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A timely press release was made by QRS Technologies which offers a number of
piano paraphernalia and ancillary devices. Notably absent was the
"self-tuning" piano. But, since there was a recent question about the
so-called "Honky Tonk" sound for a piano, I copied and pasted their news item
below.
Coincidentally, I tuned a decades old friend of mine's piano yesterday in my
EBVT in which he has always been interested and enthusiastic. He wanted me
to also take a look at his electronic keyboard which he uses regularly. I
forget the brand name (one I had never heard of) and it did not have any
temperament choices on it but did have several variations of piano sound.
The temperament was ET for each and they all had a very moderate amount of
stretch. My friend volunteered immediately the comment, "That sounds FLAT!"
when I played up to the C8 on the keyboard. It was stretched to a mere 10
cents sharp of theoretical. I used my most recent program on his piano which
had the C8 at +50 cents. When I published that information here, I
immediately got (as I expected I would) comments of disbelief and something
along the lines of "stretching the %&!@ out of the octaves", how it would
produce headaches, etc.
My friend is a very accomplished pianist who plays many styles from Baroque &
Classical (he loves Bach), to Jazz, to New Age, to Boogie Woogie. He is left
handed and used to break the bass strings out of his previous piano playing
Boogie Woogie and Rock & Roll patterns in the bass. He confirmed to me how
all of the chords in the treble sounded "crystal clear" to him on the piano
the way I had tuned it and "kinda sour and off" (his words) on the electronic
keyboard. In particular, he noted that even though the C8 measured at +50
cents and the rest of the 7th octave was also quite "pumped up", it all
sounded good, correct, musical and "in tune" to him while the electronic
keyboard's sound was disappointing and "flat".
One question he had which I could not answer was whether he could reprogram
his electronic keyboard's tuning to be more like or identical to the way I
tuned his piano. He saw that my SAT had MIDI ports on it as did he
electronic keyboard. Would there be a way to feed a tuning program into his
instrument that would replace the default one which is offered?
Also of particular note here was that both the "Honky Tonk" sound and the
"Player Piano" sound featured a very bright tone and very mistuned unisons, I
think on the order of the 20 cents that another writer mentioned but the
temperament was still the same, very mildly stretched ET.
Now, I really don't believe for a single second that Scott Joplin had
deliberate mistuning of unisons or an overly bright, "tinny" tone in mind
when he wrote his music. All of this is something people have come to
associate with his music over time and completely out of the control or
desires of the composer himself. My point is that there may be several ways
to achieve an altered sound and that really any one of them would be just as
inauthentic as any other. While I would prefer to get that altered sound
through tuning and temperament, the QRS "Rinky Tink" device is there for
those who want it (but there is also no reason both could not be used).
I think you could order from them on line or other suppliers may have their
products. Their website info is below.
Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin
<A HREF="http://www.billbremmer.com/">Click here: -=w w w . b i l l b r e m m e r . c o m =-</A>
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ANAHEIM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 2003--QRS Music Technologies, Inc.
(OTCBB:<A HREF="aol://4785:QRSM">QRSM</A>) announced today at the National Association of Music
Merchandisers ("NAMM") annual convention that it has added more unique
products to its Supply Catalog.
Tom A. Dolan, President, said: "Our goal is to provide a 'one-stop' shopping
source for unique and hard-to-find products and that goal has taken a major
leap forward with these new products."
The new Supply Catalog products include the following:
-- The Mute Rail and Rinky Tink Rail easily install into any
Grand Piano to turn it into a Rinky Tink piano or bring down
the volume level of playback as you practice or play your
player system.
-- The Bob Eliminator -- makes the rolling of a grand piano on
its side a snap by stabilizing the leg and lyre.
-- The Composer Station -- a teardrop-shaped table equipped with
a MIDI USB adapter and room for a power supply. Swing it out,
open up your laptop and you're ready to compose.
-- The Piano Speaker -- a dynamic speaker made to fit under a
grand or in the case of an upright.
-- The Music Rack Light that lights up not only the music placed
on the rack but also can highlight the beauty of the rim and
strings.
-- The Fall Board Closer, in two styles, dampens the fall board
as it closes.
-- The Lid Assist permits you to open or close your grand piano
lid with just a finger.
The QRS Music Supply Catalog includes products for pianos, player pianos,
Nickelodeons, Pianocorders and Pianomation(R) and MIDI supplies.
About Pianomation(R)
The QRS Pianomation(R) system can turn any piano into a reproducing player
piano. A hardware and software process can store and transport Musical
Instrument Digital Interface ("MIDI") information as an analog signal. This
process gives QRS the ability to store, and wirelessly transmit, MIDI
performance data in an analog format from a controller (CD, video, cassette,
DVD, DAT or Minidisc) to the receiver on the piano. This creates numerous
possibilities. For example, most off-the-shelf audio equipment has a left and
right channel available for use. State-of-the-art technology permits QRS to
store the digital signal in an analog format on the left channel of the
software that operates those players. This leaves the right channel available
for live prerecorded audio music, even vocal recordings. Pianomation(R)
blends them together in perfect harmony and perfect synchronization. The
Pianomation(R) MIDI System is the first product of its kind to "marry" analog
and digital technology.
QRS Music Technologies' World Wide Web site is www.QRSMusic.com. Sample audio
selections are available at the Web Site. QRS Music Technologies, Inc.'s
stock is traded Over-The-Counter on the OTCBB:QRSM.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in this news release that relate to future plans, events or
performances are forward-looking statements. Any statements containing words
such as "believes," "should," "anticipates," "plans," or "expects," as well
as other statements, are forward-looking, and those statements involve risks
and uncertainties outside of the control of QRS and are based on current
expectations. Consequently, actual results could differ materially from the
expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. Attention is
directed to cautionary statements in our filings on Form 10K-SB for the
fiscal year ended June 30, 2002, and our other filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. All those filings are available on the Web site of
the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov.
CONTACT:
For QRS Music Technologies, Inc.
Chuck Campbell, 708/798-9405
or
www.QRSMusic.com
SOURCE: QRS Music Technologies, Inc.
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