FI-05

Ciemno

A 1970s electric piano, pushed somewhere darker.

VST3, AU, AAX plugin

Hands playing a Hohner Pianet T, the 1970s electric piano recorded straight from its pickup for the Ciemno plugin.Playing a Hohner Pianet T by a window, the 1970s electric piano sampled for Ciemno.The tines and dampers inside a Hohner Pianet T, the 1970s electric piano sampled for Ciemno.A Hohner Pianet T with its lid open, the 1970s electric piano behind the Ciemno plugin.

story

The Pianet was built to sit between a piano and a Rhodes. It sounds like neither. I had other plans for it.

A real Hohner Pianet T, sampled note by note, then run through a chain of valve gear until it thickened and grew bolder. Play it softly and it turns dreamy, almost dissolving. Lean into the keys and it drives, the way tape does when you push it too far.

Two knobs on the plugin steer it from there. Resonance folds in the sampled body of an upright piano, pushing the Pianet somewhere more acoustic. Era winds the clock backwards; the further you go, the darker and less steady it gets. It stops sounding like an electric piano and becomes something Thom Yorke could bury on a cassette for a future civilisation to dig up.

Kept as played
Multiple takes of every note, deeply sampled down to the mechanical noises - nothing cleaned up or evened out afterwards.
A chain that can't be repeated
Every note went through a Gates Level Devil once owned by Nils Frahm, and a Maihak filter from the Polish Radio Experimental Studio.
Beyond the Pianet
Resonance folds in the body of an upright piano. Era winds the clock back, and the further you go the less steady it gets.
every update is free
Buy it once, and you get all future versions and improvements.
“A full sound that goes straight to the gut.”
Bonedo.de

Sounds

One patch: the Pianet, sustained. The three demos are the same instrument three ways: straight, then with Resonance leaning it towards an acoustic piano, then with Era winding it back into the past.

Out Of The Box
Resonance
Era

pricing

  • Ciemno

    A 1970s electric piano, pushed somewhere darker.

  • Starters Bundle

    Ciemno bundled with Lekko, a 1970s Scandinavian upright, sampled as quietly as possible and Nisko, a 1960s sub bass, sampled straight to tape.

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

The Ciemno plugin interface

try it free

Play it soft, then lean in. Ciemno travels a long way between the two. 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.
the sound
One electro-acoustic patch, with Echo, Reverb, EQ, Resonance and the Era control built in.
range
E1–E6
manual
The Ciemno manual covers every control.
size
800 MB
licence
One licence per user, install on as many machines as you personally use. All future updates are free.

Hohner and Pianet are trademarks of their respective owners. Felt Instruments is not affiliated with Hohner.