The physical modeling synthesizer
of a grand piano

 

The Pianoid offers musicians breakthrough opportunity: using an electronic keyboard, they can even control the sound of a given composition just as they would on a grand piano. The Pianoid synthesizes not only the sounds of a piano, but their behavior as dictated by the specifics of a musical performance.

In essence, the Pianoid is an «ideal» piano. Users can create and save as presets the characteristics of any existing piano or related instrument, such as a harpsichord, glockenspiel — even their imaginary combinations! The Pianoid is based upon a cutting-edge FPGA Xilinx framework and operates with the power of a supercomputer.

In distinction from other synthesizers that employ prerecorded samples, the Pianoid offers the real-time experience of an actual piano. It mirrors all the effects of an actual performance: pressure upon the keys, the striking of chords, pedal-pressure, and so forth. 

The Pianoid's computational ability takes into consideration all significant parameters of a sound's production, beginning with the setting or damping of strings, the hammers' firmness, and their place of contact. Any resulting sonic dispersal or resonance is then recreated in relation to other factors, such as the inertia of a sounding board or pedal work. These audible effects and their dynamic interaction are all replicated.

In fact, the Pianoid is so precise that it even reconstructs the «imperfections» of a grand piano — for example the undesirable reverberation of a note across the sounding board. Precisely as with a real piano, the sound reverberates and then diminishes dependant upon the hammer's place of contact along the string.

The sounds of the Pianoid are indistinguishable from those of a piano, both their behavioral patterns and range. The Pianoid is therefore capable of transmitting the most intricate intentions of a musician; it gives voice to his individuality through a wealth of sounds and their timbre. 

The Pianoid is designed for the experienced amateur, students, professional musicians, sound designers, and composers.

All news about sounding, researh and development of the pianoid you can find in our BLOG.

 

Technical specifications

The Pianoid is based upon two Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) VIRTEX 5(XC5VSX50T) and VIRTEX 4(XC4VSX35). MUSCIAL SPECIFICATIONS 88 notes (with the possibility of additional individual settings); Continuous sustain pedal; Dynamic range of 55dB across all octaves.

PHYSCIAL MODELING (ALGORITHM) REGULATION String settings: damping coefficients in open and closed positions, sound dispersal, detuning, amplification. Hammer settings: dimension, weight, point of hammer-strike, (firmness of) material, dynamic specifications of the strike; Sounding-board settings: resonance and timbre characteristics. ELECTRICAL OUTPUT PARAMETERS Digital-Analog Transformers 24 Bit, 96 kHz; Signal/Noise Ratio 110dB; Digital Signal Processing 48 bit; Energy consumption 80 watts.