All of which only goes to underline one of the main points I see in all this. The replica does not really need to ever fully reproduce the sound of the acoustic to be able to take over. It only needs to become good enough so that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks enough the the buying public... which as Stephane so eloquently points out are already so very willing to accept a vulgarization of the instrument, are seduced into buying the replica instead of the acoustic. Its a sad development in so many ways to be sure. Just today I was sitting most of the day with Edward Griegs old B having technical responsibilities for a recording session with Simax, and English recording studio. These thoughts this discussion deals with went through my mind several times this morning during the initial tuning, and I thought to myself.... my my my... when THIS so intimate connection between human and acoustic instruments disappears, what a sad day that will be... if it be. Ok... so I am afeared and and many others are far more optimistic. But in the end.... well... who was it that said there is no magic in our work, no soul to a piano ? If they ever do manage to fully imitate the acoustic world (and I rather believe sooner or later they will)... they do indeed have a major task in front of them. Cheers RicB I confess, I have no idea what a clavinova costs. The point is the same. My guess is that a lot of consumers would pay more for technology. Schools know the costs, they have done it for years. The 30 year old piano is sitting there and the school is on their 4th keyboard in 15 years. They spent a lot on replacement to save tuning costs. People buy it because they want it. The schools mission statement mentions the teaching of technology, some pricipals have asked music teachers to use their keyboards as part of the technology education. We buy stuff everyday that has no value the next and know that we have to upgrade. The larger point of the Yamaha ad is that I was astonished that they really left no room for the acoustic piano. Phil Mosley A complete new Yamaha grand action plus fancy keyboard for $2K? Seems hard to imagine.. Farrell
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