Well said, Mark, I personally don't get the argument. Just about every one that loves to play the piano will find himself drawn to experiment with anything with a keyboard. The advantages of a real piano over a digital keyboard are obvious, but how about the advantages of a keyboard over a piano. Finally we can walk into a gig with a trio or combo and set up and play, it's all good, guys. No maintenance, no moving, no being stuck with what's on stage. Fenton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Schecter" <mark at schecterpiano.com> To: <stuka at mindspring.com>; "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 9:55 AM Subject: Re: New computer software > In about 1983, Kurzweil Music Systems circulated a PR video of their > flagship model 250, playing the Mozart 2 piano Sonata in duo with a > Steinway something. Their challenge, "You can't tell the difference" was a > bit overblown at the time, but still, the recording was surprisingly > effective, especially since nothing like it had ever been attempted > before. That was 25 years ago. > > Since then, every electronic keyboard manufacturer has been working to > improve the sound and feel of their products, and I would have to grant > that they have been succeeding, however incrementally. No, it's not "as > good as the real thing", but I listened to most of the demos of the > Garritan samples, and some of them, especially the Pro, I thought were at > the least, very good. OK, it might not suffice for Murray Perahia's next > live performance, but for a lot of folks, in a lot of situations, it could > be very useful, and persuasive. > > It's easy to turn up one's nose and sneer, but there have probably been > quite a few recordings and performances done on virtual instruments so > convincing that it never occurred to the listener to wonder whether it was > "real". Don't forget, when you're listening to a recording, it's not the > "real thing", it's ... a recording. > > Also, in many live performance situations, the sound from the "pianist" > would be much better coming out of a virtual box, than the awful, honking, > imbalanced sound sent to the house from the microphone aimed either into > the "soundhole" or four inches from the octave 5 hammers. > > I'm not saying, "Be afraid", I'm saying, give credit where credit's due. I > for one, would rather listen to the piano samples on the site below than > just about any spinet so-called piano. Is it perfect? Of course not. Is > any piano? Well, we aim for that, but ... > > -Mark Schecter > > stuka at mindspring.com wrote: >> Yeah, you ever wonder why none of the software and hardware manufacturers >> and sales folk ever offer a side-by-side comparison between their product >> and a real piano of *any* kind, even the junkiest spinet they pulled out >> of a garage...? >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Kent Swafford >> Sent: May 6, 2008 6:18 PM >> To: Pianotech List , College and University Technicians >> Subject: New computer software >> >> Behold the Authorized Steinway Virtual Concert Grand: >> >> >> >> http://tinyurl.com/673gzu >> >> http://garritan.com/steinway_demos.html >> >> > >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC