When it comes to virtual instruments, Heavyocity has earned a reputation for pushing the boundaries of traditional sound design. With Allure: Modern Upright Piano, they offer a fresh take on the upright piano—an instrument often associated with intimate, warm, and familiar tones. This time, however, Heavyocity infuses it with experimental textures and cinematic layers, making it a versatile tool for modern composers. Whether you’re looking for an authentic upright piano sound or something that strays into the world of sound design, Allure promises to deliver.
OVERVIEW
Allure: Modern Upright Piano by Heavyocity provides a fresh perspective on the upright piano, delivering both natural, intimate tones and innovative sound design. It features 16 sound sources, including natural, felted, and extended sounds, as well as a unique “dancers” category, recorded with a Kawai K800 upright piano. The library’s sound design elements include alternative upright piano performances, such as mallet strikes, plucked twine, and brush strings, adding experimental textures.
The extended sound design elements, reminiscent of Heavyocity’s versatility in libraries like Gravity 2 and the Mosaic product line, make Allure a comprehensive tool for both traditional and cinematic compositions.
The sample library sits at 10.1 GB and includes over 8,500 samples.
Photo by Heavyocity
USER INTERFACE
The Allure interface offers several layers of customization that make it a standout tool for both traditional and experimental music production.
The Source Page is where your journey begins, allowing you to choose between the 16 available sound sources. These range from natural upright piano tones to felted versions and extended experimental sounds like mallet strikes, plucked strings, and brush effects. This page also allows for mic position selection between close and room mic positions, or you can use a memory-saving mix of both.
Allure – Source Page
The Modulate Page controls Heavyocity’s signature Modulation Triangle, allowing you to automate the blend between three different sound sources. This is where the instrument begins to transform from a static piano sound into something dynamic. You can sync the modulation to tempo or use an envelope control to create rhythmic or evolving textures, which is especially useful for adding cinematic motion to your compositions.
Allure – Modulate Page
The Arp Page in Allure offers a highly customizable arpeggiator, allowing composers to craft intricate rhythmic and melodic sequences. This page provides options to control parameters like rate, octave range, direction, and swing, enabling users to design arpeggios that range from subtle background patterns to driving, rhythmic pulses.
Allure – Arp Page
One standout feature is the ability to set custom rhythmic patterns, which allows for creative variation in the playback sequence. Users can create complex, evolving arpeggios that are synchronized to the tempo of their DAW, making it easy to integrate into a composition’s overall timing. The arpeggiator also includes randomization settings, adding an element of unpredictability for organic, flowing textures that enhance cinematic and ambient compositions.
This level of control makes the Arp Page a powerful tool for composers looking to add motion and depth to their piano parts, transforming simple chord progressions into captivating, evolving sequences.
Moving on to the FX Page, this section provides access to a host of high-quality audio effects. These include EQ, compression, saturation, delay, and reverb. What sets this page apart is the ability to rearrange the signal chain, allowing for deep customization of the processing order. Want your piano to have a compressed, reverberated tone, followed by subtle saturation? The modular FX section lets you make those decisions. Each effect is fine-tuned for subtle or dramatic sonic alterations, so whether you’re going for a polished, clean tone or a heavily processed cinematic sound, you have the tools right at your fingertips. Many of the pre-designed patches provided by Heavyocity already come with a unique set of processing effects.
Allure – FX Page
The Echoes Page is an intuitive tool for creating rhythmic or melodic sequences through an arpeggiator-style interface. This page is particularly useful for generating repetitive, rhythmic patterns that can serve as the backbone for a composition, or for adding subtle, evolving textures that enhance the piano’s harmonic qualities. The echo settings allow you to adjust the repetitions, timing, delay, and feedback, and like the modulation tools, these can be tempo-synced, offering a range of rhythmic possibilities. You can also set the echoes to play back at different intervals relative to the notes you play, creating an upward cascade effect.
Allure – Echoes Page
Perhaps the most innovative feature is the Convolve Page, which takes Allure into experimental territory. This page features a set of unique tempo-synced impulse responses that can warp the piano’s sound in unexpected ways. By combining these convolution effects with the original piano sound, you can create anything from ethereal, ghostly reverb tails to aggressive, glitchy textures. The impulse responses are carefully crafted to sync with your track’s tempo, allowing for perfectly timed effects that blend with your composition.
