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Mutant Piano
Saved from silence, built for scores
Tension and release, dread and beauty, stillness and momentum. Mutant Piano is a fractured grand — missing its legs and keys — performed like you’ve never heard before. Designed by BAFTA-nominated composer Richard Wells, it’s built into a complete, dark and dramatic scoring palette: 300+ production-ready presets and a deep, immediate sound-design engine.
Coming soon.
One piano, brutally performed
Colossal impacts, delicate hammerings, scrapes, tempo-synced loops — shaped into a versatile scoring tool.
Recorded in a world-class studio
Exceptional richness and nuance from vintage gear: Neumann U47s, Coles 4038s, 1980s Cadac desk.
Powered by Floe
Our free plugin for expressive performance — simple yet highly customisable with layers, FX, granular and more (CLAP/VST3/AU).
‘Spirit Host’ on the PERFORM page — the focused page for presets and macro adjustment.
‘Lost Continent’ on the PERFORM page — performance notes in the bottom-right.
‘Lost Continent’ on the LAYERS page — full controls for the 3 independent layers.
‘The Drop A’ on the LAYERS page — showing arpeggiator controls.
‘Cloud Thirds’ on the LAYERS page — showing EQ and ADSR controls.
‘Convoy’ on the LAYERS page — an example of sliced loops.
The EFFECTS rack showing convolution reverb, delay, EQ and others.
The EFFECTS rack with another selection of the 11 available FX.
The instrument browser — the sound sources loadable into each layer.
The preset browser — select from 300+ categorised presets.
The preset browser — filtering to presets tagged ‘chaotic’.
Demos
Don’t Breathe — Richard Wells
0:00 1:24
Demo — Joris de Man
0:00 2:02
Marsh Lantern (Improvisation) — Richard Wells
0:00 2:04
Where Secrets Lie — Richard Wells
0:00 1:41
Deadly Pursuit — Richard Wells
0:00 2:07
Soundscape Montage — Richard Wells
0:00 2:36
Teaser — Richard Wells
0:00 0:59
Every demo uses only sounds from Mutant Piano.
Overview
Like you've never heard before
A grand piano fearlessly and unconventionally performed.
The source material: 300+ distinctive samples. Avant-garde, dark, aleatoric. Spine-chilling impacts, abstract harmonic scrapes, soft felt-like hammerings, rhythmic performances, extended improvisations.
Made expressively playable in our easy-to-use sound-transformation engine, Floe.
300+ adaptable presets designed by working composers, covering a whole spectrum of dark, multifaceted timbres: atmospheres, impacts, transitions, rhythms, pulses, drones, and more.
A full scoring palette
Offering novel, acoustic-based colours and textures, Mutant Piano is fully capable of creating whole compositions, from horror, action, and dark drama through to ambient.
Instantly production-ready
We spent months crafting the 300+ presets to be exceptionally usable in real-world music. Each comes with preassigned macros for shaping the sound in real time (tied to the modwheel), and handwritten notes on how best to perform it.
Architected by Richard Wells
BAFTA-nominated composer and sound designer Richard Wells has spent over 20 years writing music for feature films, games and TV, notably BBC's Being Human and Total War: Warhammer II. As Mutant Piano's principal designer, from recording to presets, his experience and attention to detail shines through in every aspect. Richard worked closely with Sam Windell, FrozenPlain and Floe's creator, together shaping sounds and software into a comprehensive production tool.
A steel-strung ribcage
Steel strings, iron frame and solid wood — struck, scraped, knocked and set ringing.
Mutant Piano’s sound comes from a bold performance on the piano’s frame and resonant body — played with none of the care you’d typically give a grand piano.
Hits bloom with sympathetic resonance from the strings. Scrapes rise as metallic complaints through the taut frame. Longform improvisations echo across the soundboard, magnifying every detail.
Engine
Sculpt your own patches
Floe, our free plugin that powers Mutant Piano, is intuitive and simple — without sacrificing real sound-design power.
Create vast atmospheric worlds with fluctuating acoustic forms, multilayered bone-rattling stingers, fragile tonal moments, lively and tense percussion loops, distorted driving pulses, and weird, mutated textures.
