Notes can be sustained, even when the keys are released by the fingers and thumbs, by the use of pedals at the base of the instrument. When the key is released, a damper stops the strings' vibration, ending the sound. These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a soundboard that amplifies by more efficiently coupling the acoustic energy to the air. The hammer rebounds from the strings, and the strings continue to vibrate at their resonant frequency. Pressing one or more keys on the piano's keyboard causes a padded hammer (typically padded with firm felt) to strike the strings. The first fortepianos in the 1700s had a quieter sound and smaller dynamic range.Īn acoustic piano usually has a protective wooden case surrounding the soundboard and metal strings, which are strung under great tension on a heavy metal frame. The name was created as a contrast to harpsichord, a musical instrument that doesn't allow variation in volume. The Italian musical terms piano and forte indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively, in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys: the greater the velocity of a key press, the greater the force of the hammer hitting the strings, and the louder the sound of the note produced and the stronger the attack. The word piano is a shortened form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from gravicembalo col piano e forte and fortepiano. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700 (the exact year is uncertain), in which the strings are struck by hammers. (Simple chordophone with keyboard sounded by hammers) tends to make them sound "lifeless" to me, as compared to the real instruments, or Pianoteq instruments with highly variable strike points.A grand piano (left) and an upright piano (right) This is a near impossibility in real life, and this quirk in sampled chromatic percussion instruments.
#Pianoteq 6 sustain pedal on note strike series#
As such, when sampled vibes are played, they always seem to have the same overtone series - duh! - especially when hitting repeated notes. This is because human hands are normally striking the vibrating surfaces, rather than mechanical linkages. Personally, one of the qualities that seems to give too "perfection" (in the negative sense) in many sample libraries is that the overtones and release harmonics are too, too regular and predictable.Īctually, I prefer to only subtly vary the strike points of pianos in contrast, to the vibes, marimba, glockenspiel, cimbalom, etc., I prefer to widely vary the strike points. Incidentally, as you vary the damper variables, and listen closely, you will also hear various harmonic contents associated with the releases of given notes.
The reason I vary (slightly randomize) the strike points is to put some "life" into the Pianoteq sound, as you may have heard in my Campanella fxp.
Sorry to say, too many times, on lesser quality pianos, there seems to be little or no order of the prominent overtones sounding for adjacently played notes. Elsewhere along the same piano, you might hear a cluster of notes favoring the two-octave + major third. When listening to a freshly tuned grand piano, it is common to hear clusters of notes to each possess, say, a prominent overtone sounding an octave + fifth higher than the original tone.
#Pianoteq 6 sustain pedal on note strike plus#
At some strike points on certain strings, the octave harmonic is the most prominent overtone after the fundamental frequency at other strike points, one may hear a prominent interval of a twelfth (octave plus a fifth) or a nineteenth (two octaves plus a third), or you may hear combinations of these prominent overtones. If you were to continuously vary the strike point of any given note, say G2, and listen repeatedly to that G note as the strike point is varied, you will hear a clear change in the degree of relative loudness in the harmonic overtone series. The choice of strike point (location along the string's speaking length where the felt hammer contacts the string), as designed by any given piano manufacturer, is essentially fixed for any given model by the piano manufacturer.