realsamples Releases Dulcitone Celesta Sample Library

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.

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.

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, realsamples 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 realsamples 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, available in 44.1/48 khz, 96 khz and 192 khz resolution, starting at $79.95. The sounds can be purchased directly on the realsamples website on CD and DVD.

Sound samples and information on the Dulcitone Celesta library: http://www.sampling-cds.com/index.html?d_603_Dulcitone_Celesta___Edition_Beurmann238.htm

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