Kris asked/said: <<"It seems to me that there is a definite difference between the sound of an electronic "piano" and a REAL piano.">> Kris; You have gotten some very good discussion with this question and some very good answers. These answers kinda dance around my feeling about electronically produced music in general but electronic pianos (EP) in particular. The best EP sounds are the sampled sounds but that is also the problem, in my opinion. In that the sampled sounded is a constant and does not change...in other words it is always the same "sound" it may be softer or louder or it may be attacked strongly or moderately...it makes no difference it is still the same 'sound'....this is not true of a piano where a note, say A440, may always be A440 but it "sounds" differently and takes on different coloration and characteristics when played softly or loudly, staccato or in an arpeggio, etc., etc. Still A440 but a world of change is possible, indeed uncontrollable by the performer, and determined by the many forces involved in an action such as; a hammer strikes a string differently and in slightly altered positions depending on the force used and a unison "sounds" diferently when struck from fully dampened position then when struck in a not-fully-dampened position. All these factors, and more along the same, line tend to make pianos deliver a fuller more 'alive' sound or possibly it has more 'presence', even when amplified through mikes and speakers, then even the best EP is currently capable of. EPs are 'flat' in the same way the sound from electronic drums are 'flat', i.e. there is a distinct 'sameness' to every thing played on it. In other words once you have heard an electronic 'rim shot'............. well, you've heard it :-) My view. Jim Bryant (FL)
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