realsamples releases Samples of a 100 year old Dulcitone Celesta tuning-fork piano

[MrVelvet]

“I gotta have more Dulcitone”

German-based sample manufacturer realsamples introduces a rare instrument to your virtual sampler – the Dyson & Sons Dulcitone tuning-fork piano. The library is part of the Edition Beurmann, a series of instruments out of the renowned historical keyboard instrument collection of Professor Andreas E. Beurmann.

The secret star of the Edition Beurmann - the „Dulcitone Celesta“ sample library.

Photo: Prof. Andreas E. Beurmann. Design: Mirjam Bayha.

Built around 1910, this unique instrument sports a vibrant, mellow and charming sound remeniscent of a vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba and a piano – yet a sound of its own full of patina.

At that time, it was inspiring to those looking for a new sound – Pjotr Tschaikowsky wrote some parts of his Nutcracker for a celesta like the dulcitone. Being a rather quiet instrument, it seemed unappropriate for orchestral use, so its parts were often played by a glockenspiel instead – luckily, this is not a problem in a sampler.

Back then, no one had ever dreamt that a celesta would be as relevant today as ever – being the acoustic ancestor of the most popular vintage electric pianos, which share the same basic sound principles.

Providing a warm and full bass, it carries more weight than a toy piano and is great for any track demanding an unconsumed yet familiar sound.

„This Track needs more Dulcitone“ says Gearwire.

Photo: Prof. Andreas E. Beurmann

An original Dulcitone celesta is very hard to play, offering a very rough-running, tight and limited dynamic response. Capturing the dynamic shades of the instrument, we recorded every note with eight different samples.

The Dyson & Sons owes a huge part of its character and life to the unique release sounds of its keys – hence we recorded these sounds as well, providing 4 varitions of each key release sound to complete the Dulcitone experience. Breathe life into your sampler! (sounds cheesy, right?)

These are the first samples recorded in 192 khz/24 bits resolution, employing vintage Neumann™ TLM-170® microphones through Crane Song™ preamps and Universal Audio™ 2192® converters. The library contains two versions of the instrument recorded with different stereo settings. It consists of nearly 1500 single samples.

The Dulcitone delivers – and it does so for all common sample formats, including presets for HAlion®, Kontakt®, EXS24®, Independence®, MachFive®, Reason® NN-XT®, VSampler3® and GigaStudio®, amongst others.

Get the most sought-after ancient tuning-fork piano with this unbelievable supreme superb special sample set (err… well, somewhat), available in 44.1/48 khz, 96 khz and 192 khz resolution, starting at 79.95 US $. The sounds can be purchased directly on the realsamples website on CD and DVD.

Sporting that new sound: Dyson & Sons Dulcitone (logo) - photo: Prof. Andreas E. Beurmann

Sound samples and information: realsamples Edition Beurmann Dulcitone Celesta library.

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

“It’s mind-boggling. Ever since I first heard it, I gotta have more Dulcitone,” says Nicolay Ketterer, head of realsamples, who led the sample recording sessions at the Hasselburg estate.


Background

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 this instrument available to be played both at the museum in Hamburg, where a GigaStudio® system is to be installed, as well as in your personal studio with this sample library.

The Edition Beurmann also features many other instruments (including historical pianos, harpsichords and a spinet) of the Beurmann collection. For further information, please visit realsamples.

[salomonander]

now that is sweet.
always wanted a good sounding celesta library.
still waiting for your double bass...are you working on it?

cheers
jakob

[MrVelvet]

Hey Jakob - great to hear from you! How are you? The double bass is on the list, but it will still take a little while - I'm waiting for the Wagner mics on that one...

[Ben J]

I love it.

[littledoodler]

wow, thats what I have been waiting for. You nailed it.

[MrVelvet]

Thanks! It's great to hear you like it - I appreciate it

[hitsville]

sounds amazing !!

by any chance, are you guys working on a clavinet ? :-D

[MrVelvet]

We already did one thumbsup - "Electric Piano Collection Vol.1"

[hitsville]

oops, didn't see that one

I was kinda let down by the mp3 demo though, not that it doesn't sound good, but I wish I could listen to the clav in 'full action' :-) By any chance are there any other demos floating around ?

[MrVelvet]

Unfortunately no song demos of the Clav at the moment... There will be some coming, but right now we're swamped with work finishing our new antique instruments thumbsup

[kieran kelly]

This sounds great

[reid]

Nico - is there a discount for Gearsluts? Couldn't see anything on the order form...

[MrVelvet]

Hey reid,

there is a GS discount 10 % on every item in our online shop until the end of February.

Just let me know you're at GS right after your order, and I'll process the total.

[Nordkrog]

Hi Nico.

Wow - that sounds great. I do have a european VAT-number. If I place the order will there be somewhere - alongside the apply for a GS-discount maybe ;-) - where I can submit this number in orer to not pay VAT?

ANd - oh - why nit offer these libraries as downloads? Are they THAT heavy?

Flemming

[MrVelvet]

Hey Flemming,

no problem, just e-mail me your EU VAT number after your order and you won't have to pay the VAT. (The GS discount applies too, of course )

We thought about offering them for download and this will probably happen in the near future, but - in case of the Erard Grand Piano, for example - the size is close to 10 GB in the smallest version (44.1 khz/16 bits). On the other hand, you have some resale value if you get the full package and DVDs.

And trust me here - the cover design looks so great you'll love to have that little gem right there in front of you