Crystal Pianos

Sampling allows us to achieve the impossible—the only limitation is our imagination. While we don't make a habit of bragging, we're certain that Crystal Pianos is likely to become a sampling classic for our fellow music makers. This strange pilgrimage of being able to create piano-like instruments from single resonating sources is one that goes back 22 years for our samplist-in-residence Christian Henson. Inspired by the 1974 John Carpenter cult-classic "Dark Star", Christian always dreamed of having a piano like the one played by the astronaut in the film, where hammers struck bottles and glasses instead of strings. It wasn't until 2004, when he was tasked with composing a science fiction score, that Christian began his often frustrating attempts at recreating the essence of that scene from the Carpenter classic. It's taken 22 years of experimentation, but Henson feels we have finally cracked it. Our innovation "Shepherd Mapping" enables us to make entirely chromatic instruments from single objects that resonate at only one pitch. On this occasion, we've done this with 18 different glass objects; from wine glasses, to beakers, to bowls. Each piece of glassware was hand-picked for its unique sonic characteristics, ranging from intimate celeste-like tones all the way to a chorus of shimmering glass. Each offering provides you with 5 different playing styles: Hyper-detailed Hits, Muted Hits, Slow Ripples, Fast Ripples, and Rubs. Control the sonic characteristic of each glass via our unique "partial mixer" that enables you to tweak individual sonic components of the performances: Fundamentals (the most audible music note or root), Harmonics (the surrounding frequencies mapped into chromatic shepherd tones) and Transients (the strike tone, which asserts the material characteristics of the instrument and therefore doesn't change, even if the pitch of the other partials does). Create magical melodies that don't have the sentimental "Potter-Effect" of a celeste or glockenspiel. Orchestrate intricate contrapuntal tapestries or indeed oceans of rippling glass atmospheres to bring something new and unique to your music. Recorded in the ultra dry, super low noise-floor environment of Gorbals Sound Studios Glasgow with every note carefully curated and performed by our founder Christian Henson.