FI-07

Bardzo

A 1970s touring grand with two strings per key and no soundboard.

VST3, AU, AAX plugin

A Yamaha CP-80 recorded up close on a pair of Neumann KM-54 tube microphones into 1950s McCurdy AU300 tube preamps, for the Bardzo stage piano plugin.A vintage ribbon microphone above the strings of a Yamaha CP-80, recorded for the Bardzo stage piano plugin.

story

I wasn't looking for another Steinway. I was looking for a grand quiet enough that everything around the note comes through.

Yamaha built the CP80 in the 1970s as a stage piano for touring. To lose the weight they cut a real grand down to two strings per key instead of three and left out the soundboard. It carries a pickup for the stage. Played in a room, you can barely hear it. That quiet is what I sampled.

Recorded like this it sounds like a grand, but never the obvious one. The closest thing is the Una Corda, the one-string-per-key upright built for Nils Frahm; Bardzo is its grand-piano cousin. It sounds like a felted piano, and like a grand, and not quite like either.

Answers differently every time
Five takes of every note, across eight articulations and four microphone positions, all through vintage studio gear. 23 GB of it. Repeat a note and you get a different one.
A felted piano, with no felt
The quiet tone and the exposed mechanics come from the construction, not from anything laid over the strings. The dynamics are untouched.
Two instruments in one
The CP80 as it stands, and a second one made with tape, vintage synths and musique concrète techniques.
every update is free
Buy it once, and you get all future versions and improvements.
“It will be high on the list for artists looking for unique sonics.”
Sample Library Review

Acoustic

This is the CP80 itself, mic'd up close. The due-corde sustains never quite settle, full of the clunk of the action. Felt laid over the strings for an una corda hush, soft and rubber mallets played straight onto the strings, then further out: plucked harp tones, marxophone rods, and bell-like patches on the experimental side.

Due Corde Sustains
Una Corda Felt
Soft Mallets
Rubber Mallets
Balafonique
Marxophone Rods
Butter Fingers
Ghost Bells

Afterglow

A toy flute woven into a granulated string machine. 1950s tube test gear run through the body of the piano. Tape loops that drift in and out of sync with your DAW. Hold a note and the layers keep swelling and folding into each other until the piano is gone.

Every Afterglow patch is MPE-ready, so each note bends and breathes on its own under your fingertips.

A Glimpse Of Hope
Sine Tapes
Potemkin
Fragments

pricing

  • Bardzo

    A 1970s touring grand with two strings per key and no soundboard.

  • Neo-Classical Bundle

    Bardzo bundled with Blisko Violin, fragile shimmer at the top of the ensemble. Four microphone positions and Blisko Cello, the raw low end. Rumble, or soaring movement. Four microphone positions.

There are no sales at Felt. This is the price today and the price in December, for everyone.

The Bardzo plugin interface

try it free

Play a grand that feels nothing like the pianos already on your drive. There's no time limit on the trial, though the sound mutes now and then.

details

formats
VST3, AU, AAX · macOS 10.13+, Windows 10+ (64-bit). No Kontakt required: the plugin loads in your DAW like other plugins.
acoustic articulations
Due-corde sustains, una corda felt, soft and rubber mallets, experimental preparations and extended playing techniques.
Afterglow articulations
Cinematic avant-garde textures from tape, vintage synths and musique concrète techniques. All MPE-ready.
range
A-1–C7, five round-robins. Some prepared techniques cover a narrower range due to mechanical constraints.
manual
The Bardzo manual covers every control.
size
23.3 GB
licence
One licence per user, install on as many machines as you personally use. All future updates are free.

Yamaha and CP80 are trademarks of their respective owners. Felt Instruments is not affiliated with Yamaha.

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