Check out our newest free Ableton instrument, the “Dirty Wurlitzer”. This particular Wurly was sitting around my house for a few years. It belonged to an old roommate of mine and had some issues. It’s not the cleanest sounding Wurlitzer in the world, but it definitely has its own character.
Ableton Live Sampler instruments are such a great tool for adding sound manipulation to otherwise straightforward gear. This Wurlitzer piano is the perfect example. The tremolo on the Wurlitzer is fixed, only having the option of adding more or less effect, with no rate(time) control. Don’t get me wrong, the Wurlitzer’s tremolo sounds amazing. But if the tempo of the song doesn’t match the tempo of the tremolo it becomes a disorienting effect. With Ableton’s sampler, I was able to add a trem effect by adding an LFO to the instrument rack’s macro controls. These controls now give you hands on manipulation of LFO style, tempo, depth, and pitch warble. You can hear in the little demo video I made for this instrument an example of the LFO pitch warble on the second melody introduced. It’s a great effect, like an old worn out tape deck.
There are some different samples with unique velocities, 9 in total, so make sure you use a Midi Keyboard to get a more accurate performance. When you hit the key harder you will hear the vibration of the Wurlitzer’s tine in full effect. There have been countless emulations of the vintage electronic piano, and many of them sound excellent. This one has some dirt and grit, and sounds awesome.
Check out the download of the “Dirty Wurlitzer” for free here, and I hope you find it useful for your musical projects! If you like this, check out the rest of our free packs as well.
