Vertikal is the magnificent result of a multi-year collaboration between composer Nils Frahm and the development team at Galaxy Instruments. The virtual instrument is based on the deep sampling of a 4.5-meter-high piano designed and built by German-Latvian master piano maker David Klavins.
THE VERTIKAL GUI
Vertikal includes two instruments—Pure and Felt. Both can be used with the Particles engine, a generative processing section that creates cloud-like textures.
Playing with the Pure instrument, I was immediately struck by the thickness of the low end, as one might expect from strings that long. The sound was rich and loaded with harmonic goodness. Perfect for aggressive moving lines or sub-frequency sustained notes.
The Felt instrument has a subdued and understated softness that is quite lovely. Perfect for ambient textures and expressive underscoring.
VERTIKAL PIANO SECTION
The section includes some very responsive controls that can drastically alter the original samples, including: envelope settings, resonance, overtones, tone setting (sub, detuning, and the level of natural pain noise (mechanical, pedal, fabric). There are also presets that change the felt thickness and nature of the various fabrics placed between the hammers and the strings.
VERTIKAL EFFECTS SECTION
This area includes EQ, transient shaper, compressor, saturator, imager, room ambience settings, and tape emulation.
VERTIKAL SPATIAL EFFECTS PAGE
Here you can access convolution reverb and delay effects.
VERTIKAL GLOBAL SETTINGS
Here you’ll find pedal settings, tuning, and velocity sensitivity settings.
VERTIKAL PARTICLES PAGE
This is where the magic happens. You can get instantly satisfying results just by holding a chord and letting the algorithm do its thing. There are fantastic rhythmic and persuasive sounds available here, a full-featured 16-step sequencer, and a multitude of possibilities from combining the source and filter effects menus. It is extremely fun to experiment here.
PRODUCT DEMOS AND VIDEO
Video Walk-Through
Audio Demos on the Product Page
CONCLUSION
If you have Kontakt, you likely already own one, if not several, piano libraries. But I can safely say Vertikal will be a unique and welcome addition to your collection. It will add amazing growly low-end possibilities, sweet ambient textures, and fascinating generative, percussive, and melodic note clouds that can be useful in a multitude of scoring and music production contexts. Another great offering from Galaxy Instruments and NI!
EXTRAS
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