Piano Attack | Keyboard Magazine

Ever had an inferior piano you hated so much you wanted to attack it with wire cutters and a sledgehammer, or fling it from a catapult like Northern Exposure's Chris Stevens? You might cringe to think about mutilating pianos, but since John Cage began composing for prepared piano in 1935, pianos have been doctored via a variety of methods to produce unique sonic timbres - typically in ways that avoided harming the piano. With Piano Attack, Dutch sound designer Renger Koning has taken an entirely different tack (pun intended) and recorded all sorts of nasty and destructive acts performed on his piano.
The Propellerhead Reason version of Piano Attack provides a ReFill loaded with WAV and REX2 files along with 157 Dr. Rex beats, 21 Dr. Rex phrases, and 207 NN-XT patches grouped into collections such as instruments, drums, bells, pads, leads, atmospheres, and effects. There are upward and downward harp glissandos, sustained board hits with the damper pedal floored, eerie string scratches, glass bottles rhythmically bouncing off piano strings that remain static or are stretched or relaxed to change the pitch, gong-like rumbles, and brushes stroked once or rhythmically over multiple strings. Many patches incorporate multisamples, but some rhythmic sounds intentionally use one sample stretched across the keyboard, so you can generate polyrhythmic patterns by playing octaves and other intervals. You'll find a decent share of traditionally playable patches, but a majority work better for sonic beds and sound effects. If you're after honky-tonk piano, look elsewhere.
Among the REX2 files are ReCycled loops of a bottle bouncing rhythmically or spasmodically against strings, Hitchcockian Psycho piano stabs, and heavily processed or mechanical rhythms that will tickle your funny bone or have you hiding under the covers.
Do you want weird, mysterious, frightening, beautiful, and otherworldly timbres and loops, all based on sampling unconventional ways to get sound out of a piano? They're here in great abundance, ready for your Halloween film score or latest dance track. Highly recommended.