The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

From: <ginger@...>

> Has anyone created with a decent piano (acoustic rather than
> electric) sound on the AN1x? Hardly what the machine was designed
> for, I know, but maybe some programming wizard has come up with a
> useable sound.....?

It can't be done. :)

I agree with everything Bruce mentioned. I've found that, when he replies,
that more or less settles it for the rest of the list.

The best emulation of a piano would probably be physical modelling, but
before you've figured out the actual model, you're a long way down the road.
For instance, hitting one string with the hammer influences the strings next
to it. There's the resonance of the case itself, and who knows how many
other parameters that influence the overall sound.

Today's sampling synthesisers offer acoustic piano sounds that range from
lousy to quite good (Kurzweil springs to mind), but it's still not the real
thing. I've played on a Yamaha C3 grand piano, and although it's not a first
league product (meaning that it's not a Boessendorfer), it leaves any synth
in the dust, if you ask me.

The piano is arguably the most difficult instrument to model, so with an
AN1x you won't get further than a half-way decent electric/electronic piano.
Nice sound, nonetheless, but not the Real Thing.

- Peter