LIGHTHOUSE PIANO BY FRACTURE SOUNDS
KK-ACCESS REVIEW
It has been a little while now since we have seen a new piano library from Fracture Sounds, so this latest release of their Lighthouse Piano is a very welcome and inspiring addition to their existing Signature Collection of pianos.
In this outing, Fracture Sounds have teamed up for an artist collaboration with composer Marcus Warner, and sampled his restored 1907 Blüthner Style 7 grand piano in situ at his home studio.
The Lighthouse piano, though not felted, still nevertheless exudes similar traits, possessing a warm and harp like timbre which lends itself well for emotive performance and scoring work, yet retains enough clarity and power to take centre stage whenever a performance demands it.
Marcus’s Blüthner Style 7 was extensively renovated after discovering it in a forlorn state in the backroom of a music store in 2021. following the overhaul, it had an initial virtual existence after being sampled as one of Marcus’s own project ‘experiments,’ and found popularity on the Pianobook platform for it’s tonal warmth.
Fracture Sounds have now completely re-sampled it, treating it with their usual meticulous and high attention to detail, and endowed it with those much loved Fracture Sounds special features.
The always excellent and bespoke atmosphere layers are again included, along with additional realisms such as THE key AND pedal mechanical noises, AS WELL AS human pianist movement SOUNDS.
There is also a bonus instrument found within the library, with the inclusion of a vintage Harmonium which forms an integral part of Marcus’s collection.
TECH SPECS
The lighthouse Piano requires Kontakt 7.6 or above, either the full or free Kontakt Player version.
It is compatible with all versions of Komplete Kontrol that host the above specified Kontakt versions.
The library requires 23.6 GB of disk space for installation.
There are 2 master Kontakt NKI presets, one for the Lighthouse Piano, the second for the Harmonium.
There are a further 10 Kontakt NKSN snapshots which provide examples of various Lighthouse Piano modifications.
DOWNLOAD & INSTALLATION
The Lighthouse Piano is downloaded and installed directly through Native Access 2 using the post purchase serial number.
Lastly, a rescan of Komplete Kontrol, achieved by loading up an instance in your DAW, or the standalone version, will automatically add the instrument to your factory browser ready to play.
KOMPLETE KONTROL NKS PARAMETER MAPPINGS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE END OF THE REVIEW FOLLOWING THE MEDIA SECTION
ACCESSIBILITY
As I inevitably always seem to say when reviewing a Fracture Sounds product, there are no causes for concern, every feature of The Lighthouse Piano is accessible, giving any potential owners confidence that they are not missing out on any major functionality.
THE LIGHTHOUSE PIANOE – A BEACON IN THE DARKNESS!
Marcus states that since taking ownership, for him, the Blüthner Style 7 has been a reliable go to source of artistic inspiration, and it’s quite understandable to see why it fosters this kind of creative devotion.
After using it for a couple of weeks pre-release, I think that this spirit was certainly captured in the sampling process, and seems to translate across to what is certainly a well presented virtual representation of this beautiful piano.
The notes, right from A0 all the way up to C7 exude a mellow woody tone, which is not overtly bright, yet still retains plenty of good clarity and is dynamically responsive to the touch.
The sound can of course be made brighter using the Colour control, which has a range of plus or minus 100, so tailoring it for your mix is possible without any real need for using external equalisation.
Fracture sounds have separated the velocity into two parts, allowing the user to control both the minimum and maximum range, from a very quiet and subtle touch when played, to a more defined and audible velocity/volume level, it is straightforward to adjust to your preferred playing style, or alternatively what the composition demands.
The three microphone positions allow you to blend between the hammers, body, and player position, so you can balance the mood between a more intimate or ambient sound.
ATMOSPHERES
As mentioned Lighthouse Piano features the popular 3 atmosphere layers which have now become something of a hallmark feature within many of Fracture Sounds products.
Here, in keeping with the nautical theme of the Lighthouse Piano, each of the selectable 12 atmospheres have been duly blessed with some suitably sea salty inspired titles.
Any of these layers may be chosen independently of one another, making the potential number of combinations quite huge, or to put it another way, far beyond my mathematics abilities to calculate!
They can all be balanced separately and then blended along with the Raw piano sound, and there is also an overall global atmosphere volume control.
Although there is not a dedicated ADSR envelope control, we can still opt for a natural sustain, or alternatively choose the infinite sustain. There are still no individual pan controls for the layers, which is something that I have been hoping to see included for a while now.
The atmospheres are all unique to this library, and they do compliment the beauty of the Raw piano sound really nicely. They could also just as easily be used as pads in their own right, with the piano muted, and some of the presets aptly demonstrate this point. Definitely useful for those ambient soundscape style tracks.
MECHANICAL & PIANIST SOUNDS
To add further to the natural realism, Fracture Sounds have sampled the key sounds, Pedals, and even the impromptu creaks of the pianists chair!
This finite detail can all be adjusted or muted according to taste, so you can go 100% pure if you wish, which makes the entire library very flexible.
REVERB
The included reverbs will be familiar to existing product owners, providing a blend between simulated standard ambiences and convolution reverb with a selection of impulse response presets.
Personally I often lean toward the included Shimmer reverb, which works particularly well for those ambient and minimalist style tracks, as it delivers an overall rich and spacious wash effect with just enough gentle movement to keep things interesting.
THE HARMONIUM
The Harmonium included within the library was picked up by Marcus at a vintage music shop, and has been modified by him to include an ingenious foot pump mechanism to work the bellows.
Marcus has used the Harmonium extensively on his album Legendarium, commenting that it has a nautical flavour to it’s sound, and I agree it certainly has an appealing ring of the old sea shanty about it.
