Abbey Road Studios have unveiled a new sampled instrument in collaboration with British fashion brand Charles Jeffrey Loverboy – check out all the details below.
Today (Monday February 23), the iconic studio shared the instrument, named ‘The Big Nessie’, which is now available to download for free here. A playable digital instrument designed for music makers of all levels, ‘The Big Nessie’ allows producers to experiment with raw sounds drawn from the creative world of Loverboy and Abbey Road Studios.
Marking Abbey Road’s first fully in-house built sampled instrument, the release serves as the sonic counterpart to Loverboy’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection. Per a press release, it was designed using the studio’s ‘Curve Bender’ approach, which allows for the use of captured sounds, which are then processed through a range of unique vintage equipment and acoustic spaces.
Now, these come as playable digital software instruments for the music production community to experiment with. The sounds found in the instrument are a mixture of recordings from the Loverboy workshop in Somerset House and recordings made in the legendary Studio Two at Abbey Road with Jeffrey and his musical director, Tom Furse, alongside the Abbey Road team.
Said sounds were then edited and sound sculpted, before being wrapped with graphics designed by Jeffrey. The resulting instrument offers a library full of “beautifully strange and raw sounds”, giving producers “warped percussive textures, tonal fragments and experimental rhythms” to play with.
Speaking about ‘The Big Nessie’, Abbey Road’s Head of Audio Products, Mirek Stiles said: “There are many beautiful examples of how music and fashion have seamlessly fused together over the years, but this feels like the first time these creative worlds have come together to present a music production creative tool.”
Having led the development of the instrument, he added that collaborating with Jeffrey was “a truly inspiring experience that took both Loverboy and Abbey Road out of their comfort zones to make a fun and quirky sampled instrument for the creative community across the globe.
“I hope artists and producers have as much fun exploring this instrument as we had making it.”
The name of Jeffrey’s collection is ‘Prepared Piano’, also a musical nod to John Cage’s 1940s technique of modifying the instrument with bolts, rubber, and cutlery, transforming it into something raw and unpredictable.
Speaking about the process, designer Jeffrey added: “Abbey Road Studios is not just a music icon; it’s a cultural hub, a laboratory of dreams. Loverboy has always aligned itself with institutions that celebrate culture, from the British Library to the V&A.
“Partnering with Abbey Road, a place that fosters innovation and creativity, felt like the perfect fit as I explore new dimensions in music and fashion. Our project ‘Prepared Piano’ embodies that spirit of experimentation, blending the sound of our creative process with the iconic legacy of Abbey Road, offering a 360-degree experience of what LOVERBOY is all about.”
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