<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: [CAUT] Scientific study - Stainless wire (Help!)</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> On 9/4/07 10:26 AM, "Jim Busby" <jim_busby@byu.edu> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>Very detailed observations! About thumpers, it seems to me that the real issue in this study would be; <OL><LI>Abilityto reproduce the exact stroke w/o variation <LI>Eliminationof “the human element” </OL> In this regard the Disklavier would be ideal because according to Yamaha it can reproduce what the human plays to a 100 point scale. IOW if you hit the velocity at 69 (out of 100 possible), the “machine” will reproduce it at volume 69 time and time again, as long as the machine has been calibrated and not changed during the test time. Of course this precludes human error upon reproduction on that piano. </BLOCKQUOTE> Hi Jim,     I think Disklavier is probably fine for the pure sound study. Thinking it over, the solenoid gizmo that actually activates the key, which is an electromagnet, will do an even acceleration depending on the charge applied, as magnetic attraction increases with closeness. So, assuming the controller is reliable (gives the same charge each time), it should be reliable and reasonably close to a finger keystroke. Of course, Disklavier is Yamaha, and as far as I know, only available pre-installed, which limits you to Yamaha. Maybe I’m  wrong, and you can get components to use in a retrofit to another brand instrument, but that doesn’t sound like the Yamaha way. Otherwise, PianoDisc or Pianomation will provide the things needed, and they are probably fairly comparable (who knows how much salesman hype is true?)     But if you want to do testing on things like, say, crescendo front rail punchings, you will need something that activates the top of the front of the key, to get a good keybed “activation.” It’s an important part of the whole sound (the bottom of the key acting on the keybed through the frame and punching), and I think that it must affect the whole feedback of the instrument in subtle ways. So if you really want to try to replicate real life as closely as possible, the top of the key has to be pressed down, and with enough mass behind it to simulate a finger connected to a human body.     Whatever experiments are done, with whatever equipment, will provide some very interesting and useful information. But the opportunity to provide input before (rather than carping later about “if only they . . .”) is pretty rare, so I’m taking advantage of it <G>. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico </BODY> </HTML>