[sdiy] was digital pianos

[Kenneth Elhardt]

I've been very busy programming and about a month behind on e-mail.  But
I'll still respond.

JH writes:
>>I don't know if I got that right, but I think the point was that with the
sustain pedal _not_ activated, you mainly have resonances from the few
undamped notes that are still held with your fingers. Play a C in the bass
range, let the finger rest on that key even when that note has faded away,
and then play a chord in the mid range with the other hand. This new chord
will make the low C strings resonate, but not (or much less) the
neighbouring notes of that C whose key is not held. Was that the idea? I can
imagine that this does make a difference.<<

It's one of those small things that detractors of digital pianos like to
fall back on.  It's to look for anything that doesn't act 100% the same, and
then call it crap because it doesn't.  In most performances when you have
all kinds of stuff going on, not only will most of these little things not
be encountered in the first place, but most won't be heard anyway.  I think
the tone of a Bosendorfer (particularly the low end) sounds great even
without holding down invisible keys.  And if I want that soft percussive
Glenn Gould type Steinway sound, I can load that up and get that sound.  One
would have to start buying a lot of real pianos to get the variety I can get
out of a sample library.

>>Absolutely. Speaking for myself, I look for improovement, not for
perfection.<<

Yes.  Something that sounds 99% like the real thing doesn't sound like crap.

hichakhok writes:
>>A cheap yamaha upright will be more expressive than any sampled piano
library.  Sampled pianos are useful, rehearsals small gigs etc. But compared
to the real thing they are still truly awful.<<

An upright piano is to a grand piano what a ukulele is to a guitar.  All
that seems to be of concern to some is how real a digital behaves compared
to the real thing and no concern about the beauty of its tone.  I'll take my
piano sample libraries over any upright piano any day.

>>only having 8 tonal gradations is a joke! A filter????? Would you  filter
a hamburg steinway ???? Sampled pianos are useful, rehearsals small gigs
etc. But compared to the real thing they are still truly awful.<<

Makes me wonder why some of you are into synths.  Many with zero velocity
levels, no resonant interaction between notes, no sustain full, half,
quarter pedal, simplistic electronically generated static waveforms,
simplistic filters, and so on.  Compared to the complexity of sound of a
sampled Bosendorfer, the synth sounds like a cheap toy.


-Elhardt