Mule Piano

MULE PIANO is a piano library for Kontakt that offers a palette of unusual multi-sampled piano sounds, designed for composers and storytellers seeking instruments with genuine character.
It's a Bechstein grand piano that's been lovingly mistreated—wedged with corks, laced with paper, strangled with jewelry chain, tickled with rubber mallets.

Specs:

• 23 patches.
• 2,897 samples.
• 3.5 GB of grit and glory.
• Runs in Kontakt (retail).

Highlights? There's the Paper Grand, where cigarette paper turns the hammers into butterflies. The Cork Piano, all thuddy and woody like a ship's belly. The SPZZ Grand, draped in chain, sounding like a piano that's been through a few bad marriages. And the Mallet Grand, struck with rubber and carrying echoes of gamelan temples.

But here's the kicker: unlike a lot of "prepared" pianos, this one's consistent. Every patch has its own world, the same character across the whole keyboard. So you can actually play it—make it sing, groan, whisper—without it sounding like a junk drawer falling down a flight of stairs.

If you're tired of shiny pianos that sparkle too clean, and you want something with a busted smile and a heart of gold, The Mule Piano is waiting.