Publisher : Antiquity Music
Website : Antiquity Music
Format : KONTAKT
Quality : 24 bit 96 kHz stereo
Description : ELECTRIC BAROQUE REVIVAL
Widely known as the Baldwin® electric harpsichord, the Baldwin® Combo harpsichord originated in the early 1960s under the auspices of the short-lived harpsichord manufacturer The Cannon Guild. Founded by harpsichord builder Eric Herz, the firm supported an inventor named Caleb Warner, whose idea eventually became the Baldwin® electric harpsichord for solids. Soon the design was sold to Baldwin Piano, which produced it with the hope that a surge of music influenced by the baroque of the 1960s would turn it into a success. However, in the end, only about 500 of these tools were released.
You will need the full version of Native Instruments’ Kontakt 5.5
The Baldwin® Combo Harpsichord has been used in numerous pop songs, most famously on the Beatles song “Because”. An introduction to some of the sounds of the Baldwin® electric harpsichord can be heard on Youtube. It is is equally at home in classical and pop music, though it has been used more often in the latter. However, the prospect of tuning the instrument kept many bands from using it. The Beach Boys toured with one, but they also brought a piano tuner to get it ready for every gig. Now that it’s in digital form, hopefully the Baldwin® harpsi sound will find its way back into more music.
HOW IT WORKS
This unique electro-mechanical instrument marries the modern pop timbre of the electric guitar with that of the classical harpsichord, creating a unique sound entirely its own. It features a solid aluminum body with a red formica soundboard, above which a 57-string array is amplified by two pairs of passive pickups. The resulting signal is balanced through a dual volume pedal system. The mellow middle pickup and the brighter bridge pickup each have a very pleasing timbre, and sound even better when mixed together. It also has a damper pedal, which allows the player to create an additional spectrum of sounds ranging from a muted guitar to a pizzicato violin.
ANTIQUITY MUSIC’S ELECTRIC HARPSICHORD
Antiquity Music has sold at least twenty Baldwin® combo harpsichords over the years. We sampled the best-sounding one for our Electric Harpsichord virtual instrument. We revoiced and regulated the jacks so that the instrument would play exactly the way it did when it left the factory in the 1960’s. Then we recorded every note with three damper settings, from an open string with no damping to heavy muting without bending the pitch. Both pickup sets were recorded simultaneously through a Great River MP-2NV DI and Mytek 8X192 converter.
When making the controls for this virtual instrument, a faithful recreation of the pickup switch box was added, giving the user exacting control over blending each pickups’ output, but with volume and panning capability.
– 6 GB Core Sample Library – Over 800 Samples
– 24 bit 96 kHz Sampling
– 3 Round Robin Layers
– 3 Damper Pedal Articulations
– Every Note Sampled
– Customizable Velocity Response
– VST AU RTAS Standalone
– Compatible with Kontakt 5.5+