Control every detail: ADSR envelopes, filters, LFOs, tuning, MIDI CCs, velocities — all in real time. Explore unexpected combinations with the innovative random variation strip.
Granular synthesis
Freeze melodic moments, fabricate chaotic textures and harmonise timbral evolutions. The granular engine has multiple modes and offers sonic breadth without complexity. Granular is per-layer, meaning you can blend granulated layers with regular-playback layers.
Triple-layer engine
Load the samples into three independent layers: stack multiple hits for huge results, granulate three simultaneous textural performances, combine drones and pulses in the same patch. Floe's intuitive layering architecture is both simple and powerful.
Arpeggiator and sliced loops
Utilise rhythmic structures. Mutant Piano features vibrant all-piano rhythmic loops performed on the piano’s body and strings. They have built-in slices, running perfectly tempo-synced to your DAW via the arpeggiator. Control velocity, length, rate and gating. Or go beyond the sliced loops and arpeggiate any layer into sequences or melodic patterns.
The Story
Its final, timeless performance
Sourced from Hampstead Pianos in Abbey Road just before it was due to be disposed of, our grand piano had lost its legs, keys and nameplate, but its rich, resonant tone remained. Transported to Air-Edel Studios in West London, and propped up on stools, it was ready for its last encore.
Creative sampling
Armed with nails, chains, wires, metal objects, beaters, balls, and, crucially, the Air-Edel brass doorstop, the team recorded every available part of the piano. Around three hours of recording yielded a remarkable range of material: massive hits, impacts, terrifying scrapes, delicate harmonics, and skilful tempo-synced rhythms.
Proven in real scores
Richard Wells, composer Robert Foster, multi-instrumentalist Andy Reynolds and engineer Nick Taylor captured something truly new. The results were so good that these samples have found a place in pretty much every score Richard has written since. Years later, we've painstakingly crafted them into a virtual instrument that goes far beyond the scope of the original recordings.
Content
Every sample is a sound-source
Around 500 samples were extracted from the original recording session, and the most suitable made it into Mutant Piano — each one as a Floe instrument that loads into any of the engine’s layers.
Most samples are placed on C3, stretched across the keyboard range and playable polyphonically. This is customisable: change the keytracking, tuning, or monophonic mode using Floe’s per-layer controls.
Drones, subs and the Trash Kit
To augment the original samples, we derived new material from them. Choice snippets from the recordings were processed — pulling out sonic elements into drones and subs that open up even more sound-design possibilities.
The Trash Kit shares that goal but takes the shape of a versatile mono drum kit: each drum sits on its own white key, with a lively, clanky character — all derived from the piano.
Wide breadth of preset types
In the 300+ presets you'll find that a lot of ground is covered: impacts, scrapes, transitions, percussion loops, pulses, tensions, drones, acoustic soundscapes, mutated sounds, felt-like piano keys, melodic instruments, menus and more.
Menus: hits, scrapes and subs
Alongside the single instruments, Mutant Piano offers menus. Instead of one sample mapped across the whole keyboard, each white note plays a different sample — perfect for sequencing one-shots in your track or performing percussion sequences.
Mutant Piano runs inside Floe, our powerful, free open-source plugin for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- No extras needed — Floe is 100% free and open. Buy a library, download Floe, and you're set.
- Built for production — Filters, envelopes, effects, macros, MIDI CC support, and much more. Shape sounds without leaving the plugin.
- Grows with your collection — Add more libraries to layer across them, browse presets in one place, and expand your palette.
Per-layer arpeggiators
New in v2Create advanced rhythmic performances. Each layer can run its own arpeggiator — different rates, rhythms and patterns playing against each other.
Granular synthesis
New in v2Stretch, freeze and reshape any instrument into evolving clouds and textures — even multisampled instruments.
Pro effects rack
Eleven high-quality, reorderable effects — including pro-standard reverb and delay, and covolution reverb with creative IRs.
Built for the studio
Four macro knobs for expressive performance of multiple parameters. MIDI CC, sustain pedel, undo/redo, A/B comparison for preset edits, visual EQs and a random variation generator.
Free and open source
Floe is a companion project to FrozenPlain — totally free and open source for longevity and ethical service to the music-making community.
