Christian Henson has started something marvelous - a website with a growing library of free piano samples and sample instruments, all of which feature some kind of story behind them. If you aren't familiar with Christian he is one of the people behind Spitfire Audio - one of the best sample library companies in the world (especially for orchestral libraries). He also runs a YouTube page covering many interesting topics in music such as instrument sampling, Eurorack, music business advice, and much more.
The website is called pianobook: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/ . I think the idea is fabulous and will help get great sounds into more musicians hands. We can't all afford world class sample libraries, and sometimes its small free libraries like the ones on pianobook that end up being the best option for a track. If you own a piano that has an interesting story you can also contribute samples to pianobook by going on the page and contacting Christian.
His most recent contribution of a Schimmel recorded in only 2 minutes with minimal sampling came out very nice, and I created a Kontakt version which you can download for free through the Genera Studios store. Christian was kind enough to allow me to distribute this instrument on my store, so please head over to pianobook and get the other free piano samples!
I believe in Christian's pianobook project greatly as it will help inspire more people, by putting excellent sounds in their hands. It will create something of a historical record of piano sounds that will linger on longer than the pianos will be around. At Genera Studios we give away sounds every month for the same purpose. The world is always made into a better place when more people have access to the right tools they need.
