Modartt releases Hans Ruckers II Harpsichord for Pianoteq (+updated to v5.6.0)

Modartt has announced the release of the Hans Ruckers II harpsichord for Pianoteq (which has been updated to v5.6.0).

A Renowned Instrument
Harpsichords by the Ruckers family are praised for their superb tone, thanks to the instrument maker's understanding of the harmonic aspects. Comparable with what the Stradivarius is for the violin family, the name of Ruckers has a similar quality aspect for the harpsichords.

About the modelled harpsichord
The physical model is based on a copy by Matthias Griewisch of a Hans Ruckers II le Jeune (1624). The instrument maker, also known by the name Joannes Ruckers, was one of two sons of Hans Ruckers who continued in the family craft.

Extended features
This virtual instrument offers an extension of the original instrument, from 4½ to 6½ octaves, and is equipped with the three registers — lower 8', upper 8', and 4' — which can be combined in ways not even possible in the real world. Besides a sustain pedal and a soft pedal, there is also a buff stop pedal and a bassoon pedal which allow to adjust the contact with the strings in order to bring a muted sound or rattling noise.

Download & Try
The Hans Ruckers II harpsichord is included in the new Harpsichord Instrument Pack for Pianoteq. It can be purchased for 49€/$59, and requires the latest update 5.6. The instrument is available for evaluation in the free trial version of Pianoteq, which can be downloaded from www.pianoteq.com, where you can also listen to audio samples.

Changes in Pianoteq 5.6.0:

• New instrument: the Ruckers Harpsichord, with its 3 registers.
• The 'lute stop' pedal has been renamed as 'buff stop'. Its sound has been largely improved.
• The control nodes in the velocity / equalizer editor can now be moved with the keyboard arrows.
• The Linux LV2 plugin version has been brought up-to-date (no more deprecated extensions).
• Support for multichannel keyboard mappings has been introduced in Pianoteq std/pro, allowing full keyboard range on scales with up to 128 notes per octave, with keyboards such as terpstrakeyboard.