Are you in need of a new piano sound in your DAW? Take a gander at this offering from Imagiro, called the Shearwater Piano for macOS and Windows.
It’s a virtual instrument in VST3, AU, and AAX format made from a piano meticulously sampled by professional engineers at the Shearwater studio in England.
According to the developer, the piano dates back to the 1800s and was refurbished in 1980 giving it a mellow tone from its original walnut housing with added clarity from new strings and mechanics.
The free version has a cozy-looking UI and a minimal feature set, but the sound is nice. You can access the main piano sound, a basic tone slider, and output controls that adjust width and overall gain.
Furthermore, Shearwater Piano Lite has velocity sensitivity settings and micro-tuning capabilities, making it a much more flexible tool.
If you feel like the lite version is too limited, the full version costs $40. It has two additional sound modes called “tape” and “paper”, a “mics” section, and an FX section.
“Mics” have a basic EQ for added clarity and a “room” function that creates additional width and depth. You can then access the “pro” section where you get to blend different microphones like condensers, overhead, fet and more to really craft your own tone.
The FX section has a “wobble” effect to create movement and a “pad” that beefs up the sound with sustained atmospheric tones.
Tape mode is sampled through a real tape machine for that nostalgic vibe. The “mic” panel is now swapped with additional FX in the form of a bitcrusher and a noise engine.
The noise only plays as long as the piano is active before it softly trails off, which is great. Plugins that constantly output static noise can be a major annoyance in big projects.
I’m not sure what paper mode is doing, but it sounds plucky and mellow. My guess would be that the strings were dampened with paper before sampling.
Other than that, it has the same controls as the main piano mode.
The Shearwater Piano is a nice-sounding instrument. The freebie is very limited but is fitted with the controls you need to make elementary adjustments in a mixing situation. If you’re tired of your instrument library, this might be something to check out.
If you’re in the mood for something crazier, be sure to look up the Moody Pianophones by Black Chai Audio that we covered earlier this year!
Download: Shearewater Piano (Lite version – FREE / Full version – $40)
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