REQ: Felt Instruments Bardzo Due Corde grand piano
different by design
Bardzo brings a unique grand piano with two strings per key and no resonance board under your fingertips. Bigger than the una corda, more intimate than your standard posh grand. A piano that feels like nothing else out there. An extension of your voice. A statement piece.
The original instrument was Made in low quantities in the 1970s, with a promise of creating a grand piano that could be semi-portable. it wasn’t. nor did it sound like a normal grand piano. Today, in a world where most pianos sound the same, it’s finally a good thing.
sampled humanly and processed entirely in the analogue domain, using unobtanium tube gear (including a pair of neumann KM54s, previously used by Nils Frahm on his recordings), the sound of bardzo is not vintage: It’s timeless. Say hello to your new go-to character grand.
far out left field
a set of beautifully sampled creative preparations allows you to explore timbres that take the piano into the twilight zone.
from timbres evoking a buzzy sound of a balafon, two different kinds of mallets, to playing the piano with dismantled rods of a marxophone (a bizzare zither-like instrument, played with metal hammers mounted on spring-like rods, sold door-to-door in the 1920s), Bardzo is ready to take you as deep into the left field as you dare.
the afterglow
the acoustic part is complimented by the afterglow patches. rooted in the tradition of 1950s electronic explorations, this unique collection of sounds turns the whole studio into an instrument.
amps, mid-century filters, test equipment, spring reverbs, soviet synths and toy flutes (pushed through way too much compression) meet cutting-edge granular processing, 12-bit samplers and tape.
it’s like taking a trip down a time tunnel that goes both ways. some things are brought back from the past. some come from the future. some came from god knows where. one thing is certain: they sound dirty as hell.
IT REALLY IS DIFFERENT
Bardzo was born to bring you a grand piano that’s unlike any other out there. One that would feel comfortable not playing chopin. THE unique mechanical construction of the instrument IS CLOSER TO THAT OF A UNA CORDA, RATHER THAN A TYPICAL GRAND. IT’S equally LUSH AND INTIMATE. multiple repetition samples on all acoustic articulations, a range of UNIQUE preparations and a one-of-a-kind signal path... There’s no other piano like it. And that’s the beauty of it.
And yes, there is noise, because - contrary to what we’re made to believe - it’s there where you record stuff. If you were wondering why most sampled instruments sound like liquid plastic, this is it - noise reduction sucks the tone and life away. If you hate noise, I’m sure there are other instruments that will fit your needs better.