It can be played melodically, or there is a drone mode which will indefinitely sustain the notes, and it also has a sync to host switch so that the sound oscillates in time with your project.
There are the same Dynamics, Colour, Stereo Width, & Reverb controls found in the Lighthouse Piano, but it does not include the atmosphere layers, as for an instrument of this nature they would not I believe been quite appropriate.
PRESETS
Admittedly there are not many factory presets included for the Lighthouse Piano, but honestly in this case I think this is a good thing, the joy of this library is really in making it your own with the atmosphere layers and reverbs of your choosing, and doing so is a very easy and satisfying process, negating the need for any complex tweaking, so that it is intuitive to use and wholly player focused.
There are just enough examples to inspire some of your own creative start points with the atmosphere layers, and elsewhere the natural piano presets are always on hand when you just want to sit down and play something.
Do checkout the walkthrough video from Marcus whose enthusiasm and knowledge of the library really shine through in his presentation.
It must be quite something to know that your pride & joy has been preserved for posterity in a sample library, although for this piano which is well over a century old I think you’ll agree, it’s not doing too badly.
CONCLUSION
Fracture Sounds offer some of the best sampled piano libraries on the market with their Signature Collection, each one is unique, and the Lighthouse Piano is another welcome edition to the line- up.
There are no real barriers in terms of accessibility, and this puts the emphasis on simply being able to load up, play, & create, just as if you were lifting the lid on the real piano!
Lighthouse Piano is available from the Fracture Sounds website at the introductory price of £95.00 (regularly £129.00) until April 2nd.
Fracture Sounds also have bundle offers available at the time of publication for other products in the Signature Collection and other associated libraries.
Lighthouse Piano Product Page:
Lighthouse Piano Walkthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtbOdbhGig8
Lighthouse Piano Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwYsuFEOOAs
Lighthouse Piano User Manual:
https://fracturesounds.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Lighthouse-Piano-User-Manual.pdf
KOMPLETE KONTROL NKS PARAMETER MAPPINGS
Lighthouse Piano
Page One – Sounds & Layer Mixer
Knob 1 – Colour
Knob 2 – Timbre Shift
Knob 3 – Character
Knob 4 – Stereo Width
Knob 5 – Raw (Piano) Volume
Knob 6 – Atmosphere Layer 1 Volume
Knob 7 – Atmosphere Layer 2 Volume
Knob 8 – Atmosphere Layer 3 Volume
Page Two – Microphone Mixer & Atmosphere Layer Selection
Knob 1 – Hammers
Knob 2 – Player Perspective
Knob 3 – ~Body
Knob 4 – Unassigned
Knob 5 – Atmos Layer 1 Selector
Knob 6 – Atmos Layer 2 Selector
Knob 7 – Atmos Layer 3 Selector
Knob 8 – Global Atmosphere Level
Page Three – Noise & Response
Knob 1 – Key Noise
Knob 2 – Pianist
Knob 3 – Pedal
Knob 4 – Pedal Dynamics: Soft, Medium, Hard, Auto
Knob 5 – Velocity Range
Knob 6 – Volume Range
Knob 7 & 8 – Unassigned
Page Four – Reverb Settings
Knob 1 – Reverb Amount
Knob 2 – Reverb Type: Room, Hall, Shimmer, Lush, Convolution
Knob 3 – Reverb Size
Knob 4 – Fade In
Knob 5 – Modulation
Knob 6 – Damping
Knob 7 – Impulse Response (Preset Selector)
Knob 8 – Unassigned
Page Five – Settings
Knob 1 – Sample Start
Knob 2 – Pianist Density
Knob 3 – Clarity Filter On/Off
Knob 4 – Force Pedal On/Off
Knob 5 – Atmosphere Decay: Natural, Infinite Sustain
Knob 6 to 8 – Unassigned
Harmonium
Page One – Sound & Drone Mode
Knob 1 – Dynamics
Knob 2 – Colour
Knob 3 – Stereo Width
Knob 4 – Reverb
Knob 5 – Drone Mode On/Off
Knob 6 – Sync to Host On/Off
Knob 7 & 8 – Unassigned
Page Two – Reverb Settings
Knob 1 – Reverb Type: Room, Hall, Shimmer, Lush, Convolution
Knob 2 – Size
Knob 3 – Damping
Knob 4 – Modulation
Knob 5 – Impulse Response (Preset Selector)
Knob 6 to 8 – Unassigned
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access.com
26TH February 2026
KK-ACCESS – Our NON PEER PROFIT POLICY
KK-Access believe in integrity, and out of mutual respect for our blind & visually impaired readers we feel that we should not make profit from our peers.
Our product reviews always strive to be honest and unbiased, this is achieved because none of our opinions are influenced by financial gain or other incentives from a plug-in or sample library developer for which a review of their wares may be a subject matter.
Whilst such offers are appreciated, we do not publish or use affiliation links for any products under review on this website.
Disclaimer
The author can not accept any responsibility for subsequent purchase decisions made as a result of this review,or Any inaccuracies found therein. All opinions and product functions stated are based solely on information perceived as a blind user whilst using the product and/or gathered from official factual sources such as the developer, web or supplied product manual.
About the Author
Based in Buckinghamshire, England, Chris Ankin has worked as a freelance review writer and contributor with articles published in Sound On Sound, Home & Studio Recording and ST Format Magazines.
He has also successfully worked extensively in and around the music, recording, film Soundtrack scoring, Game & media composition, the creative arts, Charitable trusts,publishing, music streaming and property investments since 1982 whilst continuously and deliberately managing to evade any mainstream recognition under his own name by the use of various pseudonyms.
E&OE
KK-ACCESS 