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Tacked Electric Piano

Prepared tacked electric piano

Massively customizable; 5 signal sources, over 47,000 samples

3-bus architecture with per-note voicing and tuning control

OVERVIEW
APPROACH
INSTRUMENT
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REVIEWS
SPECS
$149
Built on a foundation of over 47,000 samples, Attack EP88 is an incredibly rich sounding and deeply customizable instrument, providing numerous discrete signal paths including DI, tube, contact mic, mono mic and stereo pair, unique envelopes and effects for both the electric and acoustic signals, and discrete voicing and tuning controls for all 88 keys. The only library of its kind, Attack EP88 delivers an exceptional take on the much-loved electric piano sound, in the most user-friendly and comprehensive way we could imagine.

Tack Piano

A 'tack' piano is a form of prepared piano most commonly seen on acoustic uprights where, as in this example, each of the hammers has had a brass tack or metal device installed on or between the mallets and the resonators. The sound is most definitely still piano but the initial attack phase is accentuated, it's more present, with a resonant metallic brilliance.
As it turns out this preparation is quite exceptional on electric piano. The tonal character is almost bell-like in quality, giving a completely new perspective and life to the classic electric piano sound.

Explore Attack EP88

Overview

Trailer & Demos

Approach

Origins

Attack EP88 begins with a perfectly restored 88-key prepared with a brass tack on the striking surface of each hammer. The goal of the project was to essentially deliver an entire virtual studio built around this instrument, allowing users to customize and explore it when and how they want. Doing this properly requires a number of sound sources and quite extensive recordings of each. Throughout, the utmost attention to quality and detail was made for everything from equipment selection to final editing, from UI and preset design to assembly.

Immaculate Detail

For the acoustic signals we employed a stereo pair of Bruel and Kjaer mics, a Neumann U67 in the mono position and per-key recordings with a contact mic attached directly to the tine. For each note 8 velocities and up to 5 round-robins were recorded per-source, along with 5 round-robins for both the sustain and release samples. This was done 3 times for the electric sources, once for each of the 3 included voicings (where the tack position is shifted on the hammer, resulting in changes of color from deep to thin). Additional recordings were made to capture the pedal-up and pedal-down sounds, this was done for the mono, stereo, contact and DI signals with 7 round-robins for each. The result of this process was a working base of over 47,000 samples, a truly massive library that beautifully captured even the most subtle nuances of the piano.

Instrument

The next task was to distill this enormous sample complexity into a focused and easy-to-use instrument. Attack EP88's audio sources are routed internally via three busses, one for the contact mic, one for mono and stereo mics, and one for the DI and tube channels. Each bus is equipped with a number of useful mixing tools including envelopes and effects, making it easy to dial in particular sounds or explore new ones.
The user interface was carefully designed to make editing these signals as simple as possible, with acoustic sources at the top of the UI and electric at the bottom. The acoustic busses are equipped with a 3-band EQ, Dual Delay and Sparkverb, and the electric bus with distortion, the 8-voice Thorus, phaser, Dual Delay and Sparkverb.
The user interface was carefully designed to make editing these signals as simple as possible, with acoustic sources at the top of the UI and electric at the bottom. The acoustic busses are equipped with a 3-band EQ, Dual Delay and Sparkverb, and the electric bus with distortion, the 8-voice Thorus, phaser, Dual Delay and Sparkverb.

Features

88-key prepared with brass tacks
5 discrete and fully mixable signals (DI, tube, contact, mono and stereo pair)
Internal signal routed via 3 busses (contact, mono and stereo, and DI and tube)
Independent envelopes and effects per-bus (including Thorus, Dual Delay and Sparkverb)
8 velocity layers and up to 5 round-robins per-mic, per-note
Pedal-up, pedal-down and key noise recordings (7 round-robins each)
Contact mic recordings made per tine
Per-note voicing control (3 tack positions recorded, per-signal, per-note)
Per-note tuning control
Intuitive and easy-to-use interface
70 presets
47,000+ sample library

Unlike Any Other

A new spin on a classic effect, Dual Delay X delivers a surprisingly wide range of high-quality and innovative new sounds in a clear and intuitive interface. From clean and classic ping-pongs to digital lo-fi, lush analog warmth and more, Dual Delay X is both powerful and a pleasure to use.

Listen

UVI

Reviews

Percy Bady

Musician, Producer & Songwriter

Tony Braxton, Whitney Houston, Michelle Williams, R. Kelly, Dione Warwick

"

The Attack EP88 is a throwback to when electric pianos had a more distinctive sound & quality. Noticeable but different enough to give your track color! I'm hooked & using it on my next piece of work right now!

"

Wayne Vaughn

Keyboardist, Producer and Composer

Earth Wind & Fire, No Jazz

"

The sounds inspire… same electric piano we used on many Earth Wind & Fire songs… Let's Groove, Wanna Be With You and Side By Side. Those songs were recorded with a tacked EP. These sounds bring back great memories!

"
"The raw sound of Attack EP88 is nothing short of stunning – and genuinely different to every other software EP we've heard. Beyond that, the three busses and their dedicated effects offer plenty of sound-shaping potential, and the whole thing plays beautifully."
"UVI have gone to great lengths to capture the sound of their uniquely modified piano, and the result is a characterful and distinctive twist on the classic Rhodes sound."
"Attack EP88 is a sample library that treats its source with reverence. The effect pedal simulations are top notch, the flexibility and control given to the user is second to none, and the price is just right. If you’re looking to take your Electric Piano sounds seriously, look no further than Attack EP88"
"The quality of the samples and the flexibility of the package are simply impressive. To me, it’s like having some of the best features of a modeled instrument with the obvious benefits of a sampled one. Even if you already have several Rhodes-inspired plugins, I’d recommend checking out the UVI Attack EP88."

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Specs

Licensing:

3 activations per license on any combination of machines or iLok dongles

What you get:

Size:

9.92 GB (FLAC lossless encoding, was 38 GB in WAV)

Content:

47,280 Samples, 71 Presets

Sample Resolution:

44.1 kHz, recording at 88.2 kHz

System requirements:

  • Runs in UVI Workstation version 2.6.15, and Falcon version 3.0.0
  • iLok account (free, dongle not required)
  • Internet connection for the license activation
  • Supported Operating Systems:
    • - MacOS 10.14 Mojave to macOS 26 Tahoe
    • - Windows 10 to Windows 11 (64-bit)
  • 10GB of disk space
  • Hard Drive: 7,200 rpm recommended or Solid State Drive (SSD)
  • 4 GB RAM

Compatibility:

Supported Formats:

Audio Units, AAX, VST, VST3, Stand-alone

Tested and certified in:

Digital Performer 8+, Pro Tools 2019+, Logic Pro X+, Cubase 7+, Nuendo 6+, Ableton Live 8+, Studio One 2+, Garage Band 6+, Maschine 1+, Tracktion 4+, Vienna Ensemble Pro 5+, Reaper 4+, Sonar X3+, MainStage 3, MuLab 5.5+, FL Studio, Bitwig 1+, Reason 9.5+, Ability 1+

Attack EP88 Manual Soundbank Installation Guide

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