Play piano like Hans Zimmer

Spitfire Hans Zimmer

Virtual instrument developer Spitfire Audio adds a piano collection to its signature range from Academy Award-winning soundtrack writer Hans Zimmer

Purveyors of virtual instruments from musical samples, Spitfire Audio announces availability of Hans Zimmer Piano — its fourth collaboration with the Academy Award-winning Hollywood film-scoring supremo. On this occasion, the developers have turned their attention to creating the latest addition to their Signature range of sample-based virtual instruments for Native Instruments’ KONTAKT platform in a “…once-in-a-lifetime…” opportunity to create a top-of-its-class writing tool.

Says a semi-serious Hans Zimmer: “This is one of the most beautiful pianos I know in one of the most beautiful halls. People always forget that music sort of happens between very quiet and sort of middle volumes, as opposed to everybody else giving you a lot of loud notes. I’m not regretting it. Everybody at Spitfire’s probably regretting it, because there’s no sleep for the wicked… and they’re very, very wicked boys, those Spitfire chaps! So, that’s why we did it — because it always inspired me.”

Hans Zimmer Piano passes the combined signals of over 60 microphones through Neve ‘AIR Montserrat’ preamps put through a Neve 88R console before blossoming into 24-bit/96kHz digital audio via high-end Prism Sound AD convertors. The final version of the resulting Hans Zimmer Piano was refined by technicians working alongside piano players to test it using a number of different keyboard controllers — including Hans Zimmer’s LMK4+ MIDI master-keyboard model from Doepfer Musikelektronik back in the ‘old country‘.

“For days and days of actual recordings and actual session time, the idea being that we really wanted to do this in such a way that we never wanted to go back in and do it again — to really try and produce something that, for us, was the kind of ultimate sampled grand piano in a beautiful room! We really have honed and honed and honed this piano, so I think people will have a lot of fun using this,“ explained Spitfire Audio Director, Paul Thomson. “It’s about inspiration. We wanted to design an instrument that is really flexible, that has lots of great sounds in it, but, ultimately, what you want to do is sit, start playing, and feel and hear that sound and just go, ‘Wow!’ The beauty of a beautiful piano recorded in a beautiful space… that’s what it’s all about.”

Spitfire Audio’s Hans Zimmer Piano can be purchased and downloaded directly for an introductory promotional price of £299. For more details, visit spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/hans-zimmer-piano/ and watch Hans himself introduce his new namesake piano sample-based virtual instrument library below…

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