At first I was confused and wondered whether my understanding of how pianos work is totally inadequate and whether normal pianos have fewer than one string per note (perhaps with some sort of a fret system to allow adjacent keys to share strings). Turns out they have more than one on average; typically two in the tenor range and three in treble, so as not to be overpowered by the massive bass strings.
The soundtrack that was playing throughout the film was made with this piano. You can get this effect by "preparing" a regular piano, which is one of Nils Frahm's specialities but it's quite a special instrument in itself, an ethereal quality. Piano technology is really fascinating, if you go back to the first struck instruments from the 17th century through to the massive modern day iron-frame stage monsters that can compete with a full-size orchestra.
Nils also made a wonderful contribution to the music community with his instrument plug-in:
Pianos used to have a pedal that causes the hammer strike only one string. The pedal is still there and still called Una Corda but usually doesn't do real single string activation anymore.
This is also not the same as a Una Corda piano that has only one string per note because in a regular piano sympathetic string resonance is a significant contributor to the sound.
>> string resonance is a significant contributor to the sound.
String resonance and the case. Removing the case from a piano is like a make a drum out of a hoop and a skin. The case modulates the sound. It softens the rough edges and projects sound in particular directions. Removing it doesn't make the sound better. The case also ensures that all the piano innards are in a homogeneous environment. Without a case, individual strings will be in different temperature regions. Wooden parts will be in different moistures. Felt and leather bits will age inconstantly. A piano living without a case is like storing a strat violin on a shelf: artistically interesting but not done by anyone who actually appreciates the instrument.
Oh man I actually really enjoy these audio demos as music. Anyone have good suggestions on more music like them? Piano music but in non-classical style with a touch of electronic editing thrown in.
Fun fact: Beethoven once owned a piano that had four strings per key on the higher range[1].
I'm not sure if he used that piano to compose his sonata Op 110, but it has a section[2] that starts with una corda, with a very serene melody, and as it gradually picks up its energy Beethoven instructs the player to use more and more strings... an effect that's not quite possible with modern pianos as modern una corda is not actually one but two strings per key (in the middle-to-high region), and that's the only distinction we have.
I remember seeing a piano from the early XX century that had a fourth string, however it was sympathetic (never struck) and there was no fine control of how many strings were being struck.
I have a 64 note piano and love it. It is has one or two strings per note instead of the standard 3. I bought mine at a garage sale for $240 bucks about 20 years ago, and it is my favorite instrument. I love the idea of this but not at that price point.
A sample library of the Una Corda is available from Native Instruments. It's a very useful instrument, providing a lighter and more ethereal alternative to a conventional piano. It has a surprisingly complex timbre, evoking hints of a harp, steel pan or kalimba in the upper register.
Some of the tracks sound a lot like a picked guitar, which I guess isn't that surprising. How much that comes through probably depends on exactly which sound banks, strings, etc. are used.
Unfortunately, most of the samples are of obscure compositions. I think some tracks of traditional piano standards, especially side by side with a regular piano, would really show off the sound more.
For those unfamiliar with the Michelberger Hotel: if you have the opportunity to stay there, do so. It's like nowhere you've been before, and the fact that this piano was shown off there first is a surprise to no one who ever had the pleasure of spending one or more nights in their hotel, especially if you're multiple people and explore each others' rooms. And I do mean explore.
I am all in favour of equality, but the inequality we have now and the one we've had in the past produces these great and bizzare artifacts that people still value after centuries if not wins.
We still go to see the sphinx in Egypt - a true homage to slavery and I suspect archeologist in the future would prefer to uncover such a piano as opposed to 1000 more old cars or TVs
"You know what the fella said – in Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
What I find interesting is in this video the Piano still has that acid Steinway sound (I really dislike)
where as the video on the OP link is soft and almost like a dulcimer with a boatload of felt. I suspect thats also down to another layer of felt and playing softly.
This is still a typically stringed piano, just with felt added to dampen the other strings, I believe. The webpage describes an Una Corda piano built with only one string
Beethoven stage piano is still experimental and in fact you may note the moonlight do not go higher note. But more importantly the sound meadower. Chopin also have a weaker source Piano.
Not all are concert pianist. Should have an option
Pricing
64-key Una Corda® Piano……………………………………………………..€ 15,900 net*
Including big wheels, tone modulator, and music stand
88-key Una Corda® Piano……………………………………………………..€ 21,900 net*
Including big wheels, tone modulator, and music stand
Why would any serious musician spend 22k Euros on this piano when they could get an actual grand piano from a reputable maker? If you're super wealthy and you like fun toys, sure, but this is going to be an inferior instrument in volume, tone, tone control, sustain, and pretty much all the features a serious pianist is adept at manipulating.