Allure – Convolve Page
Together, these pages form a robust and flexible sound design engine, giving users the ability to shape the upright piano’s sound in ways that extend well beyond traditional expectations. Whether you’re looking for a straightforward piano tone, or a highly processed, evolving texture, Allure’s interface makes this possible with ease and precision.
IN PRACTICE
In practical use, Allure proves to be a highly versatile instrument for media composers and sound designers alike. For those who need a straightforward piano tone, its natural and felted upright sounds capture impressive warmth and intimacy. The close and room mic options allow you to sculpt the spatial feel of the piano, making it suitable for anything from close-up, intimate scenes to more open and ambient compositions.
Where Allure truly shines, however, is in its ability to go beyond the traditional piano sound. The extended sources, such as mallet strikes and plucked strings, open up new textural possibilities. These unique sound design elements are ideal for adding subtle tension or experimental flair to a track. When combined with the powerful Ascend Engine, you can layer and modulate these sources, creating dynamic, evolving soundscapes that are perfect for modern cinematic scores or electronic music.
Photo by Heavyocity
The modulation and effects options give the instrument a high degree of flexibility. For example, by using the Modulation Triangle, you can create shifting, evolving textures that respond to tempo, making the instrument feel alive and organic. The Arp & Echo Page allows you to craft rhythmic sequences that can add a percussive or melodic layer to your compositions, while the Effects Page offers a range of professional-grade sound processing tools.
For composers working in film, television, or video games, the Convolve Page is a standout feature. The tempo-synced impulse responses give you the ability to create otherworldly reverb tails and spatial effects that are locked into the tempo of your track, ensuring a seamless fit with your compositions. This makes Allure not just a piano, but a full-fledged sound design instrument capable of transforming your music into something unique and captivating.
AN ALLURING SOUNDSCAPE
The sound of Allure: Modern Upright Piano is its most compelling feature, offering a rich and nuanced tone. The natural and felted K800 upright piano recordings provide a warm, organic character that works beautifully in both intimate and ambient settings. The softer dynamics, particularly the triple pianissimo (ppp) captures, make the instrument ideal for delicate passages, while the room mic settings add a spacious quality for more expansive tracks.
However, the real magic happens with Allure’s extended sound sources and experimental layers. These non-traditional upright piano performances, such as mallet strikes and brush strings, add an entirely new dimension to what a piano can do. These sounds move into more sound-design-heavy territory, especially when paired with the Ascend Engine. The layering and modulation options give you the ability to create soundscapes that range from cinematic and atmospheric to rhythmic and driving.
The non-traditional sound sources and processing tools offer the same cinematic depth seen in Heavyocity’s other products like Forzo: Modern Brass and Damage 2, making Allure a key tool for composers seeking to explore new sonic textures.
For media composers working on film scores or video game music, Allure offers an incredible palette of tonal options. The ability to seamlessly blend between traditional and modern sounds makes it a versatile tool for enhancing dramatic moments or adding subtle texture to a scene. The processed sources retain the upright piano’s core warmth while pushing the instrument into new sonic territories, which gives composers a broad array of options without switching between multiple libraries.
ALLURE – SOUND DEMOS
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Allure: Modern Upright Piano by Heavyocity offers a masterful combination of classic upright piano sounds and cutting-edge sound design elements. With its intuitive interface, the Ascend Engine, and versatile sound sources, it goes far beyond a typical piano library. Whether you’re looking for a soft, intimate piano sound or experimenting with evolving textures, Allure delivers. It’s particularly suited for media composers who need both natural piano tones and the flexibility to create cinematic, experimental soundscapes. Heavyocity once again proves their ability to push the envelope of virtual instruments.
Allure: Modern Upright Piano is available for $149 through the Heavyocity online store. Registered owners of Ascend, Aspire, or Avant save an additional $20.
