FI-01

Lekko

Name: Lekko
Brand: Felt Instruments
SKU: FI-01
Price: 59 GBP
Availability: InStock

A 1970s Scandinavian upright, sampled as quietly as possible.

VST3, AU, AAX plugin

Cotton laid between the hammers and strings of a 1970s Scandinavian upright, the preparation behind the Lekko felt piano plugin.

A Dynacord Echocord Super tube tape echo, part of the hardware chain used in the Lekko felt piano sessions.

story

I wasn't looking for a perfect piano. I was looking for a fragile one. Three months and about twenty uprights later, I found one that sounded just right.

A small Scandinavian upright, built for living rooms in the 1970s. I sampled it at the edge of silence: a thin strip of cotton between the hammers and the strings, played so softly it was barely audible in the room. The soft-piano idea, pushed to the extreme.

The Lekko plugin does one thing: the softest, most fragile sound you can get out of a piano. I think it does that like nothing else out there. Every sample starts where the key goes down, not where the note begins, and the all-tube chain magnifies everything in between. If you loved Nils Frahm's Felt, you'll love Lekko, too.

Played at the edge of quiet

Cotton laid between the hammers and the strings, and an all-tube chain on the way in.

Kept as played

Multiple takes of every note, deeply sampled down to the mechanical noises - nothing cleaned up or evened out afterwards.

Two instruments in one

The upright as it stands, and a second one built by splicing tape until the piano is gone.

every update is free

Buy it once, and you get all future versions and improvements.

in the room

A Neumann KM-54 tube microphone copy set close to the hammers of a 1970s Scandinavian upright, recorded for the Lekko felt piano plugin.

see how it was recorded

“My go-to piano. It sounds exactly as my own upright piano I use in my studio, but I never succeeded in recording it as nice.”

Trentemøller

“Unlike any other soft or felt piano on the market.”

Sample Library Review

Acoustic

This is the upright itself, several takes of every note. Soft sustains that answer a little differently each time you press a key. Irregular tremolos that swirl when you hold a chord, steered by how hard you play. Hand-muted shorts that ring out as you lean in.

Super-Soft Sustains

Tremolo

Muted Shorts

Afterglow

The Afterglow patches push the acoustic out of recognition: the same blur that runs through Hildur Guðnadóttir's Chernobyl and the Annihilation soundtrack. Shaped by tape and electroacoustic techniques until they drift, thicken and collapse. Some sit at the edge of the mix; others swell until they swallow it.

Most of the patches are MPE-ready*, so each note bends and breathes on its own under your fingers. Very few sampled pianos let you play like that.

* available on Sunrise, Fade In, Tears In The Rain and Yellow Dreams

Sunrise

Yellow Dreams

Tears In The Rain

Fade In

Half-Speed Sustains

Quarter-Speed Sustains

pricing

Lekko
A 1970s Scandinavian upright, sampled as quietly as possible.
Starters Bundle
Lekko bundled with Ciemno, a 1970s electric piano, pushed somewhere darker 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.

try it free

Play it as quietly as you can manage. That is where Lekko lives. 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: Super-soft sustains, irregular tremolos, hand-muted shorts.
range: C1–C6, multiple round-robins.
Afterglow articulations: Drifting cinematic textures, half- and quarter-speed sustains. MPE on all but two patches.
manual: The Lekko manual covers every control.
size: 6.9 GB
licence: One licence per user, install on as many machines as you personally use. All future updates are free.

You might also enjoy

A 1963 Hohner Basset bass synthesizer, sampled up close for the Nisko sub bass plugin. — A 1960s sub bass, sampled straight to tape

$35

The tines and dampers inside a Hohner Pianet T, the 1970s electric piano sampled for Ciemno. — A 1970s electric piano, pushed somewhere darker

$35

A 1960s Hohner Guitaret, the rare tine instrument sampled for the Jasno plugin. — A rare 1960s Guitaret, plucked, struck and granulated

$69

Explore more