Sympiano Is Free: Sympathetic Resonance Works Physically Models 230 Piano Strings in a MIDI-Controllable Reverb

Sympathetic Resonance Works is giving away Sympiano, a piano-based reverb plugin, completely free.

In this article we cover the giveaway details and walk through what Sympiano actually does.

1. What Is Sympathetic Resonance Works “Sympiano”?

Sympiano is a reverb plugin that uses physical modeling to recreate the way the inside of a piano — all 230 strings with the sustain pedal held down — resonates in response to an incoming signal. It uses no samples and no impulse responses whatsoever: it is a real-time digital waveguide physical model in which each of the 230 strings behaves as an individual resonator that reacts organically to the input source and to incoming notes. It is not limited to piano either — run a snare, a cello, a vocal or any other source through it to build tonal reverb tails, pads and drones.

Key Features

Digital waveguide physical model of 230 strings (88 unison groups). No convolution, no samples and no impulse responses are involved
Two physically distinct models, Grand and Upright, which change string length, stiffness, damping and the cross-stringing of the bass strings
MIDI damper: feed it MIDI and only the strings for the keys you hold will resonate. Sustain pedal is supported as well
Scale-aware resonance: choose a root note and a scale (21 available) and only the strings inside that key will ring
Movable piezo pickup: slide the pickup position along the strings to reshape the tone (closer to the bridge for a glassy, hard sound; centered to cut even harmonics)
Freeze: lock and sustain the current resonance to turn any source into a tuned pad or drone
Standard controls including pre-delay, ducking, wet low/high cut, unison detune, stretch tuning, four temperaments, una corda, felt mute and stereo width