Chicago Upright 1927 vs Una Corda

The fundamental difference between these two upright piano VSTs lies in their core acoustic design and resulting tonal character. The Chicago Upright 1927 authentically captures a specific vintage instrument with its inherent imperfections, while Una Corda focuses on a custom-built, experimental piano designed for unique sonic textures.

The Chicago Upright 1927 is derived from a 1927 Baldwin Monarch, featuring an aged, warm, and dark sound with notably "tubby" low strings and a worn-in midrange. It provides five microphone positions, offering flexibility in capturing its historical character. In contrast, Una Corda is modeled after a modern Klavins upright, distinctive for having only one string per key, which produces a pure, resonant, and atmospheric sound. With a single microphone position, Una Corda emphasizes its unique construction over mic placement variety.

Choose the Chicago Upright 1927 if you require an aged, gritty, and characterful vintage upright sound for recording or film scoring that embraces imperfections. Opt for Una Corda if you seek an intimate, experimental, and textural upright piano with a pure, single-string resonance for atmospheric sound design or contemporary genres.

Products Compared

• Chicago Upright 1927
• Una Corda

Insights from Real-World Use

Chicago Upright 1927

• Reverb and mic choices yield beautiful, spacious results; Chicago Upright 1927 has an aged vibe.
• Prefers the more forward mix setting and finds the reverb sound pleasing.
• Frustrated by lack of a control and presets resetting output to zero.
• Chicago Upright 1927 is a vintage (and it shows) 48" upright Baldwin Monarch. This thing has serious character and grime. You won't be getting any shiny clear.
• Notes upright character with slight pitch wariness as part of its sound.

Una Corda

• Detailed positive review of a dreamy Una Corda preset's reverb and sustain.
• I will still give the Kontrol Mk3 4 stars on my product review. Because Una Corda is truly great. But they should give me at least one great option for a...
• I do like the Noire and Una Corda pianos for organic sounds though. I've found that Spitfire's range is increasingly deep and beautiful. Plus all of their...
• Una Corda's prepared piano nature with felt creates a very particular and soft sound.
• Una Corda is a very good piano sound for various music types, especially score music.