realsamples has announced the imminent release of eight antique instruments from the renowned historical keyboard instrument collection of Professor Andreas E. Beurmann.

The realsamples "Edition Beurmann" includes 8 libraries of selected 17th to 20th century-built instruments: 3 grand pianos, 3 harpsichords, a dulcitone celesta and a spinet:

• English Spinet by Thomas Hitchcock, London 1718
• Italian Harpsichord by Pierluigi, Livorno 1579
• Dutch Harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers, Antwerpen 1628
• English Harpsichord by Jacob Kirckman, London 1766
• Grand Piano (Pianoforte) by Pierre Erard, London 1835
• Grand Piano (Pianoforte) by Johann Andreas Stein, Augsburg 1791
• Dulcitone Celesta by Dyson & Sons, London 1910
• Grand Piano (Pianoforte) by Traugott Berndt, Breslau 1848

Each instrument contains several gigabytes of samples for an authentic representation. All pianos were multisampled with 32 velocity layers for each note. Harpsichords and spinets – albeit not being touch responsive but breathing as well – were captured with 8 velocity layers for each note, containing all the different stops and registers.

Professor Andreas E. Beurmann, born 1928, co-founded the record company Miller International in 1961, originating the radio play label Europa shortly after. At this time, Beurmann began to build his collection of old instruments which now ranks among the world's most precious selections of historical instruments. It is partly on display at the "Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe" in Hamburg, Germany.

The cooperation of Beurmann and realsamples now makes these instruments available to be played both at the museum in Hamburg, where a GigaStudio system is to be installed, and in your personal studio by using realsamples' upcoming libraries.

These sample libraries are recorded in 192 khz/24 bits resolution, employing the latest technology of tube-driven Royer ribbon microphones as well as old Neumann classics. Lower sample rates (96/48/44.1 khz) will also be available.

The instruments will be available in all current sample formats including HALion, Kontakt, EXS24, Independence, MachFive, Reason NN-XT, VSampler3 and GigaStudio, amongst others.

The release of these new libraries is scheduled for November/December 2007.