Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5/5 Stars
Does the world need another piano library? A fair question, but in this case I’d say yes, because although this library takes the vibrating piano string as its source, few of Pianesque’s patches sound anything like a piano. The focus of this library, which requires the full version of Kontakt 6.4.2 or later, is based on the sonic manipulation of the sound coming from the piano strings after the hammer impact. Given the modest price of this library and the sounds it is able to conjure up, I have to concede that Wrongtools have come up with something very musical and evocative that is rather different from what you might expect. The ethos is similar to that of the company’s Pianotron instrument but with a gentler focus.
Apparently an Ebow, regular bow and other techniques were applied to a prepared piano, so although some of the sounds have soft, percussive decays, others sound like drifting pads, floaty harmonics or bowed instruments. The result is a set of sounds well suited to creating a sense of atmosphere, emotional calm, ambience or for use as cinematic backdrops.
Pianesque is a 4.4GB library with 90 patches built from 1131 samples. Its straightforward control set allows adjustment over Volume, Reverb, Delay, LFO, Vibrato, Dynamics and Low‑pass Filter via faders to the left of the window. To the right are further sliders that relate to the balance between layers in the current preset. The number of faders varies from patch to patch. Various effect combinations can be added with control via a central X/Y pad as used in previous Wrongtools instruments. The 10 effect combinations are named, but to hear what effects they actually produce you just have to try them. The effect name assigned to the pad is shown to the right of the cog settings icon. Click on the effect name or down arrow to open up the effects options.
The library is arranged as seven Kontakt instrument folders (one is called ‘iano’ to signify the start is missing), and as the library is not installed via Native Access, you have to locate the samples via Kontakt’s Load function. Once loaded you can scroll through the sounds for that instrument using the arrows to the right of the patch name. Master controls allow for mono or stereo playback along with tuning, pan and volume adjustment.
While the range of sounds available varies from gentle and drifting to glassy, they all have in common that they sound organic rather than electronically generated, though some take on pad‑like attributes that suggest just about anything other than a piano. The most percussive sounds are more reminiscent of resonant bowls, muted wind chimes and experimental lo‑fi electric pianos, while others, with slow‑fade‑ins, blur the line between synth, organ and string timbres. The ability to bring in effects adds further variation, especially if you choose those of a more granular nature and to add more movement (the X/Y pad cursor can be automated). A nice touch is that the attack of some of the more percussive sounds changes each time you hit a note, adding interest and enhancing the sense that the sound comes from a physical instrument.
There are some truly lovely sounds to be had, most with a misty, diffuse character, and seeing what changes you can bring about simply by swapping out the effects is a lot of fun.
While the default for some instruments is not to have the X/Y pad effects active, they can be brought into play if needed and these can really change the character of a sound in abstract and atmospheric ways. Everything sounds musical, with many patches being good candidates to use as beds behind melodies. There’s a lot of scope for moulding the factory offerings into something new without getting bogged down in complicated menus and parameter lists. If you are looking for something that’s both evocative and organic and that hints at the characteristics of real instruments without actually being them, then Pianesque has much to commend it. There are some truly lovely sounds to be had, most with a misty, diffuse character, and seeing what changes you can bring about simply by swapping out the effects is a lot of fun.