Home / Plugins / Orchestral / Upright Piano
by 99Sounds
8/10 Upright Piano is a freeware piano plugin based on samples recorded by Rudi Fiasco and released by 99Sounds. I like how it can sound realistic or lo-fi depending on your settings. The built-in filter, tremolo, and reverb create a lovely tape-like vibe, and dialing the effects back reveals surprisingly natural source samples. Key-release samples and envelope controls let you adjust the attack and release times, and raising the key-release volume brings a more intimate, creaky character forward.
This is the piano I reach for when a beat needs that dusty, nostalgic top layer. It loads in about a second and barely registers on the CPU meter, which makes it ideal for older machines and for stacking multiple instances. The limitation comes from the fact that the sampling isn’t fully chromatic and the dynamic layering is shallow next to the big grands higher up this list, so expressive solo performances aren’t its lane.
I like to treat it as a character instrument and a sketching tool, and it delivers every time. Verdict: The fastest route to a warm lo-fi piano, and a fine realistic upright in a pinch.
Links to 99sounds.org — the article includes the official download links.
Orchestral
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