Personalizing Your Piano Sound (Piano Designer)
Parameter
Value
Explanation
Cabinet Resonance
0–10
Adjusts the body resonance of the grand piano itself.
Higher values will produce a larger body resonance.
Sound Board
Behavior
0–10
When you play a chord, this setting improves the clarity of the individual notes in the chord, creating a more beautiful
resonance.
Higher settings produce a clearer resonance.
Damper Noise
0–10
This adjusts the damper noise of the acoustic piano sound (the sound of the damper releasing the strings when you
press the damper pedal).
* No damper noise will be heard if Damper Resonance is set to “Off.”
Master Tuning
415.3–440.0–466.2 Hz
This adjusts the HPi-50e’s standard pitch (the pitch of the middle A note).
When playing ensemble with other instruments and in other such instances, you can match the standard pitch to
another instrument.
The standard pitch generally refers to the pitch of the note that’s played when you finger the middle A key. For a cleaner
ensemble sound while performing with one or more other instruments, ensure that each instrument’s reference pitch is
in tune with that of the other instruments. This tuning of all the instruments to a reference pitch is called “master tuning.”
Temperament
Equal, Just Major, Just
Minor, Pythagorean,
Kirnberger, Meantone,
Werckmeister, Arabic
You can play classical styles such as Baroque using historic temperaments (tuning methods).
Most modern songs are composed for and played in equal temperament, the most common tuning in use today. But at
one time, there were a wide variety of other tuning systems in existence.
By playing in the temperament that was in use when a composition was created, you can experience the sonorities of
chords originally intended for that song.
REFERENCE
For details, refer to “Temperaments.”
Temperament Key
C–B
When playing with tuning other than equal temperament, you need to specify the temperament key for tuning the song
to be performed (that is, the note that corresponds to C for a major key or to A for a minor key).
If you choose an equal temperament, there’s no need to select a temperament key.
Stretch Tuning
Off, Preset 1, Preset
2, User
(User: -50–0–+50)
This lets you specify the amount of “stretch tuning,” a tuning method specifically for pianos, in which the high range is
tuned slightly sharper, and the low range is tuned slightly flatter.
If you select “Preset,” a standard tuning curve created for the HPi-50e will be used.
If you select “User,” you’ll be able to edit the stretched tuning yourself. Play the key whose pitch you want to adjust, then
use the cursor [ ] [ ] buttons to adjust its pitch.
Note Volume
Off, User
(User: -50–0)
This lets you adjust the volume of each individual key. Higher settings will make the volume louder.
If you select “User,” you’ll be able to edit the Note Volume settings.
Press the key whose volume you want to adjust, and use the cursor [ ] [ ] buttons to adjust its volume.
Note Character
Off, User
(User: -5–0–+5)
This lets you adjust the tonal character of each individual key. Higher settings will make the tone harder, and lower
settings will make the tone softer.
If you select “User,” you’ll be able to adjust the Note Character settings.
Press the key whose tone you want to adjust, and use the cursor [ ] [ ] buttons to adjust its tone.
Demo
For some parameters, you can listen to a demo song.
1.
Press the [ ] button .
2.
Use the
cursor
[
] [
] buttons to select the type of demo .
3.
Press the [ ]button .
The demo will begin.
Temperaments
Temperament
Qualities
Equal
In this tuning, each octave is divided into twelve equal steps. Every interval produces about the same amount of slight dissonance.
Just Major
This tuning eliminates ambiguities in the fifths and thirds. It is unsuited to playing melodies and cannot be transposed, but is capable of
beautiful sonorities.
Just Minor
The Just tunings differ from major and minor keys. You can get the same effect with the minor scale as with the major scale.
Pythagorean
This tuning, devised by the philosopher Pythagoras, eliminates dissonance in fourths and fifths.
Dissonance is produced by third-interval chords, but melodies are euphonious.
Kirnberger
This is an improvement of the Meantone and Just tunings that provides a high degree of freedom of modulation. Performances are possible
in all keys (III).
Meantone
This scale makes some compromises in just intonation, enabling transposition to other keys.
Werckmeister
This temperament combines the Meantone and Pythagorean tunings. Performances are possible in all keys (first technique, III).
Arabic
This tuning is suitable for the music of Arabia.
What is the duplex scale?
The Duplex Scale is a system of sympathetically vibrating strings sometimes included in grand pianos.
These sympathetically vibrating strings are not struck directly with hammers, but sound by vibrating in sympathy with the vibrations of other strings. By resonating
with the overtones, these strings add richness and brilliance to the sound. These sympathetic strings are added only to the high register above approximately C4.
Since they do not have a damper (a mechanism that stops them from sounding), they will continue sounding even after you play a note and then release it to stop
the sound of the string that was actually struck.
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