Harpicordo - User Guide | Acousticsamples

User guide

A deep-sampled replica of a 17th century Ruckers Harpsichord

acousticsamples.net/harpicordo October 2026

Overview

A PIECE OF MUSICAL HISTORY

We are immensely proud to present Harpicordo [old Italian for ‘Harpsichord’]; one of the most extraordinary and significant instruments in musical history. This particular model is a 2005 17th Century Flemish School recreation (Ruckers) by the world-renowned Ateliers Marc Ducornet, Paris, to whom we are indebted for kindly allowing us to record their one-of-a-kind instrument.

Harpicordo is unlike anything we’ve created before. Having used Harpsichord voice settings on digital keyboards for many years, we felt that there weren’t any which faithfully captured the full beauty of this exquisite instrument, and so our goal was to recreate the raw sound, the warm resonances and the gritty imperfections in all their glory and detail, so that when you sit and play it for the first time, you can simply close your eyes and truly feel like you’re playing the real thing.

To our ears, we succeeded - be sure to check out our videos and audio demos and see what you think.

Interface

Features

Next-Level Sampling

Another Groundbreaking Sampling/Modeling Hybrid: No need for keyswitches, no need for switching between articulations - simply play as you would on a real harpsichord and the instrument will respond accordingly. Everything can be customized, from the tuning of each individual note to the volume of the keys hitting the keybed. All this and more in less than 400Mb.

More about this

We took every pluck, vibration, release and extraneous noise in full-frontal detail, accurately replicating the deep resonance of the body of the instrument, as well as a precise recreation of the plectrum re-catching the string on release. Key noises are velocity-sensitive, adding extra power and weight to the sound where the plectrums cannot contribute any further, and these key noises can be controlled independently from the strings. Pulling specific stops/buttons or moving specific levers will create the same noise as it does on the real instrument. The notes themselves are also velocity-sensitive, to simulate the timings of the 3 different sets of plectrums.

Key noises, release noises and stops can be controlled via the settings in the interface. Key and release noises are controlled independently from the strings, and their dials can be assigned to a CC.

A Living, Breathing Instrument:

This is not simply another static virtual harpsichord. Every single note is affected by velocity, with carefully modelled responses, such as the timings between different manuals, extraneous noises, the re-catching of strings and incredibly detailed release samples, offering opportunity for performance full of character and variety, whilst staying true to the harpsichord's consistency of sound.

Body Resonance

One of the Harpsichord's main characteristics is its natural resonance provided by the body of the instrument - we re-created this in immense detail, isolating and treating the body itself as a natural chamber for reverberation.

Multiple Manuals

Harpicordo is dual-manual, with 4 different sounds recorded; two 8' stops, one 4' stop and a lute stop. These sounds can be combined in any way, they function as they would on the real instrument, right down to the noises made when changing, and they can be controlled seamlessly in real time. We also added the option to control both manuals simultaneously via MIDI split.

More about this

Harpicordo has four distinct sounds across two separate manuals; an 8' and a Lute stop on the lower manual, and an 8' and a 4' on the upper manual. These can be applied or removed seamlessly in real time and each of them can be assigned their own CC. Both manuals can be controlled separately via MIDI split. With no stops selected, Harpicordo will still respond as it does in real life, thanks to the velocity-controlled key noises.

Complete Tuning

In the Tuning tab, we offer complete control over every single note of every stop, as well as a general 'detuning' knob for more realism. For those wanting to perform with historical settings, we included some of the most famous Western tuning systems from the last few centuries as presets. The keyboard can also be physically moved up or down a semitone, just as on the real instrument.

More about this

It is a common misconception that Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues were written to celebrate equal temperament - in fact, they were written to demonstrate the feasibility of composing in well-temperament, with each of the 24 major and minor keys offering their own characters and colours. In Harpicordo, we have included 18 carefully curated presets, drawing from Kirnberger, Werckmeister, Neidthardt, Rameau, Couperin and many others, so that you can hear for yourself the difference between Equal Temperament and Well Temperament at the click of a button. As well as the presets, Harpicordo offers options to create and tweak your own system, with a control for each note, and a base tuning dial to control all notes at once as well as options for random detuning and control over the tuning of each manual separately.

Multiple Microphone Perspectives

Harpicordo offers two microphone positions; Close mics for a more detailed, intimate sound, and Room mics for more distance, ideal for ensemble performance. Both of these options can be mixed however you like, and when set to zero they will be automatically switched off to save on CPU.

Convolution Reverb

Included within Harpicordo are a number of high-quality custom convolution reverbs, based on impulse responses. For our VSeries users, we included the VSeries rooms, to help blend between our instruments. The length of the room tail can be controlled and there is a dry/wet dial on the main interface.

Technical specifications

UVI Player v3.1.15 is required for the library to function properly.

400Mb compressed in lossless flac format.

- Sampling and modeling hybrid of a dual manual harpsichord
- Body resonance simulation
- Velocity based timings between manuals
- Two 8' and one 4' manuals plus the possibility to enable the luth on one of the 8'
- Velocity based key noises
- Full tuning control over each note of each manual as well as tuning presets.
- Convolution reverb with rooms of our virtual space
- Two different microphone perspectives

Sample player

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Harpicordo plays in UVI Player (formerly UVI Workstation), UVI's free sample player. We provide it with every library you buy, so you don't need an expensive sampler to use our products. It works on Mac (macOS 10.14 or later, Intel or Apple silicon) and Windows (10 or later), standalone or as a plug-in (VST / VST3 / AU / AAX), in 64-bit only. More about it here.

Copy protection

We use the iLok system to protect our products and you can choose to register your license to your computer or to an iLok dongle. If you decide to use an iLok dongle, both V1 and V2 are compatible with our products. You can activate your license on up to 3 computers or iLok dongles at the same time and you can deactivate one and activate another as many times as you want.

Registration

Once your order is complete, you will be provided with a serial number. You will then be able to register it to your iLok account from our website on this page (you need to be logged in to access this page). The whole process is described in the FAQ (instructions + screencast).