33 years of harsh weather conditions and radiation, 33 years of silence, 33 years of hopeless expectation of human touch. PRIPYAT Pianos is a sound museum, created 33 years after a massive man-made disaster that has affected hundreds of thousands of lives. This is the mark of the elapsed time.
$14.99 $199.00
33 years of harsh weather conditions and radiation, 33 years of silence, 33 years of hopeless expectation of human touch. PRIPYAT Pianos is a sound museum, created 33 years after a massive man-made disaster that has affected hundreds of thousands of lives. This is the mark of the elapsed time.
For seven years our team has made more than 25 trips to the city of Pripyat for detailed collection of audio materials. We’ve found and recorded 20 instruments in various parts of Pripyat that are of different levels of preservation and functionality. This amount of instruments was necessary to create a tool suitable not only for sound design, but also for writing compositions. Our goal was to create a virtual instrument which will show the nature of the degradation of instruments under the effects of harsh weather conditions and radiation, yet which also would have the most pure sound. All the pianos we could find participated in the creation of the final sound.
One of the important features of PRIPYAT Pianos is the Impulse Responses collection for Convolution Reverb, recorded in well-known and not-so-known Pripyat sites, including the territory of the tragically known Chernobyl NPP. A series of rooms and open spaces from Pripyat are at your disposal. Some presets are more invisible and will give a light shade to the sound of the instrument, and others will convey the scale of city structures or internal structures of the 5th power unit of the ChNPP.
Age Knob – a slider that changes the instrument’s behavior depending on the years of degradation from 1986 to 2019. The regulator allows you to hear almost untouched sound of notes from 1986. You can add special, lively notes, creating a unique sound with small age changes from 1986 and up, or a radical change installing 2019, which represents the current sound of the instruments at the moment. The sound of 1986 was created using the most suitable pianos and their keys. However, even they have string artifacts that we decided to leave to preserve authenticity.
Each of the 23 presets is supplemented with a photo of the place where the Impulse-Response was recorded, a brief description and the current level of gamma radiation in that particular location. Simply select the place you like from the drop-down list, touch the keys and feel the atmosphere of the Dead City. The main elements of control are the distance to the instrument, the ability to shorten the start of samples, adjusting the opening of the instrument lid, the convolution reverb control, as well as more detailed elements in the form of overtones, keystrokes, sustain pedal mechanism, dampers and the layer of sympathetic resonance, which was collected from 20 recorded pianos.
At the end of each trip, shoes and clothes were thrown away or thoroughly washed out taking into account the radiation contamination of the soil, asphalt and dust particles in the air.
Unfortunately, radiation accumulates in the human body, summing up to the dose that has already been received and will not be removed from the body throughout life, some isotopes will be active for thousands of years, i.e. much later than our death. We shortened our lives to create a truly unique instrument.
You’ve captured an amazing composite slice of history with PRIPYAT Pianos. It’s the true culmination of my obsession with Ryuichi Sakamoto’s water-damaged piano and Tarkovsky/Strugatsky Bros.’ Stalker. I’ve already been using it on multiple projects and enjoying all the nuances — I especially enjoy the “time travel” control to detune it, the unique convolution atmospheres you’ve captured and how incredibly gritty the pedal and key noise can sound. A remarkable standout in a crowded field of piano virtual instruments!
The tone is really really good, very unique but also very rich. You did a great job capturing the samples. The idea of using convolution reverb as a basis for new and interesting presets is executed very well here. A lot of other convolution verb libraries don’t do a good job with this, you do. The UI is awesome, particularly the bottom part, very clear, but also very unique controls.
I have recently wrote music using the PRIPYAT Pianos library, and I find it extremely impressive. The samples are very unique and powerful. I can use it for so many projects that required this kind of eerie and disturbing ambiance. The Kontakt instrument is very easy to manipulate and enhance. The pre made patches are very interesting and inspiring. I HIGHLY recommend this library!
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pavel zhuravel (verified owner) –
Okay, I must say, Im so blown away by the sheer quality of the sound, but that is not even the subject of the conversation I own everything from EastWest Pianos Diamond, to synthogy’s ivory and everything in between.. this is just as good but with a mind bending twist.. I was there 33 years ago, Chernobyl , now I live all the way across the world and every time I think of those times and that area from distant memories , as a composer I get a certain music in not head more like a sound… when I put any fingers on this pianos I almost died.. it gives you exactly the same feeling as my memories give me and the same sound too. absolutely Nailed guys, I’m putting your company on my to buy list. definitely as high end as the big guys
Anonymous (verified owner) –
High quality samples. Unique and creepy.
Joseph Ward (verified owner) –
Great value for the money, the pianos are great !
Aaron Householter (verified owner) –
Great, Love it!!
Thomas (verified owner) –
Interesting idea of implementing the rememberance of the catastrophic accident in Tchernobyl NPP into an instrument library. I like it
Anonymous (verified owner) –
This sound tool has a magical appeal in that it can instantly take on a seemingly ordinary song and give it a profound message.
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Excellent! Horror in piano form. Very unusual and addictive.