The ultimate virtual prepared piano experience, brought to you by UVI and the renowned IRCAM acoustic research center in Paris.
We brought together the world's finest engineers and equipment to comprehensively multi-sample 45 preparations at IRCAM Labs on a Yamaha C7 Grand Piano.
The result is the most flexible and exquisite sounding prepared piano instrument on the market. Freely customize your instrument with up to two preparations per note, mix multiple mic positions and quickly explore new sonic landscapes with the randomizer. Try the included preparations or make your own in minutes.
Truly the most advanced, flexible, and comprehensive prepared piano instrument ever made, IRCAM Prepared Piano leverages the power of the UVI Engine in ways never before seen.
A Vast Library - Addressing 45 Individual Preparation Techniques
With more than 12,000 samples and 45 preparation techniques, IRCAM Prepared Piano gives you complete control over how the preparations are used and combined.
Explore the timbre variety of over 40 different preparation styles. Utilize screws, erasers, coins, clothespins, sticks and more. Excite the strings with a mallet, plectrum, bow or even an EBow. Mix and tune your sound by layering up to two different preparations per note with individual level and pitch controls.
Normal Playing Techniques
Sustain and None
A normal piano sound. The strings are struck by hammers, triggered by the notes played on the keyboard. Use of the una corda and forte pedals is possible. There is no object in or on the strings modifying the sound.
The none preparation setting does not refer to there being no object or preparation modifying the sound of the string, but rather to the lack of sound produced by playing this key - a form of preparation that is impossible without breaking the hammer.
This setting can be very useful in preventing the sounding of misplayed notes, or for playing Gyorgy Ligeti's Etude: Touches bloquées (by cheating, a little...).
Expanded Playing Techniques
Striking the Strings:
Other String Playing Techniques
Harmonics : The default harmonic is the octave, activated by finger pressure in the middle of the string. The key is then played normally from the keyboard. It is also possible to transpose this harmonic, thereby simulating any harmonic of the string. A specific digital chord can be played by double clicking on the detune button. This technique is greatly used in solo music, as in Crumb's work, for example, and may even found in a transcript of Johann Sebastian Bach's.
For the following preparations, the string is normally struck by the hammer. Objects can be placed on the strings, altering the manner in which they sound. The ones placed on the strings in this manner would normally affect several notes in succession on a real piano, which is not mandatory in IRCAM Prepared Piano.
Other objects may be inserted between the strings. From the treble keys down to medium bass (F1), there are three strings per note. In this range it is possible to insert one object between strings 1 & 2, and another in the strings 2 & 3.
Similarly, in IRCAM Prepared Piano, you can continue to add several more objects or playing techniques from those available when there are only two strings (F # 0 - E1) or one (as for F0). When the una corda pedal is pressed, only the preparations on strings 2 and 3 are activated, meaning that the pedal is functioning in line with organ techniques.
Objects Placed on the Strings:
Objects Inserted Between the Strings:
The preparation chosen uses a wide range of materials to create a variety of timbres from one note to another. The sounds are generally rich and resonant; they remain within the gong family, featuring a small vibration when the note is played forte.
All of Cage's works use at least one screw. Prelude for Meditation contains only four notes, surrounded by numerous silences. Each note in the piece is prepared with bolts in addition to the normal sound of the piano, making it possible to hear the preparations clearly. By contrast, in Daughters of the Lonesome Island thirty-nine keys are prepared, almost all of them with screws, resulting in an abundance of timbres which remind the listener of a gamelan ensemble:
Effects:
{See video at top of page}
Intuitive Layer Controls and The All New UVI Sparkverb.
Take complete control of Una Corda, Sustenuto, dynamics and velocity, as well as independent mixing between 2 mic positions. Utilize bar hits, add delay or even the new UVI Sparkverb to give your piano some lush atmosphere, from small spaces to huge ambient landscapes.
Intuitive layer controls allow you to customize your layout quickly and randomization provides a great way to experiment with new configurations.
If you're a musician or sound designer who likes to explore the cutting edge of avant garde, IRCAM Prepared Piano offers an experience like no other.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzDX0rXskWE
http://soundcloud.com/uvi-official/sets/ircam-prepared-piano/
I am both interested and amused by the IRCAM Prepared Piano. In my early days accompanying for modern dance classes (and before I knew of John Cage's term "prepared piano") I would place pieces of cardboard, aluminum foil, clothes hangers and other objects between and on top of the piano strings. It created a funky rhythmic texture that pleased me and changed the voices of the piano. I still use this technique occasionally in concerts with my favorite instrument - the acoustic piano. I find it both an ironic and yet predictable development of synthetic music that such an old acoustic "trick" is now a featured electronic instrument. It is of course inevitable. Yet I still prefer the wonderful accidents and raw sound of completely acoustic instruments. I find the majority of compositions using these synthetic techniques to be less innovative, adventurous and original than compositions using purely acoustic instruments. Without the usage of looping, samples, etc. the repetitions and reliance on "sound apps magic tricks" becomes tedious. The "thinking" of the synthesizer is by definition less imaginative than the human mind. I admire the engineering behind such developments - yet I still applaud the much richer world of acoustic music.
-Grayson Hugh
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/scores-for-modern-dance-1997/id317242642
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