Message
Re: [disklavier] Re: PowerTracks and settings. Finally got it!
2003-12-18 by PianoBench@aol.com
In a message dated 12/17/03 7:34:59 PM, kobold@... writes:
< Is the yamaha disklavier really a midi instrument ?>>
It is definitely a MIDI instrument. If we examine the Disklavier in light of other MIDI instruments, I think that we will find that each has its own peculiarities. Electronic keyboards, for example, use a variety of different approaches to the issue of key velocity. There really is no standard. Some sophisticated MIDI controller keyboards even offer choices for determining how the keyboard maps key velocities to the sounds that you hear.
<>
In the hope that you might not be perpetually disappointed, I would suggest that you compare the effective velocity range of your Disklavier to that of another electronic keyboard in two ways:
(1) Record a piano piece on the Disklavier and then record the same piece on an electronic keyboard of your choice. Then, play back both pieces. Ignoring what knowledge you have of the MIDI velocity numbers, ask yourself which plays back more sensitively and accurately and which is more pleasant to listen to. My point is simply that the ultimate issue is how good the audible results are.
(2) Record a piano piece with really wide ranging dynamics--such as something by Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, or Prokofiev--on both your Disklavier and on an electronic keyboard of your choice. Then, examine the MIDI data from both recordings. Did the electronic keyboard produce a significantly wider range of MIDI velocities? Try the same test using a piece with more modest dynamic variation. How do the note-on velocities compare?
I think that the results of test #2 will be very interesting. They will depend on the characteristics of the particular electronic keyboard, of course, the nature and quality of the digital piano sample that you hear when you play, as well as the volume level that you set for the audio output of the keyboard.
The last issue--the volume level of the electronic keyboard--will have a profound impact on the results. If you set it very high, you will have a tendency to hold back when you play loudly because the resulting sound will too easily get harsh and ugly. The result may be that you don't achieve the highest possible MIDI velocities. If you set the volume really low, you may similarly not achieve very low velocities in your playing because the resulting sound would be too soft.
My point is simply that the issue of note-on velocity gets to be rather artificial and arbitrary in the world of electronic keyboards.
< all the way during its travel tawards the string. Remember when you have a key half depressed in a Chopin Nocturne, and the just feed the little energy that will have the hammer just "humming" at the end of a phrase ? This is something exquisite and normal, but Midi cannot take care of, if only because it was designed as a physical model of movement : you're getting the velocity plus the exact moment you depress the key (Midi keyboards are sophisticated but basically an off-on system plus a velocity the weight of the key when striking the bottom of the keyboard bottom) The movement of even a child's first attempt to play the piano is a much more sophisticated one !>>
Actually, the Disklavier Pro is more sophisticated in this regard than one might think. Its servo playback system--combined with key release velocity data results in key movement on playback that is very close to the original performance. And, of course, the speed of the hammer hitting the strings during playback is quite accurate.
< http://members.shaw.ca/smythe/library.htm ) . I do not know where that comes from. Maybe it's my imagination ? The Yamaha's technology plus my imagination have been filling the gap, and that's good news !>>
Back in the days of the pneumatic (i.e. vacuum operated) player pianos, there were a variety of playback systems. I am not sure which system Rubinstein recorded on. I can tell you, however, that the recording process did not capture his dynamics. The recording process captured the note one/off information and pedal on/off information. Any dynamics that were encoded onto the roll were put there after the fact by the roll editors in an attempt to capture the spirit of his playing.
The roll editors used a number of ingenious techniques and did a remarkable job. Typically, the recording artist had to sign off on the results before the roll was release, so we can think of the results as being close to the original performance.
I have not had a chance to look at Mr. Smythe's converted roll data in detail. It will be interesting to see what range of note-on velocities are in these files. The Duo-Art system, for example, at 16 "power levels" of encoding for "accompaniment notes" and 16 power levels of encoding for "theme notes." You might think that this would result in 32 possible hammer velocities, but that is not the case. Some keys have more mass to move than others. Also, the amount of energy available to move the keys at any power level gets distributed differently depending upon whether the dampers are up and depending upon how many notes are being played at the moment. The bottom line is that 32 power levels were capable of producing an amazing spectrum of actual hammer velocities.
< This outstanding piece of its century technology (a Stradivarius for example, or a Yamaha DKV) plus our imaginations.>>
Good way of thinking about it. When I attend a concert, I notice that a lot of the audience's enjoyment of the performance goes well beyond the actual note-on velocities that produce the sounds that they hear. People's enjoyment has a lot to do with their preconceptions about the artist, the artist's personality, the visual trappings of the venue, the choice of pieces, the performer's gestures, et cetera.
<<Music has always had some magic in it. The technology will never be able to capture it all. So when it suddenly comes out of a mechanical pianoplayer, however sophisticated, it must come out of somewhere else. I tend to think it comes from heaven.>>
We are getting closer all the time. I have recently been involved in recording contestants in the screening round of the International Piano-e-Competition. Contestants were recorded on Disklavier Pro pianos in Hamamatsu (Japan), LA, New York, and Paris. We recorded them using XP data and recorded them visually with a digital video camera (capturing the video directly on DVD). During the recording process, we used SMPTE and MTC (two types of time code: Society of Motion Pictures and Television Engineers and MIDI Time Code) to coordinate the recording devices.
Next month, the 1st round jury will assemble in St. Paul, MN and watch the video on a large screen and listen to the contestants' MIDI data played back on a 9-foot Disklavier Pro in a 350 seat recital hall. This is an attempt to create an experience for the judges that is close to a live performance. The judges will then reduce the number of contestants from about 55 down to 24 who will compete in person in St. Paul in the next round.
Regards,
PianoBench