Topic by Marcin Sanakiewicz

  • Avatar
  • Marcin Sanakiewicz
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 18-07-2026
  • Posts: 2

Topic: Unfolked Piano — a solo album built on the Bösendorfer 280VC

Hi everyone,

After nearly 30 years on stage and behind arrangements I’ve finally put out my solo album, „Unfolked Piano. Some Polish Themes” (released 26 June).

The heart of the record is solo piano, and the acoustic voice throughout is Pianoteq’s Bösendorfer 280VC. I built everything in Logic Pro, layering electronics, ambient textures and jazz harmony around the piano rather than on top of it — the goal was to extend the instrument, not bury it. The electronic and layered colours come from Arturia Augmented Piano and XLN Addictive Keys, but the piano you actually hear is the 280VC. One track, Little Lime, is fully acoustic — just the model on its own, if you want to judge it naked.

Twelve original pieces, loosely rooted in Polish melodic and folk material but pulled toward neoclassical, ambient and jazz. Mastered to −14 LUFS by Maciej Woźnica.

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list...d4JhpK3GP1

I’d honestly like to hear what this community makes of it — especially how the Bösendorfer sits in the mix, whether the piano reads as “real” to your ears, and where the electronics help or get in the way.

Thanks for listening.
Marcin

Reply by carmelo.paolucci

  • Avatar
  • carmelo.paolucci
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 21-08-2024
  • Posts: 669

Re: Unfolked Piano — a solo album built on the Bösendorfer 280VC

Marcin Sanakiewicz wrote:

Hi everyone,

After nearly 30 years on stage and behind arrangements I’ve finally put out my solo album, „Unfolked Piano. Some Polish Themes” (released 26 June).

The heart of the record is solo piano, and the acoustic voice throughout is Pianoteq’s Bösendorfer 280VC. I built everything in Logic Pro, layering electronics, ambient textures and jazz harmony around the piano rather than on top of it — the goal was to extend the instrument, not bury it. The electronic and layered colours come from Arturia Augmented Piano and XLN Addictive Keys, but the piano you actually hear is the 280VC. One track, Little Lime, is fully acoustic — just the model on its own, if you want to judge it naked.

Twelve original pieces, loosely rooted in Polish melodic and folk material but pulled toward neoclassical, ambient and jazz. Mastered to −14 LUFS by Maciej Woźnica.

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list...d4JhpK3GP1

I’d honestly like to hear what this community makes of it — especially how the Bösendorfer sits in the mix, whether the piano reads as “real” to your ears, and where the electronics help or get in the way.

Thanks for listening.
Marcin

Congratulations on the release, Marcin!
30 years of stage and arranging experience really shines through in the maturity of the concept. The Bösendorfer 280VC model sounds incredibly organic here—you’ve achieved a wonderful balance where the electronics serve as a natural extension of the resonance rather than an afterthought. Listening to 'Little Lime' naked shows just how expressive the modeling is. Masterful work, and beautiful integration of jazz and neoclassical sensibilities!
Greetings from Italy
Carmelo

Reply by Marcin Sanakiewicz

  • Avatar
  • Marcin Sanakiewicz
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 18-07-2026
  • Posts: 2

Re: Unfolked Piano — a solo album built on the Bösendorfer 280VC

Carmelo — thank you! And thank you especially for the way you put it, because you named the thing I was most anxious about.

The electronics as an extension of the resonance rather than an afterthought — that was exactly the intention, and it was the hardest part of the whole record. It would have been easy to put pads under the piano and call it atmosphere. I wanted the opposite: everything that isn't the piano had to sound like something the piano itself was doing. When someone hears that without being told, it means the balance held.

You're right about "Little Lime" being the naked one. It's the only track on the album with no electronics at all — just the 280VC. I put it in the middle of the record on purpose, as a kind of reset: after a few pieces with layers, the ear needs to hear what the instrument actually sounds like on its own. It's also the quietest and the saddest thing I've written, so it needed the least help.

The whole album is that one model, all twelve tracks. What still surprises me after months of working with it is how it responds to touch in the very soft dynamics — the place where sampled instruments usually give up and you can hear the layers switching. That's where the modelling earns its keep.

Thirty years of playing other people's music before making my own, and it turns out the hardest audience is the one that knows what's under the hood. So your message meant a great deal.

If you ever want to talk shop about the settings, I'm happy to — always more to learn from someone who listens that carefully.

Warm regards from Poland,
Marcin