic Variations, Solo Cello Spurs, Strings Textures, Scary Flautando Violin, Thrumming Textures: Earth, Windy Welsh Tenor, Dictaphone Loop Synth, Soft Drums, Upright Bass Drum

THE WAY HOME

I'm trying to get back into instrumental composition after a year of doing other things. This little piece combines a free Kontakt library from Sonuscore, Orchestral Chords and Sustained String Chords. These sound so full and rich. I played a horn solo with Majestic Horn from Orchestral Tools (nearly free, just 2 Euros). 

https://sonuscore.com/free-orchestra-chords/
https://www.orchestraltools.com/store/collections/majestic-horn

Horn Of Plenty

Playing with arpeggiated chord progressions and violins and stuff.

Cumulo Nimbus In F-minor

The usual thing. I got some new sample libraries, including a cool new freebie from Heavyocity, Foundations Piano, which has some interesting arpeggio and synth-like effects. This became the basic track to which I added a marimba and some horns and pads. Then I got a new choir library on sale from Performance Samples, Oceania II, and I had to try it on something.

A Flying Machine

Music for the soldier's camp  'Ragnar' in upcoming game 'Yggdrasil'

Utilising my Irish Bouzouki, Näverlur and Politiki Flogera sample instruments plus Lockdown Mandolin by sachidanand and Organic Orchestra by VenusTheory, all available on pianobook.co.uk

Ragnar (Soldier's Camp) - Yggdrasil Soundtrack

A little morning improv with the beautiful Hoffman Piano virtual instrument from Pianobook (https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/the-hoffman/) with Spitfire Studio Strings and Solo Cello.

Morning Light (Piano Strings Cello)

I have always loved the sound of the celeste and when I saw this instrument had been uploaded to pianobook I knew had to try it out. A beautifully sampled instrument that will get plenty of use from me.

This track was created as part of the pianobook project using it's free 'Confinement Céleste.'
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/confinement-celeste/

Good Morning Celeste

A short and twinkly piece inspired by several free virtual instruments downloaded from Pianobook.co.uk including Confinement Celeste, Dan Bau Pad, and The Lockdown Mandolin.

Tinkerbell Lost In Space

My take on this wonderful sampling instrument put together by sachidanand sankaranarayanan.

Lockdown Mandolin - Going Through Emotions (Naked)

This track was created as part of the pianobook project using it's free to download 'Bjarma Grand,' ‘Dan Bau Pad' and ‘Ocean Harp Swells’ instruments.

To find out more about the project, how you can get involved and to download these and many more free instruments visit

www.pianobook.co.uk

For further information and updates visit

www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh…jA7uvVnIDayerm1zl

Dissipate

These tracks were created as part of the Pianobook project.

Curated by one of the founders of SPITFIRE AUDIO, Pianobook is a collective sample project that aims to bring together a community of likeminded music makers to talk about their stories through the pianos they use, admire and are inspired by.

To find out more about the project, how you can get involved, and to download these (and many more) FREE sounds, visit
www.pianobook.co.uk.

Contact: marcusmanderson@gmail.com 
Facebook.com/dafingaz 
Twitter.com/dafingaz
Instagram.com/dafingaz

This started as a piano improvisation over a simple chord progression. I ended up using a Pianobook sampled piano called The Hoffman. I added orchestral parts using Spitfire British Drama Toolkit and Studio Strings.

Sunflower Rising

Using Dan Keen's Thrumming Textures - Earth from Pianobook.
Along with some modular uncertainty from Reaktor 6.
Uncertain times, uncertain sounds.

A Spiral World

Dedicated to a lost childhood. Featuring "Home Piano", "Confinement Celeste" and "Soft String Spurs" from https://www.pianobook.co.uk/ Original photo by Yasin Alsbey at Unsplash, edited by Tomislav Erhard-Pacovski

Marble

This is a track I made using Confinement Celeste, a free sample instrument from pianobook (https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/confinement-celeste/), also probably one of the best free sample instruments you'll find anywhere honestly, I use it all the time.

Spitfire Products:
Stratus, Albion Tundra, Chamber Strings, Solo strings (bass)

dilemma

Latest EP (February 2020) "COOL" is available on BandCamp (digital only): https://bruceirving.bandcamp.com/
It is also on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon Music, and other music streaming sites.
I'm a singer-songwriter in Central Massachusetts (www.bruceirving.com, http://flyingsinger.blogspot.com). I have five albums available at BandCamp.com, Spotify, and many other online music sites: "Jardin du Luxembourg" (2003),  "Message from Tomorrow" (2010),  "Look at You" (2013), "Center Of It All" (2018), and "COOL" (2020 EP).

Tinkerbell Lost In Space

FlyingSinger