The Klavins-Piano Model 370 | Hacker News Reader

The Klavins-Piano Model 370

klavins-piano-manufaktur.com

38 pointsgus_massa11 comments

Nils Frahm has just released an album recorded on this instrument. It's downloadable at http://www.pianoday.org/ for free, but donations are said to go into a fund to build the even bigger successor.

This is sort of related to Nils Frahms recent release –solo–, which was recorded on the M370, and of which all proceeds are donated to the construction of the Klavins M450 piano[0].

http://www.pianoday.org/

This is nice so far, but I wish they had found a way to record with less white-static and it would've been really impressive.

Are you referring to the hammer mechanism clicks? (They're rhythmic, along with the notes, as opposed to random noise.) I think the exposed mechanism makes that sound more present in the recording. The outer body of a conventional piano serves to muffle that.

I wonder whether there is a limit to the size of the soundboard at which the extra amplified overtones start to muddle the cords even played in the middle register and above. Big grand pianos are not particularly transportable and organs have been designed for specific buildings; why is it that larger pianos like this don't exist as a class?

Lower fundamental tones generate more audible overtones; this is why the same cord played in the lower register sounds much more muddy than in the middle. Of course it could be that even with amplified higher harmonics for mid-register.

At any rate, it's disappointing that the performers chosen for their audio/video demo recordings and their recording setup are so crappy. It'd be not unreasonable to suspect the level of the piano designer's expertise is comparable.

And, of course, size of the soundboard alone does not a good piano make.

I'm curious as to why they went for putting the keyboard on top, instead of having the soundboard emerge from the base. With the current arrangement, and the overall design, it makes it look more like the front of a massive earth mover than a musical instrument.

That's probably to do with where the hammers need to hit the strings.

Different positions = different harmonic mix = different sound.

Of course you could move the hammers with long levers. But a simpler/smaller system is always easier to build and more reliable than a complicated big system.

(And it picks up less dust too.)

yeah, I know that part, I was thinking more essentially flipping it upside down. The hammers would hit in the same spot as on the current piano, it's just that the sound board would be above the player instead of below. Essentially, like a grand piano that's had its sound board flipped upward instead of downward like this model.

> Of course you could move the hammers with long levers.

That changes how the keys feel, however. The longer the lever, the harder you need to push down the key, for example.

Maybe putting the musician at an elevated position, for the audience to see was the intention? I mean, you only see his back, but that would also be the case if the instrument would be turned upside down.

As a keyboard player I'd love to try it out, it's hard to know the difference from just a recording without feeling the vibrations.

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