Pros
Rich, nuanced upright piano sound
Versatile sound design capabilities
Powerful Ascend Engine
Intuitive interface
Cons
Some features might be excessive for users searching for traditional piano sounds
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
ALLURE: MODERN UPRIGHT PIANO (VIDEO WALKTHROUGH)
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When it comes to virtual instruments, Heavyocity has earned a reputation for pushing the boundaries of traditional sound design. With Allure: Modern Upright Piano, they offer a fresh take on the upright piano—an instrument often associated with intimate, warm, and familiar tones. This time, however, Heavyocity infuses it with experimental textures and cinematic layers, making it a versatile tool for modern composers. Whether you’re looking for an authentic upright piano sound or something that strays into the world of sound design, Allure promises to deliver.
OVERVIEW
Allure: Modern Upright Piano by Heavyocity provides a fresh perspective on the upright piano, delivering both natural, intimate tones and innovative sound design. It features 16 sound sources, including natural, felted, and extended sounds, as well as a unique “dancers” category, recorded with a Kawai K800 upright piano. The library’s sound design elements include alternative upright piano performances, such as mallet strikes, plucked twine, and brush strings, adding experimental textures.
The extended sound design elements, reminiscent of Heavyocity’s versatility in libraries like Gravity 2 and the Mosaic product line, make Allure a comprehensive tool for both traditional and cinematic compositions.
The sample library sits at 10.1 GB and includes over 8,500 samples.
USER INTERFACE
The Allure interface offers several layers of customization that make it a standout tool for both traditional and experimental music production.
The Source Page is where your journey begins, allowing you to choose between the 16 available sound sources. These range from natural upright piano tones to felted versions and extended experimental sounds like mallet strikes, plucked strings, and brush effects. This page also allows for mic position selection between close and room mic positions, or you can use a memory-saving mix of both.
The Modulate Page controls Heavyocity’s signature Modulation Triangle, allowing you to automate the blend between three different sound sources. This is where the instrument begins to transform from a static piano sound into something dynamic. You can sync the modulation to tempo or use an envelope control to create rhythmic or evolving textures, which is especially useful for adding cinematic motion to your compositions.
The Arp Page in Allure offers a highly customizable arpeggiator, allowing composers to craft intricate rhythmic and melodic sequences. This page provides options to control parameters like rate, octave range, direction, and swing, enabling users to design arpeggios that range from subtle background patterns to driving, rhythmic pulses.
One standout feature is the ability to set custom rhythmic patterns, which allows for creative variation in the playback sequence. Users can create complex, evolving arpeggios that are synchronized to the tempo of their DAW, making it easy to integrate into a composition’s overall timing. The arpeggiator also includes randomization settings, adding an element of unpredictability for organic, flowing textures that enhance cinematic and ambient compositions.
This level of control makes the Arp Page a powerful tool for composers looking to add motion and depth to their piano parts, transforming simple chord progressions into captivating, evolving sequences.
Moving on to the FX Page, this section provides access to a host of high-quality audio effects. These include EQ, compression, saturation, delay, and reverb. What sets this page apart is the ability to rearrange the signal chain, allowing for deep customization of the processing order. Want your piano to have a compressed, reverberated tone, followed by subtle saturation? The modular FX section lets you make those decisions. Each effect is fine-tuned for subtle or dramatic sonic alterations, so whether you’re going for a polished, clean tone or a heavily processed cinematic sound, you have the tools right at your fingertips. Many of the pre-designed patches provided by Heavyocity already come with a unique set of processing effects.
The Echoes Page is an intuitive tool for creating rhythmic or melodic sequences through an arpeggiator-style interface. This page is particularly useful for generating repetitive, rhythmic patterns that can serve as the backbone for a composition, or for adding subtle, evolving textures that enhance the piano’s harmonic qualities. The echo settings allow you to adjust the repetitions, timing, delay, and feedback, and like the modulation tools, these can be tempo-synced, offering a range of rhythmic possibilities. You can also set the echoes to play back at different intervals relative to the notes you play, creating an upward cascade effect.
Perhaps the most innovative feature is the Convolve Page, which takes Allure into experimental territory. This page features a set of unique tempo-synced impulse responses that can warp the piano’s sound in unexpected ways. By combining these convolution effects with the original piano sound, you can create anything from ethereal, ghostly reverb tails to aggressive, glitchy textures. The impulse responses are carefully crafted to sync with your track’s tempo, allowing for perfectly timed effects that blend with your composition.