>Why would any serious musician spend 22k Euros on this piano when they could get an actual grand piano from a reputable maker? If you're super wealthy and you like fun toys, sure
You answered your own question but you're still unsatisfied with something?
This is the first line of text on the website: "Commissioned by and in cooperation with Nils Frahm we have developed the Una Corda Piano."
Here's Nils Frahm's website http://www.nilsfrahm.com/ so maybe you can find out why he decided to commission it.
Really can't figure out why this irrelevant, negative comment is highest upvoted...
$22k on an instrument is not an eye-raising amount of money for a "serious" musician. I'm a (not very serious) guitarist and I have a couple k into my '74 Martin D18. You can _easily_ spend $10-20k or more on a high end handmade guitar or vintage Martin, Gibson, Taylor etc. Some high end concert grand pianos sell for over $100k as far as I know.
This isn't a replacement for a traditional piano, but an additional option for composers, conservatoires and collectors. Nils Frahm explains it himself in the video - guitarists have a vast choice of different instruments with unique timbres, but the piano is largely a monoculture.
I could never entertain spending €22k on a musical instrument, but I own the Native Instruments sample library for the Una Corda and use it often. It's a beautiful instrument and I'm glad that it exists in the world.
Sorry, at what point do you think a professional pianist making enough money to live in a reasonably nice house with nice things and driving a nice cars would go "hm, time to choose between these two types of pianos and that I'll actually buy my own"?
There are plenty of performance and studio artists would are far more likely to go "well my home setup/shared studio already has several pianos including at least one grand, $30k for this Una Corda? I can probably budget for that".
Especially recording studios. Getting a Una Corda and getting the kind of artists in that would play it is worth the up front cost.
I had the same question, the piano is already a well developed and standardized instrument from centuries of revision and engineering. Returning to one string seems like a step back into the past. The video is really nice though, explaining how they came to this idea, and now I want to hear one of these one-string pianos! From Nils Frahm:
"It really felt like a brilliant new instrument, it was so nice. First time in my life to have kind of like a new piano. It sits in between a clavichord, guitar and a harp, and that was exactly what I wanted."
> Why would any serious musician spend 22k Euros on this piano... inferior instrument in volume, tone, tone control, sustain, and pretty much all the features
It's a different sound. For a certain type of music, it's superior to regular pianos.
There are how many kinds of electric guitars, acoustic guitars, woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion instruments, electronic gear...? Very very many. Even in piano-land, different makers have characteristic tones. A musician hears a sound in their head, and wants to replicate and shape it exactly.
It's not better, necessarily, but it's a very different sound.
For higher notes you need thinner and shorter strings, which are quieter. Traditional pianos have different numbers of strings per note (one for bass notes, two for the mid-range, and three for treble notes) so that the notes sound roughly the same volume across the keyboard. This also gives a very rich tone, as the strings are very very slightly different in frequency.
The Una Corda only has one string per note. It's probably a lot quieter in the high octaves, but it has a thin and very pure tone which doesn't sound a lot like a traditional piano, which is very appealing to people who are looking for new and interesting sounds. And the quietness doesn't matter so much with modern amplification technology.
When you play music, you often don't need "better". You need "different". You get used to playing certain things on certain instruments, and so having a different instrument available means you stop playing the things you usually do, and end up exploring things you'd never try or even stumble upon otherwise.
there is a technical reason why pianos have more than one string... equal temperament tuning does not sound right on a piano and the other strings allow somebody to change the notes soft/hard dynamics without changing the notes pitch. this is important when trying to get some chords in equal temperament to harmonize.
I love that the piano maker's name is Klavins. I know it means Maple Tree or something like that in Latvian(?), but it's also very close to "klavier", which means piano in various languages.
[+] [-] Sharlin|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] telesilla|7 years ago|reply
Nils also made a wonderful contribution to the music community with his instrument plug-in:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/keys...
[+] [-] GuB-42|7 years ago|reply
To my knowledge, harpsichords and pianos are never fretted and need at least one string per note.
[+] [-] EADGBE|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] weinzierl|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cvoss|7 years ago|reply
For uprights, the una corda pedal moves the hammers closer to the strings so they don't accelerate for as long on their way in.
But on a grand, the una corda pedal indeed still shifts the entire mechanism to the right so that the hammers truly hit una corda each.
[+] [-] matt-attack|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandworm101|7 years ago|reply
String resonance and the case. Removing the case from a piano is like a make a drum out of a hoop and a skin. The case modulates the sound. It softens the rough edges and projects sound in particular directions. Removing it doesn't make the sound better. The case also ensures that all the piano innards are in a homogeneous environment. Without a case, individual strings will be in different temperature regions. Wooden parts will be in different moistures. Felt and leather bits will age inconstantly. A piano living without a case is like storing a strat violin on a shelf: artistically interesting but not done by anyone who actually appreciates the instrument.
