Teletone Audio Postcard Piano: Review

Teletone Audio is a very new company which I discovered via a Facebook AD (true story) - and after listening to the demo of its first VI, Postcard Piano, I was instantly in need of it. Two weeks and three piano-led songs later, it had inspired me to create and collaborate with several aspiring artists using this extremely cool little lo-fi piano.

I even more recently saw that Scarbo - the company’s second VI - was released, so I got in there fast and made my second Teletone purchase. As I’d hoped, it is also an extraordinary VI library which fuses mood, movement, ambience, percussion, and a whole spectrum of colour which allows you to create anything from the darkest most haunting of tones to ultra delicate and uplifting soundscapes.

I should start off by saying that I started playing with Postcard Piano on a super compact Akai MPK Mini MIDI keyboard. Not because that’s my main MIDI controller(!) but because I wasn’t at my studio when I downloaded it; I felt like creating, and I had the Akai at home.

I’d normally have a fully-weighted Korg or a semi-weighted Novation in front of me, but by a twist of fate, it turns out that this is important information, because I have never ever managed to find a piano VI which is anywhere close to playable when working with such a tiny keyboard.

Until now, that is. So before I dive in, be in the understanding that within 10 minutes of downloading this instrument and plugging in a sustain pedal to the MPK Mini, I felt like I was playing a real piano. That’s how good Postcard Piano actually is.

So what does it do, and why do you need it? Well, if you’re into composition and you’re a pianist, I don’t think there is better out there, anywhere.

As one of my fellow musical collaborators put it, who is a great pianist, and a huge fan of piano-led composers such as Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnald: “Postcard Piano literally has every lo-fi sound that people are after at the minute”.

And I’d have to agree. He and I are both fans of Spitfire Audio’s LABS instruments – particularly the Soft Piano – it’s excellent, and it’s free, so what’s not to love? But Postcard Piano takes that sound and scope of modulation and playability to a completely different level. And it’s under £50 ($69).

As presets go, Teletone’s are outrageously good: from the very oldy worldy sound of the 1920 piano, moving through the decades to the 1958, 1969 and 1974 (my personal favourite) – and then the exciting curveball settings such as Bad Cable, Doppelganger, and Grime Bass – it makes for an unbelievably playable, inspiring, and experimental palette.

As a writing tool, I instantly found Postcard Piano incredible – and that’s due to not only its phenomenal sonics, but its ability to take you on a journey with the expansive range and depth of controls.

Each sample of this piano has been pitch shifted down a minor third and time-stretched, and as a result, it performs like no other.