Developer Sound Dust has released Drift Free – Bad Pianos, a free wonky-tonk piano for Kontakt.
We aren’t short of free virtual pianos, and while I can never have too many, some people might be thinking enough is enough.
But, if you’re in the enough-is-enough camp, don’t tune out just yet because this piano is a little different.
With their latest release, Sound Dust is leaning into the thought that something can be so bad, it’s good.
Although that train of thought is absolutely valid and undoubtedly true of instruments with the character that can only come from imperfection, it should be explored cautiously.
In 2006, Kevin Federline walked into the studio, seemingly with a plan to record an album so incredibly bad that the only logical outcome was that it would become the greatest album of all time.
K-Fed’s plan didn’t end as hoped, and his music was universally lambasted by all who heard it. I think critics who label the album a complete failure are extremely harsh; after all, he nailed the first part of the plan.
In this case, bad is good in the form of Drift Free – Bad Pianos (requires the full version of Kontakt 6.7.1 or higher).
If you don’t have the full version of Kontakt, check out Dust Piano from Westwood Instruments, it’s great.
The library features a multi-sampled bad piano, which I’m sure will be nostalgic for some of our readers (or perhaps you’re lucky enough to own a bad piano still).
My first acoustic piano was terrible on paper; the action was so tiring, playing fast was a workout, the tone was dull, the keys were chipped, some keys would stick, and I missed it.
Sound Dust highlights the imperfections that make a bad piano so charming.
In addition to the physical imperfections of the source instrument shaping the tonal character, we can morph and mangle the sound in various ways, thanks to Sound Dust’s Drift Engine.
One of the nicest features is the ability to use aftertouch to trigger subtle pitch bends, exaggerating the drifting nature of old pianos.
You can introduce more prominent effects, like tremolo, BPM-synced wow and flutter, and noise, and explore the morph EQ knob with 100 presets.
The Girth setting adds up to eight voices of detuned chaos. You can also create a pulsing character with BPM-synced bipolar ducking modulators.
The library includes 50 custom IR reverbs and a nice surprise with the mod-wheel (the mod-wheel has custom settings per sound).
Drift Free – Bad Pianos is a lot of fun, but it’s not a gimmick for laughs; it’s an instrument packed with character.
If you want to take the library even further, you can check out the 60REWIRES upgrade, featuring 60 themed snapshots.
Download: Free Drift-Bad Pianos (FREE – requires the full version of Kontakt 6.7.1 or higher)
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