| Description |
| PIANO |
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| When the modern pianoforte was introduced,composers used to the spinet or harpsichord threw up their hands in horror,calling artificial,mechanical and unnatural.Pianos now fall roughly into six categories;acoustic grands,where the strings are horizontal;uprights,where they are vertical;electrics such as the Yamaha CP70/80,where the amplified sound is produced by either a string-and-hammer or some other striking-or-plucking mechanism,such as the tine bars of the Fender Rhodes;electronics,where |
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| piano - continuation |
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| the sound is simulated by analogue circuitry;sampled,where the sound of a real piano are reproduced digitally;and resynthesized,as in Roland's SAS system.Only the last two commonly offer the possibilities of MIDI,which may be the deciding factor if you want a piano sound without sacrificing flexibility. |
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| POLYPHONY |
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| The first synthesizers were monophonic,capable of playing only one note at a time.Players used to pianos,organs and other chord-playing instruments obviously wanted fully-polyphonic synths.After some false starts such as the Moog Polymoog,a sort of organ with a synth-style filter,digitally-scanned keyboards(such as the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5)were developed.Eight(or twelve,or sixteen...)oscillators were built into one unit,and triggered by the keyboard under the control of a microprocessor |
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| PORTAMENTO |
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| The effect by which notes slide from one pitch to another rather than changing immediately.Easy to implement on voltage-controlled analogue synths,it's a bit trickier to program on digital synths,which often substitute a form of up-or-down auto-bend effect which isn't quite the same thing. |
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