The instrument
The Lautenwerck was one of JS Bach's favourite instruments. Yet despite there being 50 Lautenwerck builders in Germany, not a single instrument has survived through the centuries. As the instruments disappeared, so too did knowledge and awareness of them - until recently.

Only a couple of decades ago musicologists discovered that such an instrument had existed, solving the mystery of musical scores that mentioned the Lautenwerck. Until then, it was assumed that the composer was referring to a regular lute. As knowledge of the Lautenwerck resurfaced, Professor Beurmann commissioned a reconstruction to be built by Ludwig Richter in Ludwigsburg, Germany.

Unlike the spinets and harpsichords of the day, the lute-harpsichord offered a much warmer, soft and intimate yet defined tone. While having been built to imitate a lute on a keyboard instrument in the first place, it brings a consistent attack to the table (due to not being touch-sensitive, just like a harpsichord) and also by allowing for full decay of all notes due to missing dampers. This gives a vibrating, reverberant yet transparent sound.

The instrument is now available for the first time in the sampler within the German Lautenwerck library, presented in its original Valotti tuning at 412 Hz (presets at 440 Hz are available as well).

The samples
Just like harpsichords and spinets, the Lautenwerck is not touch-sensitive. However, even if the differences are minuscule, no given note will sound exactly the same due to different resonances of body and strings. In order to pay tribute to the instruments' variances, every note was captured with 8 different samples. The release sounds of the keys are also of major importance for the overall experience. Therefore, we recorded 4 release samples of each note.

The sample library contains nearly 700 single samples.

To start right away, presets are available for all common sample formats including HAlion, Kontakt2, EXS24 and GigaStudio3.

The recording
For the critical task of capturing the instrument, we employed vintage Neumann TLM-170 microphones in conjunction with Crane Song Flamingo preamps and Universal Audio 2192 digital converters to do the instrument justice.

For maximum sound quality, we recorded in 192 khz/24 bits, downsampled to the resolution of your choice.

In addition to the samples, the library contains an essay in German from Professor Andreas E. Beurmann himself, explaining both the historical and musical background of the instrument.

What's in the collection?
- 8 different samples of each note
- 4 different release sounds of each note
- Ready to play HAlion/Kontakt2/EXS24 or GigaStudio3 presets
- Wav format (except GigaStudio version)
- No mastering applied
- Recorded in 192 khz/24 bits resolution and downsampled
- License-free applicable in your music