Realsamples has announced the release of its new Dutch Harpsichord - Edition Beurmann sample library with presets available for all common sample formats including HAlion, Kontakt, EXS24, Independence, MachFive, Reason NN-XT, VSampler3 and GigaStudio. The sample library contains nearly 3700 single samples.

The Dutch Harpsichord library offers an original harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers Sr. built in 1628. Due to its two manuals and many registers, the Ruckers harpsichord offers lots of unique sounds, sampled with 6 different register combinations, including the upper 8', lower 8' (principal 8'), tutti, both 8' together, the 4' register as well as the lute stop.

Apparently the instruments of the Ruckers family represent the well-known and sought-after sound of Dutch harpsichords while ranking among the best harpsichords ever built. Their full and precious sound set out to influence the harpsichord designs in Spain, France, England and Germany.

Like all harpsichords, the Ruckers is not touch-sensitive. However, even if the differences are minuscule, no given note will sound exactly the same due to different resonances of body and strings. In order to improve upon previous recreations and to pay tribute to the liveliness and depth of this antique instrument, every sampled register was captured with up to 8 variations of each note. To complete the harpsichord experience, every register comes with 4 different release samples of each note.

Recorded in the great sounding rooms of the Hasselburg estate, active tube-driven Royer R-122V ribbon microphones as well as vintage Neumann TLM-170 microphones were used in conjunction with Crane Song Flamingo preamps and Universal Audio 2192 digital converters recorded in 192 khz/24 bits resolution.

Furthermore, the sample library contains an essay in German from Professor Andreas E. Beurmann himself, explaining both the historical and musical background of the instrument.

The Dutch Harpsichord library is available in 44.1/48 khz, 96 khz and 192 khz resolutions, starting at $139.95. The sounds can be purchased directly on the realsamples web site.