How to get the exact sound of Philip Glass’s piano in your DAW for free
Image Credit: Spitfire Audio
Glass Piano is a free VST instrument that’s recorded from composer and pianist Philip Glass’s baby grand at his home in New York City.
Philip Glass is one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Launched on his 85th birthday, Glass Piano from Spitfire Audio’s LAB series, captures the unique sonic personality of the baby grand that was used to write 30 years of work, including seminal pieces such as The Piano Etudes, all of his Academy Award-nominated film scores and hundreds of other compositions.
The free plugin has an aesthetic, minimal interface, with easy-to-use controls suitable for beginners and experienced players. Loaded with six presets, Glass Piano produces a range of sounds from classic and beautiful, to soft and atmospheric. Check out this demo performance from Alex Ring Gray.
Discussing his baby grand, Philip Glass said:
My piano has been my piano for 30 years. I have a tuner who makes it sound the way I want it to sound. When I’m writing music, and if I play it, it’ll be on this piano. It’s not just the piano and its sound. It’s the room it’s in, it’s the density of the walls and floorboards and the temperature. It’s how young or old a piano is. My piano has a heavy action. It’s even how the keys are varnished. Just like people, pianos have personalities. Especially the low parts of the piano tend to be pitches that are very clear to me. If you look at all 88 keys, the piano is different in different places. The lower octaves of my piano are not meant to be bold and aggressive. They are meant to be beautiful and spiritual, and that’s how they sound.
Philip Glass
Glass Piano requires a 64-bit DAW running on macOS 10.10 – 11 (Intel and M1), or Windows 7 – 10. The plugin is available in VST2, VST3, AAX and AU formats. Head here and create an account to download the plugin for free. We’ve featured Spitfire Audio various times over the years, with this introduction to LABS, the launch of LABS Electronic Guitars, in our five free festive VST plugins, these five free VST plugins, this list of free plugins in 2021 and this free VST trumpet round up.