Floe Series
Designed from the ground up for Floe v2.
- Macros and preset descriptions tuned throughout the factory bank
- Per-layer arpeggiators and granular synthesis used across the presets
What's inside Mutant Piano
- Presets
- 308
- Complete, production-ready patches
- Instruments
- 318
- Playable sound-sources inside Floe
- Download
- 475.7 MB
- Optimised for disk space with modern lossless compression
- Type
- Floe Package
- Easy to install in Floe (free)
308 presets (complete production-ready patches) in Mutant Piano - Factory Presets (v1.3).
01. Atmospheric Worlds 24 presets
- Apparition
- Bleak Horizons
- Dawn of the Cursed
- Didgeri Doom
- Emerging Darkness
- Ice Fields A
- Ice Fields B
- Insane Asylum
- Island of Dolls
- Jungle Up
- Lost Continent
- Marsh Lantern
- Shadow Sister
- Singing Whales
- Spirit Host
- Stygian Fog
- The Haunting
- The Voices
- Tortured Souls
- Underworld
- Vindictive Mutants
- Vintage Spooker
- Wasteland
- Wraith Call
02. Mutations 25 presets
- Bone Creaker
- Cackle Throbber
- Computational Multiphonics
- Eight Legs
- Falling Thingies
- Frying Insects
- Glisser
- Hide and Seek
- Horror Surge
- Inhalator
- Last Lap
- Little Monsters
- Moonlit Drift
- Psychogeist
- Scrape Plucker
- Scratching About
- Shutter Speed
- Slippery Beast
- Someones in the Attic
- Speed Insects
- Strange Objects
- Tune Fragment
- U R Having a Laugh
- Victorian Plumbing
- Wire Lung
03. Euphonics 29 presets
- Cloud Thirds
- Crazy Waterphones
- Dream Spaces
- Ethereal Lives
- Fallen Angel
- Granular Piano A
- Granular Piano B
- Icefields Granular
- Metallic Viol
- Muted Flute A
- Muted Flute B
- Mysterion
- Night Whistler
- Pandora
- Parallel Pans A
- Parallel Pans B
- Parallel Pans C
- Peaceful Waterphone
- Piano Tuner
- Piano Whisperer
- Sleepwalker
- Soft Mallet + Toy Piano
- Soft Mallet Piano
- Toy Piano
- Unprepared Notes
- Waterphonery A
- Waterphonery B
- Whisperers A
- Whisperers B
04. Impactors 29 presets
- Big Boomer
- Cavern Drum
- Cellar Hit
- Collider
- Crusher
- Doomverber
- Double Clanger
- Dramatico
- Eerie Hit
- Flail Chain
- From Hell
- Garage Hit
- Gong
- Hollow Thumper
- Impacter
- Low Boomer
- Massive Hit
- Metal Water Drum
- No Surprises
- Perdition Bells
- Punch Sucker
- Rat Pulser
- Snap Hit
- Snap Shake
- Sub Terra
- Thonk
- Trash Smasher
- Western Bell
- Wire Hit
05. Tensions 27 presets
- Agitated Strings A
- Agitated Strings B
- Chained Scraper
- Critical Mass
- Dont Panic
- Dystopiano
- Eerie Silence Strings
- Ghost Slider
- Last Tube A
- Last Tube B
- Nail Scraper
- Night Strike
- Prowler
- Sewer Rat
- Smearer
- Snatch Attack
- Spaghetti Smearer
- Spikey
- Stresser A
- Stresser B
- String Pulser
- Sub Terranean
- Tension Builder
- Tremor
- Tumbleweed
- Undead Souls
- Under Belly
06. Rhythmic Structures 48 presets
Multi Loops 21 presets
- Circle of Doubt
- Convoy
- Countdown
- Cut and Run
- Emergency Room
- Grit Kicker
- Im Pulse
- Kidnap
- Out Break
- Pots and Pans
- Pressure Kicker
- Reaper
- Target
- The Drop A
- The Drop B
- Train Spotter
- Triptych Raider
- Tunnel Vision
- Waiting Game