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] _red|7 years ago|reply
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/keys...
[+] [-] trishume|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hammock|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] yongjik|7 years ago|reply
I'm not sure if he used that piano to compose his sonata Op 110, but it has a section[2] that starts with una corda, with a very serene melody, and as it gradually picks up its energy Beethoven instructs the player to use more and more strings... an effect that's not quite possible with modern pianos as modern una corda is not actually one but two strings per key (in the middle-to-high region), and that's the only distinction we have.
[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=q6oZkreoZtQC&pg=PA57&dq=be...
[2] See, for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI1viKPG3TI starting ~18:32 until the end.
[+] [-] carlob|7 years ago|reply
EDIT: found it! https://www.pianostreet.com/blog/piano-news/bluthner-and-the...
[+] [-] poof_he_is_gone|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] timc3|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdietrich|7 years ago|reply
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/keys...
[+] [-] notacoward|7 years ago|reply
Unfortunately, most of the samples are of obscure compositions. I think some tracks of traditional piano standards, especially side by side with a regular piano, would really show off the sound more.
[+] [-] JoelTheSuperior|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fipple|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TomWhitwell|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TheRealPomax|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xchaotic|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lqet|7 years ago|reply
"You know what the fella said – in Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
[+] [-] auiya|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] KaiserPro|7 years ago|reply
where as the video on the OP link is soft and almost like a dulcimer with a boatload of felt. I suspect thats also down to another layer of felt and playing softly.
either way, it sounds fantastic.
[+] [-] publicfig|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dharma1|7 years ago|reply
Another one I really like is the Array Mbira, up to 7 octave chromatic Mbiras with stereo pickups.
https://www.arraymbira.com/
[+] [-] 52-6F-62|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ngcc_hk|7 years ago|reply
Not all are concert pianist. Should have an option
[+] [-] WhompingWindows|7 years ago|reply
88-key Una Corda® Piano……………………………………………………..€ 21,900 net* Including big wheels, tone modulator, and music stand
Why would any serious musician spend 22k Euros on this piano when they could get an actual grand piano from a reputable maker? If you're super wealthy and you like fun toys, sure, but this is going to be an inferior instrument in volume, tone, tone control, sustain, and pretty much all the features a serious pianist is adept at manipulating.
[+] [-] emptyfile|7 years ago|reply
You answered your own question but you're still unsatisfied with something?
This is the first line of text on the website: "Commissioned by and in cooperation with Nils Frahm we have developed the Una Corda Piano."
Here's Nils Frahm's website http://www.nilsfrahm.com/ so maybe you can find out why he decided to commission it.
Really can't figure out why this irrelevant, negative comment is highest upvoted...
[+] [-] markbnj|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdietrich|7 years ago|reply
I could never entertain spending €22k on a musical instrument, but I own the Native Instruments sample library for the Una Corda and use it often. It's a beautiful instrument and I'm glad that it exists in the world.
[+] [-] TheRealPomax|7 years ago|reply
There are plenty of performance and studio artists would are far more likely to go "well my home setup/shared studio already has several pianos including at least one grand, $30k for this Una Corda? I can probably budget for that".
Especially recording studios. Getting a Una Corda and getting the kind of artists in that would play it is worth the up front cost.
[+] [-] digsmahler|7 years ago|reply
"It really felt like a brilliant new instrument, it was so nice. First time in my life to have kind of like a new piano. It sits in between a clavichord, guitar and a harp, and that was exactly what I wanted."
[+] [-] khazhou|7 years ago|reply
It's a different sound. For a certain type of music, it's superior to regular pianos.
There are how many kinds of electric guitars, acoustic guitars, woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion instruments, electronic gear...? Very very many. Even in piano-land, different makers have characteristic tones. A musician hears a sound in their head, and wants to replicate and shape it exactly.
[+] [-] RandallBrown|7 years ago|reply
This is a piece of functional art like a Rolex.
[+] [-] gus_massa|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] camtarn|7 years ago|reply
For higher notes you need thinner and shorter strings, which are quieter. Traditional pianos have different numbers of strings per note (one for bass notes, two for the mid-range, and three for treble notes) so that the notes sound roughly the same volume across the keyboard. This also gives a very rich tone, as the strings are very very slightly different in frequency.
The Una Corda only has one string per note. It's probably a lot quieter in the high octaves, but it has a thin and very pure tone which doesn't sound a lot like a traditional piano, which is very appealing to people who are looking for new and interesting sounds. And the quietness doesn't matter so much with modern amplification technology.
[+] [-] TheRealPomax|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patrickbolle|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sansnomme|7 years ago|reply
https://metro.co.uk/2015/09/18/its-impossible-to-tune-a-pian...
[+] [-] mortdeus|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] QuercusMax|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pao73|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anjc|7 years ago|reply