Glacier Keys: Cinematic Piano Harmonics

Glacier Keys is a collection of piano harmonics for the FREE Kontakt Player. 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.

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.

More info and demos at https://fracturesounds.com/product/glacier-keys/