another query

[Les Smith]

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