Hunsicker Helpenstill
A Helpenstill Roadmaster 64.
ByAaron Newberry
The story
I’ve been following Christians’ vlog since Episode 1 and have been ever intrigued by the idea of sampling an instrument of my own; if only I had a piano!
Fortunately I’ve been able to contribute to a couple of Angus Roberts-Carey projects and thought it was time to set out on my own sampling adventure.
My good friend, Philip Hunsicker, graciously allowed myself and my friend Matt Lowery to bring his Helpenstill Roadmaster 64 (very rare) to my studio and have a go at it.
We had a lot of fun and I’m hoping this is something of a starting point as I’d very much love to continue to contribute to this incredible community.
Hope you all enjoy this first iteration of the ‘Hunsicker Helpenstill’
Reviews
Awesome Piano
Personally i prefer this electro-acoustic than other acoustic pianos samples very well here... this is amazing is from other level... the only detail is the highest velocitiy appears from nothing and very strong in my Arturia Keylab 49 .... but is something the user can solve using some midi fx to calibrate themax velocity or the midi cc center from Arturia or something else
A piano with character
As others say, this piano is unique. The content can hardly be found for free elsewhere. I think this pack would be especially useful for playing classic songs from the 70's and 80's.
The interface is user-friendly. The choice of the background image is spot on, as it makes a nice contrast with the color of the knobs. It was fun to try this instrument.
Hidden gem
The Hunsicker Helpenstill is a really interesting piano that seems best played with lower velocity layers and a bit of reverb. As the previous review suggests, you can cut down on some of the release trigger noises to create a bit more mellow an experience. This is a bit noisy when played sustained at high velocities, and can get a bit harsh at those high velocities. However, there's a lot of character and playability in this one, and I think it's a a bit of a hidden gem amongst the character pianos. There's some fun tuning issues D1 vs D2 for instance -- but all in all, this is a really great addition to Pianobook! Maybe a bit of noise reduction at the higher sustained velocities to clean it up would help.