A-Pian Free Download

A-Pian is a free sampled piano library that gives you a distinctive 1960 French Gaveau Crapaud piano in your DAW. This free download captures a unique, bright piano sound in a compact 820MB instrument, powered by the UVI Workstation engine. If you need a vintage piano character with realistic performance details but don’t want a massive sample library, this addresses that.

What You Get

This library samples an old French Gaveau piano built in 1960. It’s a Crapaud model, which is a petite grand piano smaller than a baby grand. The recording highlights its very bright sound, full of inharmonicity in the bass due to the short string length. The developers call this their first attempt at finding new ways of sampling a piano, focusing on a reduced size while keeping what they consider the most important parts.

The Sampling Details

You get 3 velocity layers for the sustain and 3 separate velocities captured for the release of each note. The library includes 232 samples total. For realism, it features pedal down resonance and true pedal action. It also comes with key noise samples and sustain pedal noises (both up and down), which are triggered automatically during play.

Interface and Compatibility

Advanced UVI scripting provides access to a simple yet powerful interface and other advanced features. The instrument works as a VST, Audio Units, VST3, and AAX plugin. It runs on both macOS and Windows systems through the free UVI Workstation, which you’ll need to use it.

Who Should Use It

This fits a few specific scenarios. Grab it if you’re a composer looking for a bright, characterful piano sound with noticeable inharmonicity in the bass for a mix. It’s useful for producers who want realistic pedal resonance and key noises in their piano tracks without using a huge sample library. It also works for anyone using Kontakt or UVI Workstation across common plugin formats who needs a compact, specialized piano instrument.

Final Verdict

If you want a sampled vintage French piano with a bright, distinctive tone and realistic performance features like pedal resonance, this is worth the download. You get a lot of character in an 820MB package. The main requirement is that you need UVI Workstation to run it. For a free library that captures a unique instrument, it’s a solid option available for download.