It seems like it should be pretty simple to just record the sound of a concert grand and play it back on a speaker. In fact, that’s what we do for studio albums. Is it the sustain pedal that causes the main difference in sound between an acoustic and a digital? Or would playing both without the pedal still sound different? I actually own a pretty sophisticated digital piano, the Kawai CA49, and it sounds a lot better than cheaper pianos, but I probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between it and an upright acoustic.
In: Engineering
I have a CA49 too, and what others have said about digital sampling is wrong. The CA49 has been sampled using the best grand pianos, at different actions, with sophisticated software that’s only gotten better over the years.
The sound that the CA49 (and other similar digital pianos) produce is impeccable, but it sounds different to an actual acoustic piano because of the physical differences in the construction. The CA49 is just a keyboard on a fancy stand outputting sound from pretty good speakers. In fact, plug in headphones and it sounds even better. But, an acoustic piano has vibrating strings with, most importantly, tons of wood that acts as a soundboard. A soundboard is a way to amplify music based on the specific properties of the wood. Without it, it will just sound totally different and spatially different. To put it simply, while the sound waves might be the same, the way they bounce around the room on different materials is completely different and changes how you’re going to experience it. There are also other differences such as secondary strings vibrating when a string is played, which is probably picked up in the sampling but can’t be replicated when the sound comes from a single speaker instead of several different strings in the piano.
Latest Answers