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Yes. You just can't sample your way out of the problem of getting the sound of many strings resonating when you press a key, especially when you hold the right

Yes. You just can't sample your way out of the problem of getting the sound of many strings resonating when you press a key, especially when you hold the right pedal. Electronic pianos are good, and I have one, but they are a different instrument that doesn't do what a cheap cabinet piano can.

eigenvector 8y ago
Yes, that is a good way of putting it. No one would ask whether an electric guitar is 'better' or 'as good' as an acoustic, they are simply different. I enjoy owning an electric piano simply because it lets me practise with headphones in a small apartment, but it does not substitute fully for a mechanical piano.
antognini 8y ago
I will say that the best electric pianos are starting to get very impressive. I was looking for a piano two years ago and tried the latest and greatest electric piano to humor a salesman. I was astounded at the fidelity of their model. If I played a chord, then depressed another set of keys (without actually striking the "string"), and then released the chord, it would catch the resonances from that chord in the "strings" of the depressed keys just like a real piano. I played on that piano for a while and wasn't able to find any behaviors that a real piano had that the electric piano couldn't also do short of reaching in and plucking a string with my fingernail.
dmd 8y ago
The fact that you say "you just can't sample your way out of" indicates that your mental model of how electronic pianos work is about 20 years out of date, because current ones do get the many-strings-interaction right with complex physics models. I have a Kawai CA97 and a grand piano, and I've occasionally asked guests to close their eyes and guess which one I'm playing, and people are usually not sure at all.
- makeset 8y ago
  It's easy to fool the audience, but for the pianist it's still night and day. And I don't mean just emulating the control input, though that's not easy either, but more the subtle haptic feedback from the entire instrument- that makes you feel like it's not only you playing the piano, but also the piano is playing you.

eigenvector 8y ago

Yes, that is a good way of putting it. No one would ask whether an electric guitar is 'better' or 'as good' as an acoustic, they are simply different. I enjoy owning an electric piano simply because it lets me practise with headphones in a small apartment, but it does not substitute fully for a mechanical piano.

antognini 8y ago

I will say that the best electric pianos are starting to get very impressive. I was looking for a piano two years ago and tried the latest and greatest electric piano to humor a salesman. I was astounded at the fidelity of their model. If I played a chord, then depressed another set of keys (without actually striking the "string"), and then released the chord, it would catch the resonances from that chord in the "strings" of the depressed keys just like a real piano. I played on that piano for a while and wasn't able to find any behaviors that a real piano had that the electric piano couldn't also do short of reaching in and plucking a string with my fingernail.

dmd 8y ago

The fact that you say "you just can't sample your way out of" indicates that your mental model of how electronic pianos work is about 20 years out of date, because current ones do get the many-strings-interaction right with complex physics models. I have a Kawai CA97 and a grand piano, and I've occasionally asked guests to close their eyes and guess which one I'm playing, and people are usually not sure at all.

makeset 8y ago
It's easy to fool the audience, but for the pianist it's still night and day. And I don't mean just emulating the control input, though that's not easy either, but more the subtle haptic feedback from the entire instrument- that makes you feel like it's not only you playing the piano, but also the piano is playing you.