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Old 18th May 2003   #21
Ted Nightshade
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Joined: Mar 2003
Location: state of jefferson
Posts: 1,328

Like I say, if you're willing/able to put in the time and footwork do some searching, you can get a nice if not great piano for a couple thousand dollars.

State of Jefferson is very far from Berlin, it's the southern part of Oregon and the most northern part of California. This mountain region was about to become it's own state when WWII broke out, which put an end to that great idea.

But surely there are lots of good piano techs in Berlin!

The other thing that is impossible to simulate digitally besides the percussive attack of the piano is the soundboard. Amazing things, soundboards. The complex resonances that go on there are nearly magical. That source of richness and resonance can not be modelled digitally in any worthwhile way. A single key stroke resonates the soundboard in a certain way, where a chord resonates it completely differently than the sum of the several individual notes.

I do wonder, though, if someone will ever build a real soundboard onto a fake piano and resonate it with a speaker. That has real possibilities, I do believe.

One dilemma, should you opt to go with the digital pianos, is whether to get one that's easy on the ears, or one that has more of the punch and edge a real piano has. That sharp attack that sounds so good in an acoustic instrument can be painful in a simulation, like that woody "thwack" from a real bass fiddle never comes off right through a pickup, or sampled.

Saw a woman play the other night who had less than convincing fake piano (Kurzweil it was) and unrealistic amplified acoustic guitar sound, but they were mellow and unabrasive, and there's something to be said for that!

But to experience a real piano, umm.... Shopping for used pianos in Germany sounds fun to me, it's got to be better than shopping for used pianos in Oregon.
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