Ivory Synthogy Options

[frankenstein]

I gave in to trying ivory,the self-proclaimed greatest virtual piano ever made,and i am very impressed.It has 10 dvds and you need 2G ram they recommend.Being mainly a piano player i thought i would get a good piano,which it is. The only thing i wonder,on a real piano ,when you slowly press down say a bass key so the hammer moves too slowly to strike a string and hold them down,then strike a higher note or notes,the lower bass notes that are being held down will sound,they will resonate clearly till released.This doesn't happen in ivory at all,in fact you cannot even slowly press on a key without a note sounding.Maybe this sounds a little petty but when i hear a claim such as from these software companies,all of them,the thing should really mimic the instrument in all aspects.Especially since it costs so much.So i have to question the way these geniuses really do record these instruments,note for note with such perfection,as they claim.Nothin like the real thing folks,but who can afford that?

[Jack McCann]

Michael, You say it well. It really will be some time (if ever) before any machine can emulate all the possible sympathetic overtone combinations of all the possible ways of actually playing a real piano. The variables available on the real instrument in the hands of an accomplished player are infinite. The mathematics involved is huge, and, as you say, when it's all boiled down to numbers, it's the mathematics of the computer that do the work. The same of course must be said of any other instrument.

As a fellow composer said to me once: "Want to know what's the best String Machine in the world?" (Remember that old term 'string machine'?) He pointed to Place des Arts (Montreal's symphony hall) one day as we drove down St. Urbain St. I don't expect any of us will live long enough to hear the plastic thing sound as good as the real thing. And I think that goes for all things, musical or otherwise.

Happy Holidays to all, and never, never stop playing music.

Jack McCann