Celesta

paul_c2 · February 2017

We are going to do a piece which requires a prominent Celesta part......I've looked on eBay but there's none there, just music involving a celesta. But I didn't think there would be, but a keyboard with a decent celesta voice would suffice. I think it would need to be 3 octaves, although I imagine a keyboard with 4 octaves would be measureably more useful for other stuff too.

Can anyone recommend a decent (not too expensive) keyboard that can do this?

paul_c2 · February 2017

Oh, by the way its a funny little keyboard instrument thing with a mechanism that when a key is pressed, a tiny hammer strikes a metal bar or tube, sounds like a glokenspiel but played on a keyboard not with sticks/hammers.

goldtop · February 2017

Sounds like one of those instruments in the General MIDI spec that I never found a use for. Had to Google it - seems Yamaha still make them - at £13k!

Seems a few people ask about samples, so that's another option if built-in sounds are lame.

dogload · February 2017

There's THIS VST plugin if that's any use to you.

Haven't tried it myself BTW

olafgarten · February 2017

goldtop said:

Sounds like one of those instruments in the General MIDI spec that I never found a use for. Had to Google it - seems Yamaha still make them - at £13k!

Seems a few people ask about samples, so that's another option if built-in sounds are lame.

That's very cheap, Scheidmeyer charge €30k for one.

In terms of keyboard the Roland FP50 has a good Celesta Tone, I don't really play much Keyboard but filled in for a friend in a Gig where he does various simple parts on a keyboard because he the flu. One of the songs was CSNY Queen Of Them All, which has a nice Celesta riff. I borrowed his FP50 and it sounded great.

John_A · February 2017

Just you-tubed a few real celesta examples and that free VST doesn't sound bad at all

Stuckfast · February 2017

There is an instrument called the Dulcitone which works on fairly similar principles to the celesta. It was a Victorian thing intended as a portable alternative to the piano. They are a lot of fun and you can pick them up for a couple of hundred quid, but they are often in bad repair.

paul_c2 · March 2017

Thanks for the comments, gives me something to ponder over. I was hoping someone would say "the xxxx xxxxxx keyboard is quite cheap and has a really convincing celesta patch" but alas, no. However, I've been watching a few keyboards on eBay and a couple of things struck me. Firstly, they all tend to be 61 keys (5 octaves) or more these days, and secondly they are dirt cheap - I guess loads of people buy a keyboard with great intentions of learning to play the 'piano' then the reality sets in, that its a long, slow hill to climb to become proficient at it. So I figure its worth taking a punt on a £50 keyboard off eBay, not too far away so I can at least personally collect it thus saving postage and checking it works electrically before buying. And that some people buy a nice keyboard stand at £30 or so but they never get that back when selling.

goldtop · March 2017

If the Roland celesta sound -

- suits your needs, you will most likely find it on a lot of the JV/XP/XV instruments (perhaps in the extra expansion cards, though - 'Orchestral'/etc).

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Celesta

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