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4. SOUND GENERATION PARAMETERS
4.1 SOUND ENGINE SECTION
φ
SOUND
PIANO
Acoustic piano Sounds
WARNING
APM (acoustic piano) Sounds cannot be assigned to Sound 2. The sound board ignores Bank Select messages
attempting to do so, without causing any effect.
HAMMER HARDNESS
Range: -50...0...+50
NRPN MSB=00, NRPN LSB=00
Data Entry MSB Range: 14...64...114
Allows you to change the brightness of the tone.
In the acoustic piano hammers consist of a wooden profile covered with several layers of compressed wool felt, whose
hardness is carefully controlled. In order to produce a good tone, the hardness has a gradient so the outer surface is
softer than the inner layers. This gradient may be adjusted using various techniques in a process called 'voicing'. It is
common to voice a piano by needling the hammer felt, since this makes the hammers softer and thus the tone softer.
Hard hammers are better at exciting high frequency modes of a piano string's vibration so that the resulting tone
quality may be characterized as being bright, tinny, or harsh. Soft hammers, on the other hand, do not excite high
frequencies very well, and the resulting tone is somewhat dull or dark.
HAMMER MASS
Range: -50...0...+50
NRPN MSB=0, NRPN LSB=1
Data Entry MSB Range: 14...64...114
Affects the sound loudness and timbre.
The hammer mass is proportionally related to the energy transmitted to the string during the impact consequent to the
key action influencing the sound loudness and timbre. Heavier hammers are in contact with the string for a longer time
generating multiple reflections on the string vibration that makes a fuller sound. By decreasing the hammer mass the
sound becomes more "thin" and less intense. The effect produced by the hammer mass interacts with the hit point,
moreover the final result can vary along the keyboard according to the ratio between the mass of each hammer and
the mass of the corresponding string.
HAMMER KNOCK
Range: -50...0...+50
NRPN MSB=0, NRPN LSB=2
Data Entry MSB Range: 14...64...114
Allows you to adjust the impulsive knock sound
When a piano key is pressed two impacts happens: the hammer hits the string and the key hits the piano base board.
Both these impacts mechanically transmit energy to the soundboard and the complete piano body by generating an
impulsive sound named knock sound. By damping the coupling between the piano parts, especially between the key
and base board, it is possible to change the amount of the knock sound.
HAMMER HIT POINT
Range: -50...0...+50
NRPN MSB=0, NRPN LSB=3
Data Entry MSB Range: 14...64...114
Allows you to alter the character of the piano sound
In the acoustic piano it is quite impossible to change the hit point since this is fixed by the piano manufacturer, while
this is possible in the physis piano modelling, allowing new unexplored sound possibilities. Changing this parameter
corresponds to virtually moving the string position in respect to the hammer position as shown in the animation. A 0
value corresponds to the standard distribution of the hit points along the 88 piano strings; positive values correspond
to moving the hit point towards the bridge, while negative values correspond to moving the hit point in the opposite
direction, i.e. towards the agraffe. The hit point affects the spectrum shaping of the produced sound by cancelling or
reducing some specific partials mathematically related to the ratio between the hit point and the string length.
User Manual – Sound generation parameters
EN - 5
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