5 ms·
Lots of things that are fully described by relatively elementary physics are still impossible to model in real-time even with the most powerful computers, let a
by eigenvector 8y ago
Lots of things that are fully described by relatively elementary physics are still impossible to model in real-time even with the most powerful computers, let alone the $5 microcontroller in an electric piano. You're right that there's no obvious physical reason why a 'perfect' electric piano couldn't exist, but it would probably be way more expensive than just building a mechanical piano which consists entirely of 19th century technology.
- akvadrako 8y agoWhy are you exaggerating the requirements so much? You don’t need it to be perfect and there is no issue with putting a high end SoC in a high end e-piano.
- eigenvector 8y agoYou set the bar at algorithmically reproducing every last sound that comes out of an analog piano. That's a hard problem to solve for the very small number of people who would care enough to purchase such a device when there's a perfectly good analog alternative that's been on the market since before the telephone was invented. You may think I'm exaggerating the requirements, but I think you're underestimating the difficulty of solving what is at best a very hard physics problem in real time with imperceptible delay as a human carries out a sequence of physical manipulations that has taken them years or decades to learn. My $1,000 phone with the latest, greatest SoC can't open a PDF with a noticeable delay. If your proposition is a middling approximation of an analog piano, you can already buy that at Costco for $500. Steinway and Bosendorfer don't seem particularly bothered about it.