MUST WATCH: A Real MPE Piano
Sometimes Youtube still suggests some really cool content, when this one showed up in my feed I had to hear it. Andrew McPherson of Augmented Instruments Laboratory built a system that can take a grand piano and excite it with magnetic resonators. These resonators stimulate and excite the strings magnetically, pulling unique harmonics and tones from each string. This Magnetic resonance also has the capability of slowly exciting strings, avoiding the percussive attack stage that a traditional hammer based piano would produce. I imagine the principal behind this system is not too different from the Korg Phase 8, but scaled up to a full piano.
It is quite amazing to see the network of cables wiring together each electromagnet over the piano’s strings, almost like some sort of alien Borg piano. Amazingly, they were able to integrate this system into the existing mechanical key-bed by using a scanner to measure each individual key. If I’m not mistaken this basically makes this acoustic piano MPE. Having used the Expressive-E Osmose for 2 years, I can’t tell you how much I wish it had a hammer action feel as well. It’s quite amazing to hear these types of sounds come from an acoustic instrument. These are the types of sounds I try to create with my synthesizer patches, it’s amazing to see this brought to life.
It is incredible that this system can attach to any piano, I would have assumed they replaced the keyboard with a digital one to activate the electro magnets, and permanently installed this into a piano. Being able to modify existing pianos without harming them means you can take this system around the world and perform anywhere with a piano, at least anywhere that doesn’t mind temporarily augmenting their piano. This absolutely blew my mind and I had to share it!
Be sure to visit their website and like their video. Andrew McPherson was the brains behind a now discontinued keyboard augmentation system that promised to add MPE to any keybed: Touch Keys. I actually always wanted to add a touch keys system to something like the osmose to give it more axis of control and expression. I’m glad to see he is still working on innovative keyboard technology.