- Wooden Horse
- Zero Hour
Single Loops 27 presets
- Boombing Mid-tempo Loop
- Booming Impacts 1
- Booming Impacts 2
- Damped Sequence 1 A
- Damped Sequence 1 B
- Damped Sequence 2 A
- Damped Sequence 2 B
- Damped-undamped Loop 1
- Damped-undamped Loop 2
- Driving String Hits
- Mid-tempo Loop 1
- Mid-tempo Loop 2
- Mid-tempo Loop 3
- Military Loop
- Simple Bassdrum Pattern
- Simple Light Loop
- Simple Wood Hits A
- Simple Wood Hits B
- Slow Low Beater Loop 2
- Slow Staggered Loop 1
- Slow-tempo Loop 1
- Slow-tempo Loop 2
- Slow-tempo Loop 3
- Soft Beater Loop A
- Soft Beater Loop B
- Woody Knocks 1
- Woody Knocks 2
07. Pulses and Sequences 32 presets
- Afterpulse A
- Afterpulse B
- Ball Pulser
- Bass Pulser
- Black Rock
- Chaos Multiplier
- Compulsion
- Deep Bass Pulser
- Don't Breathe
- Drop Pulser A
- Drop Pulser B
- Drop Pulser C
- Echo Tapper
- Emergency Exit
- Feedback Delay
- Flight not Fight
- Heartbeat Strong
- Heartbeat Weak
- Kitchen Sink
- Mayhem
- Plains Drifter
- Pressure Point
- Pulse of Doom
- Pumpstation A
- Pumpstation B
- Rattle Arp A
- Rattle Arp B
- Run 4 Your Life
- Shape Shifter
- Squealer
- Torn to Shreds
- Tort Wire Space
08. String Scrapers 18 presets
- 9 Tailed Chain
- Body Shock
- Brush Scraper
- Chain Gang
- Crawler
- Cut Throat
- Dantes Scraper
- Granny Scraper
- Hell Ripper
- Iron Fist
- Knife of Death
- Mutant Creeper
- Mutant Scraper
- Mutant Slider
- Skull Scraper
- Sliced Up
- Sphere Slicer
- Tear Me Apart
09. Transitions 28 presets
Percussive 14 presets
- Chill Exhaler
- Death Rattler A
- Death Rattler B
- Deep Cave Roller
- Dyno Roll
- Frame Drum 1
- Frame Drum 2
- Frame Drum 3
- Low Tense Roller
- Short Roll A
- Short Roll B
- Slowdown
- Wood Bounce A
- Wood Bounce B
Reverses 14 presets
- 9 Tailed Chain Reverse
- Beater Reverse
- From Hell Reverse
- Garage Hit Reverse
- Ghoul Girl
- Glisscendo
- Low Moon
- Scrape Chain Reverse
- Shadow Alley
- Silent Threat
- Sliding Breath
- Small Surprise
- Wire Hit Reverse
- Zipper
10. Soundscapes 26 presets
- Airlock
- Assassin's Lair
- B Movie Swarm
- Big Bugs
- Bleaker Horizons
- Collapsed Worlds A
- Collapsed Worlds B
- Creepy Crawlies
- Dark Planet
- Flesh Factory
- Ghost in You A
- Ghost in You B
- Ghost Machine
- Hell Within Us
- Hidden Terror
- Infestation
- Intravenous
- Jungle Chaos
- Melted Reactor
- Mind Bender
- Sandman
- Scrape Scape
- Skinwalker
- Spook You
- Twisted Shadows
- Void Star
11. Drones 18 presets
- Abyss Drone
- Dystopia Drone
- Frying Drone
- Hollow Impact Drone
- Isolation Drone A
- Isolation Drone B
- Lair Drone
- Light Pulse Drone
- Lurker Drone
- Orbit Drone
- Piano Wire Drone
- Space Drone
- Sub Rumble Drone A
- Sub Rumble Drone B
- They Linger Drone
- Under Belly Drone A
- Under Belly Drone B
- Under Belly Drone C
12. Menus 4 presets
- Hits Menu
- Mutant Trash Kit
- Scrapes Menu
- Subs Menu
Technical Details
Engine
Floe, our free CLAP/VST3/AU plugin (Windows, macOS or Linux)
Library format
Floe format sample library and presets — fully tagged and integrated in Floe
Reviews
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