Les Smith wrote: > > On Thu, 12 Feb 1998, pianoman wrote: > > > Hi All again, > > In the new digital pianos that have historical temperaments built in , > > have any of you learned ones in HT tried them and if so what is your > > opinion of how they sound on very uniform digital instruments? > > Thanks for the opening. Jim. As you know, I've mentioned "high-end", > "state-of--the-art" digital pianos in several of my posts lately. In > my opinion, there's no better way to study the HT's in REAL DEPTH. Be- > fore anyone has a heart attack, let me explain what I mean. Be prepared > to be blown away by what you hear. First, though, let me describe several > features of the kind of digital piano I'm talking about. They are not > all created equal. > > A high-end digital will not only have the ability to reproduce the sounds > of many different instrument, but will, in fact, give you a choice of > HUNDREDS of different sounds, which you can then combine in an infinite > variety of ways. You can compose a symphony on such piano. No kidding. > You're not going to need any of that stuff right now, but it's one of > the signs of s top-of-the-line model, which is what you're looking for. > The "sound-sampling" for the digital will have been taken from a Stein- > way "D". No, it's not going to EXACTLY like a real live D. Not YET. But > the technology is evolving so rapidly that it's almost scary (at least > for some) to think where digitals will be in another five years or so. > Ever play a piano whose touch was too light, or too heavy? Your high- > end digital will have a "touch selector" which will typically give you > a choice of half a dozen different touches. It'll even have such nici- > ties as a working sostenuto pedal. Is it getting warm in here, or what? > You ain't seen NOTHIN' yet! > > There are three main switches on the piano that will be of interest to > you in exploring HT's. The first is called the transposer. Remember > those old uprights that used to let you change key by moving a con- > trol lever? The transposer on the digital is the same idea, except that > instead of only being able to move up or down a couple of half-steps > like those old pianos, the digital will allow you to move to ANY of the > twelve keys. It works like this. Lets take a difficult piece as our > example--the last movement of the "Moonlight" Sonata in C# minor. Play > the piece as written on the digital. Now, move the transposer up a > half step and play the piece again. You are still playing the keys that > correspond to the key of C# minor, but you are hearing it in Dm! Get > the picture? Now play the piece (or part of it) ten more times, each > time moving the transposer another half step and when you're finished > you will have heard the last movement of the "Moonlight" in all twelve > keys in ET! When was the last time you heard a pianist pull off that > trick? :) BTW, did I mention that you could be playing all this into > "memory" and then play it back? Hold on, we're just getting started. > > The second switch on the digital you want to find is the temperament > selector. A high-end instrument will give you a choice of at least 6, > plus the ability to program in your own. Pick a temperament. Ever hear > of a Valotti-Young? Lets start there. Once again play the same piece. > You're now hearing it in C#m, in the V-Y temperament. Cool, huh? Now > bump up the transposer a half-step and play the piece again. You're > now hearing it in the key of DM, IN THE V-Y TEMPERAMENT. By using the > transposer the same way you did in ET, you can hear the "Moonlight" > in all twelve minor keys in the V-Y temperament. What better way to > kear the difference in key-color offered by an unequal temperament, > than by hearing the same piece played through all twelve keys?! > > Continuing on in a similar manner, you can hear the same piece played > through all twelve keys of each of the temperaments. Let's say that > we do six different ones. Thats 72 samplings of the same piece played > all twelve keys in six different temperaments. Impressive, huh? And, > we're not finished yet! > > The third switch you're looking for is called "pitch". That's right, > you can hear the different temperaments as they sound at different > pitches. Let's say that we run through our 72 samplings at 3 dif- > ferent pitches. That as total of 216 samplings! To do the same thing > with acoustic pianos, you'd need eighteen of them side-by-side, man- > ned by eighteen pianists who could transpose at sight any piece into > all twelve keys. I'd like to see THAT demonstration! > > The technology described above is not some pie-in-the sky dream, it > exists today, right now. And it's only going to get better. And as > it does, the price on these high-enders is going to come down, too. > Such pianos, because of their high-versatility, are going to provid- > ing more and more competition for the acoustic piano. One can either > read the hand-writing on the wall and prepare for it, or ignore it > at their own peril. > > When I wrote my sketches about Chopin living in modern times, I des- > cribed him as having BOTH a digital and an acoustic piano. I wasn't > kidding. No serious composer/arranger will be able to function with- > out one, especially when it's interfaced with an equally high-end > computer. Is anyone still writing out music by hand? Not if they > do a lot of it. The computer is revolutionizing not just the book > publishing industry, but the music publishing industry, too. When > Chopin writes his next set of Preludes, you won't be buying it at > a music store. You'll be accessing his website at www.chopin.com, > engaging in an encrypted credit card transaction, downloading the > music to your computer, printing it out and then playing it on your > own piano in a matter of minutes. And the day is not too far off > when after playing it on your acoustic piano, you might find yourself > thinking, "Gee, I wonder how this would sound transposed to the key > Ab, in a Valotti-Young temperament at a pitch of A-435." And then > you will take the music over to YOUR digital piano, select the > appropriate key, temperament and pitch, play it, and hear it just > that way. No calling in someone to tune your piano every time you > want to change temperament or pitch, because you can do that with > the touch of a selector switch. And someday, when the sound gets > good enough--and that day is NOT far off--NEVER calling in a tuner > because you've abandoned your acoustic piano altogether, in favor > of the infinitely more flexible digital piano. Just as surely as > we've entered into the computer age with no turning back, so too > are we entering the age of the digital piano. Like-wise with no > turning back. > > The acoustic piano will never completely die out. Just as there > are keyboard artists today who still play harpsichords, fortepianos, > and square pianos, so too will there be those who play the acoustic > piano for authenticity's sake. In the not-to-distant future, future > members of Digital-Pianotech will be discussing whether or not to > properly appreciate 20th century piano music it has to be played upon > a "old-fashioned" real acoustic piano. The arguements are sure to > rage hot and heavy. > > Summing up: The digital piano provides an excellent way to explore the > various HT's in real depth. I encourage you all to do so. While there's > still time and the idea still has some application to your work. > > Although I've been accused of being a pessimist, I prefer to think > of my self as a realist. The future is clear. And it will happen whether > we want it, or like it, or not. > > Les Smith > lessmith@buffnet.net Dear Les: I like (love) electronic possibilities, too - until - as I keep reminding myself - the electricity goes off. Dan Hallett, Jr. Hallett's Piano Service dhalle@toolcity.net
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