Together, these pages form a robust and flexible sound design engine, giving users the ability to shape the upright piano’s sound in ways that extend well beyond traditional expectations. Whether you’re looking for a straightforward piano tone, or a highly processed, evolving texture, Allure’s interface makes this possible with ease and precision.
IN PRACTICE
In practical use, Allure proves to be a highly versatile instrument for media composers and sound designers alike. For those who need a straightforward piano tone, its natural and felted upright sounds capture impressive warmth and intimacy. The close and room mic options allow you to sculpt the spatial feel of the piano, making it suitable for anything from close-up, intimate scenes to more open and ambient compositions.
Where Allure truly shines, however, is in its ability to go beyond the traditional piano sound. The extended sources, such as mallet strikes and plucked strings, open up new textural possibilities. These unique sound design elements are ideal for adding subtle tension or experimental flair to a track. When combined with the powerful Ascend Engine, you can layer and modulate these sources, creating dynamic, evolving soundscapes that are perfect for modern cinematic scores or electronic music.
The modulation and effects options give the instrument a high degree of flexibility. For example, by using the Modulation Triangle, you can create shifting, evolving textures that respond to tempo, making the instrument feel alive and organic. The Arp & Echo Page allows you to craft rhythmic sequences that can add a percussive or melodic layer to your compositions, while the Effects Page offers a range of professional-grade sound processing tools.
For composers working in film, television, or video games, the Convolve Page is a standout feature. The tempo-synced impulse responses give you the ability to create otherworldly reverb tails and spatial effects that are locked into the tempo of your track, ensuring a seamless fit with your compositions. This makes Allure not just a piano, but a full-fledged sound design instrument capable of transforming your music into something unique and captivating.
AN ALLURING SOUNDSCAPE
The sound of Allure: Modern Upright Piano is its most compelling feature, offering a rich and nuanced tone. The natural and felted K800 upright piano recordings provide a warm, organic character that works beautifully in both intimate and ambient settings. The softer dynamics, particularly the triple pianissimo (ppp) captures, make the instrument ideal for delicate passages, while the room mic settings add a spacious quality for more expansive tracks.
However, the real magic happens with Allure’s extended sound sources and experimental layers. These non-traditional upright piano performances, such as mallet strikes and brush strings, add an entirely new dimension to what a piano can do. These sounds move into more sound-design-heavy territory, especially when paired with the Ascend Engine. The layering and modulation options give you the ability to create soundscapes that range from cinematic and atmospheric to rhythmic and driving.
The non-traditional sound sources and processing tools offer the same cinematic depth seen in Heavyocity’s other products like Forzo: Modern Brass and Damage 2, making Allure a key tool for composers seeking to explore new sonic textures.
For media composers working on film scores or video game music, Allure offers an incredible palette of tonal options. The ability to seamlessly blend between traditional and modern sounds makes it a versatile tool for enhancing dramatic moments or adding subtle texture to a scene. The processed sources retain the upright piano’s core warmth while pushing the instrument into new sonic territories, which gives composers a broad array of options without switching between multiple libraries.
ALLURE – SOUND DEMOS
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CONCLUSION
Allure: Modern Upright Piano by Heavyocity offers a masterful combination of classic upright piano sounds and cutting-edge sound design elements. With its intuitive interface, the Ascend Engine, and versatile sound sources, it goes far beyond a typical piano library. Whether you’re looking for a soft, intimate piano sound or experimenting with evolving textures, Allure delivers. It’s particularly suited for media composers who need both natural piano tones and the flexibility to create cinematic, experimental soundscapes. Heavyocity once again proves their ability to push the envelope of virtual instruments.
Allure: Modern Upright Piano is available for $149 through the Heavyocity online store. Registered owners of Ascend, Aspire, or Avant save an additional $20.
Pros
Cons
RECOMMENDED: 9/10
ALLURE: MODERN UPRIGHT PIANO (VIDEO WALKTHROUGH)
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HOW TO WRITE AN EMOTIONAL TRACK INSPIRED BY JAMES NEWTON HOWARD WITH ALLURE
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