Native Instruments Intros NOIRE Grand Piano

Native Instruments has introduced NOIRE, a new KONTAKT instrument that captures the grand piano sound of composer and pianist Nils Frahm.

The instrument – which includes both pure and felt preparation versions of a Yamaha CFX 9’ concert grand – was sampled in the rich ambient environment of Saal 3 in Berlin’s Funkhaus recording complex.

Two sample sets – ‘pure’ and felt: Noire offers two distinct grand piano sample sets. The ‘pure’ version presents the clear, unadulterated tone of Nils Frahm’s custom concert grand piano, captured in a renowned recording studio. The felt version is the same piano, in the same room, but with a felt moderator between hammers and strings, which creates a gentler tone with reduced attack. Noire users can modify the sound of both versions by adjusting attack, release, resonance, overtones, velocity curve, temperament, and more.

Extensive creative customization options, and particles engine: Noire provides an array of creative options so that users can make the sound their own. Users can add natural and mechanical noises to enhance realism, dial in sub bass, alter the spectral character of the instrument, and choose from sound design effects to transform the instrument’s sound. Noire also offers EQ, compression, reverb, and delay for fine-tuning the piano’s place in the mix. Noire also incorporates an innovative particles engine that automatically generates pulsating, swirling harmonic elements based on what users play.

To create Noire, Nils Frahm’s concert grand piano was carefully sampled by Uli Baronowsky and Galaxy Instruments, using vintage microphones and preamps in Saal 3 of Berlin’s Funkhaus Nalepastrasse recording complex – once the home of East German state radio. Previous collaborations among Native Instruments, Uli and Galaxy Instruments have been Una Corda, Thrill, The Definitive Piano Collection, Rise & Hit, and The Giant releases.

Here are s0me additional demos, via In The Mix:

Pricing and availability

Native Instruments’ Noire runs in Kontakt 6 and the free Kontakt 6 Player, and is available now at the NI Online Shop for $149 USD / 149 € / ¥ 18800 / GBP £129 / AUD $219 / CAD $199.

Additional information is available at the Native Instruments website.

3 thoughts on “Native Instruments Intros NOIRE Grand Piano

  1. I recently bought The Grandeur, which is an amazing piano for Kontakt. In addition to being an excellent piano with marvelous adjustability, and very clever programming under the hood, it also has very good mono-compatibility. This product proves that you can have a very nice stereo spread without much destructive phase cancellation. They knew what they were doing.

    In listening to the demo of the NOIRE, if I press the “mono” button on my monitor set-up, most of the quality disappears. They don’t appear to have given much of a thought to mono compatibility in their recording process. Perhaps the instrument panel gives you some control over microphone selection– which might be able to mitigate that issue.

    My console piano at home has a felt bar and I really love that sound. It is somewhat like a low-pass, but it does something lovely to the attack. Very tranquil sounding.

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