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  1. If AI comes to terms, will they need keyboard instruments, or will they develop a more appropriate instrument to suit their needs? Nevertheless, I think music is not only valued by the result, but also the effort that went in to the process and the identification with the person behind it. The idea and origin of the idea will probably be superior to the outcome AI's will be able to produce.
  2. During the investigation of the history of our very old piano made by Franz Oeser from Vienna, we dove in the mechanics (action) of the piano and found that it is partly responsible for the typical sound. We didn't know this when we decided to create a virtual instrument out of the piano. But apparently this is part of why people are triggered by the unique sound it makes. The action is a Prellzungenmechanik, more widely known as the Viennese action, as developed by Stein-Streicher in 1780. It has an individual escapement mechanism and a check. This action was appraised by Beethoven and Mozart and many others because of the brighter and distinctive tone (still very warm to our modern taste) their action generated. This was especially preferred by musicians of the classical tradition as well as for chamber music, because they blend exceptionally well with stringed instruments. Mozart owned a Stein piano from the father of Nannette Streicher - Stein, Johann Andreas Stein. Beethoven's most important of the early Sonatas is the Pathétique, which demanded a wider piano, stronger frame and more resilient strings. Nannette Streicher - Stein made pianos to accommodate Beethoven's needs. Looking into the history of the piano and its mechanics is super educational. And luckily the digitalization of many old documents help us to search for many interesting details regarding such old developments. For reference I've added the schematic drawing of the Stein-Streicher mechanik from 1780, which is the same action as our piano. David Crombie even wrote an article on World Piano News on this subject: https://www.worldpianonews.com/general/explainers/early-piano-actions-and-the-oeser/ Our founding lead to more historical diving and we found a book from 1911 describing the characteristic of the Viennese action. To quote Alfred Dolge, who wrote "Pianos And Their Makers": 'Meantime, Johann Andreas Stein, and his talented daughter, Nannette Stein-Streicher, who was not only an excellent musician, but also a thoroughly practical and scientific piano maker, had improved the Schroter action so materially that the grand pianos made by them from 1780 on, were preferred by Mozart, Beethoven and other masters, perhaps mainly for the reason that this action not only had a more elastic touch than the Christofori English action, but that it produced a more sympathetic tone, reminding of the clavichord tone, which all the great players of that period admired so much. This sympathetic tone could only be produced with the Vienna action, because the hammer, when striking, would to some extent graze or draw along the string, while the more forceful attack of the English "jack" action is a straight and direct percussion. These two elements, the pleasant light elastic touch, and the charming musical quality of tone, assured the Vienna grand pianos (flügel) supremacy in Germany, Austria and Italy for many years.'
  3. Thank you Simeon for your very complete review of our piano The Oeser. We love it! If you're considering our piano, please check our website
  4. We are a new Dutch developer of virtual instruments for the Native Instruments platform. And we are very proud of our first release "The Oeser", which is a 150 year old Viennese baby grand piano with a very rich and intimate tone. This piano was recorded @ the Key studios in the most pure way, with world class microphones and preamps. It is not an overproduced, polished piano, but just a very good piano with more character than Elton John. A true singer/songwriter piano, which will spark creativity by the unique sound and recording styles. What you get We have recorded the piano in 4 ways: Pure, Felted, Muted and Picked. Where the first 2 are fairly obvious, the Muted was accomplished by hand muting the strings which gave it a plucky sound and the Picked was done by playing the strings with a guitar pick which made the piano sound like a harpsichord. This resulted in a gigantic NKS library of 30GB and is also compatible with the free Kontakt Player. The 8 knobs of our simplified interface corresponds with the 8 knob layout of Native Instruments' Komplete Kontrol midi keyboards. Key features Full length samples (up to 1:45) Real time sustain cross-over Create your own balans with 3 microphone positions Adjustable playability Add pedal and mechanical noises to taste True sympathetic resonance Not normalized or compressed, to match the real experience CPU friendly while using ridiculous amounts of voices Learn more Check our website for more information and previews, or watch the introduction and walkthrough on our YouTube page. Also, Simeon Amburgey of PraiseTracks created an awesome review on YouTube.
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