Sonora Cinematic Verticale €49 PC MAC

Creating the perfect felted upright piano takes time, perseverance and four layers of vertical felt!

Upright pianos have always been a popular instrument for conveying sensitive and intimate textures in production. Ranging from singer/songwriter material, to televisual scoring, the place of the upright is secure. However, this domain has been infiltrated in recent years, by the use of felts, creating an even softer and more intimate texture.

Upright and Verticale

The name Verticale is associated with the name given to upright pianos in Italy. The package itself constitutes a perfectly formed Kontakt instrument, which is NI library compliant, providing two patches; a natural upright piano, alongside a felted version of the same instrument. Unusually, and in something of a first, the felted iteration uses four layers of felt, rather than what would be the more usual single or double layers.

Regardless of piano version, there are three microphone signals available; large diaphragm condensers (AKG C414s) capture the room, while there is a choice of spot mic, provided by either small diaphragm condensers (Neumann KM 184) or ribbon mics (AEA N22s).

The relatively muted effect of the four layers of felt produces some interesting overtones. It is considerably muffled if compared to other examples of felt pianos on the market, resulting in a sonority of tone, particularly in the middle register. This area might require some equalisation, while the upper register is utterly sublime. It’s not overly bright, but still pure, while adding a degree of reverberation results in a singing quality, which is hugely appealing.