Dusty Felts
Key Features
- Standalone Kawai felt piano instrument that does not require Kontakt
- Gentle two-layer response suited to soft melodic parts and intimate chord writing
- Lo-fi tone controls for filter, saturation, wow, flutter, and dust-style volume movement
- Ampex 600 tube amplifier noise control for adding vintage hiss only while notes are played
- Adjustable key-release noise for a more physical piano feel
- Included presets ranging from cleaner felt-piano tones to more obviously degraded lo-fi textures
Description
Dusty Felts is a standalone felt piano plugin from Somerville Sounds built from Jon Meyer's Kawai upright sample material. It turns that soft acoustic source into a warm, nostalgic instrument with lo-fi movement, amp hiss, and enough clarity for simple melodic writing.
The tone is intentionally intimate rather than concert-grand polished. Two velocity layers keep the response gentle, while harmonic artifacts from the sampling process give sustained notes a slightly imperfect, lived-in character.
The front-panel shaping leans into texture: filter, saturation, wow, flutter, and dust controls help the piano move from mellow felt keys into more worn, tape-like sketches. A separate noise page adds Ampex 600 tube amplifier hiss and key-release noise, with playback-linked amp noise so the texture follows the performance instead of sitting constantly under the track.
Use it when a beat, cue, or ambient sketch needs a close piano that already feels aged and human. The official WooCommerce product remains listed at $0 with a suggested donation price, but the download is handled through the Somerville checkout and mailing-list flow rather than a direct archive link.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Dusty Felts require Kontakt?
No. Somerville Sounds describes the Prototypes series as dedicated plugins that work in major DAWs on Mac and PC, and the official FAQ says they do not require Kontakt.
What kind of piano was sampled?
The source is Jon Meyer's Kawai upright felt piano material. BPB notes that the same piano was previously used for The Meyer Felt and PostFelt, while Dusty Felts sits closer to the original instrument with added lo-fi twists.
How much lo-fi control does it provide?
The main page includes filter, saturation, wow, flutter, and dust controls. The noise page adds adjustable Ampex 600 tube amplifier hiss and key-release noise, so the instrument can stay fairly natural or become more visibly worn.
How is the download accessed?
The current Somerville Sounds store product is priced at $0 with a suggested $5 donation. The product description says downloading adds the user to the Somerville Sounds mailing list, so SSA should link externally instead of mirroring an unverified checkout download.
