Mercury Kontakt grand piano instrument by Wavesfactory interface

Mercury: Grand Piano Kontakt Instrument by Wavesfactory

Rated 4.6/5 on Plugin Boutique (48 ratings)

Mercury is a grand piano instrument for Kontakt by Wavesfactory, built from recordings of a Fazioli F-228 captured at Metropolis Studios in London. It includes five mic positions, eight velocity layers and 42 presets.

REQUIRESKontaktHost player sold separately

KontaktWindowsmacOS64-bit

AVAILABLE ATPlugin Boutique

Download Now

Opens the store in a new tab

01Overview

Mercury focuses on the sound of a Fazioli F-228 grand piano recorded at Metropolis Studios. The library offers five microphone positions, from ultra-close to room sound, so you can shape the piano from intimate and warm to punchy and aggressive at high velocities. Wavesfactory describes the instrument as detailed and natural-sounding across a wide range of treatments. It requires Kontakt, either the full Kontakt 4 or 5 engine or the free Kontakt Player.

Best for

Solo piano recording
Intimate ballads
Pop and rock piano
Film score piano
Queen-style piano sounds

Developer: Wavesfactory
Category: Kontakt Instruments
Requires: Kontakt
Store: Plugin Boutique

02Key features

What you get

Fazioli F-228 grand piano recorded at Metropolis Studios, London
Five microphone positions from ultra-close to room sound
Eight velocity layers with up to 12 round robin samples using NB
37,172 samples totaling 34.36 GB
Position enhanced mixing on the mixer page
Four piano-specific DSP effects on the effects page
Sympathetic resonance, pedal noises and micro tuning in settings
42 presets, Native Kontrol Standard (NKS) ready

03In depth

Sound, Mic Positions and Velocity Response

Mercury is built around five microphone positions recorded with a Fazioli F-228. Each position can be mixed separately from the mixer page, and the library adds a mixing approach that Wavesfactory calls position enhanced.

The library has 8 velocity layers and up to 12 round robin samples with NB, which helps the repeated notes sound less mechanical. Wavesfactory says the piano sounds warm and emotional in quiet passages and punchy at high velocities.

The settings panel exposes sympathetic resonance, pedal noises, soft pedal, una corda, sostenuto and micro tuning.

Effects and Workflow for Piano Production

The library includes four DSP effects designed for piano: Metropolis Plates, built from two EMT140 plates, a compressor, a tilt EQ and a chorus. These effects are also available as Mercury FX, a native plugin in AAX, AU and VST formats for Mac and Windows, 32 and 64 bit.

At 34.36 GB with 37,172 samples, the library is large. Wavesfactory notes that one microphone uses about 300 MB of RAM, so you can load fewer mic positions when memory is limited.

04Specs

Will it run?

Formats, systems and requirements as listed by Plugin Boutique. Missing details are left out, not guessed.

Developer	Wavesfactory
Type	Plugin
Category	Kontakt Instrument
Requires	Kontakt
Formats	Kontakt
Operating systems	Windows, macOS
Architecture	64-bit

05FAQ

Questions, answered

What do I need to use Mercury?

Mercury requires Kontakt. You can use the full Kontakt 4 or 5 engine or the free Kontakt Player. The download is delivered through Continuata's Connect.