Pianobook is a project by Spitfire Audio founder Christian Henson that embraces the joy of sampling.
This is something that I only discovered very recently whilst searching for free piano soundfonts.
Pianobook's main focus is radically different from commercial, high quality virtual instruments: creating something unique and embracing any of its imperfections.
This one madlad sampled a piano in the middle of a busy metro station, letting all crowd noises and train squeaks scream in the background. Using his smartphone. And it sounds incredible:
Demo:
Pianobook page: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/library/kings-cross-london-undergound/
Most instruments are available in three formats:
- SFZ, for use in sforzando, sfizz etc.)
- DecentSampler, a new open spec sampler platform
- Kontakt
Henson has developed the "monolith" workflow for recording a piano sample that is instantly playable.
Go take a dive!