Free Sample: Microcassette Piano

Hi all,

A number of you have asked if I would release the rest of the piano samples I recorded in this video, so here they are! For those of you who don't know the backstory on this: this is a beat-up old upright piano that lives at a local rec center. I did a light sampling of this keyboard, recording every six notes on four different recorders (plus my iPhone).

Back home, I created four different versions of the same library – one from each recorder. When I played the same chord through each of them, I was struck by how wildly different they sounded: each recorder has its own personality.

What I discovered is that microcassette recorders transform the piano in fascinating ways. The limited frequency response creates an intimate, distant quality – like hearing a piano through a wall or from another room. The mechanical flutter of the tape adds subtle movement to sustained notes. And of course, there’s that unmistakable tape hiss…

This library captures all the charming imperfections and unique character of these obsolete devices – technology from 1989 repurposed for music-making today. As you'll hear, I have not done any noise reduction on these recordings. :)

Works with the free Decent Sampler plugin (VST, VST3, Audio Unit, AAX, and Standalone) which is available here for Windows, Mac, Linux, and iOS.

I'm attaching the sample library here, but the easiest way to download it is right through the plugin itself:

– Dave