User Manual

Crumar Seven User s Manual '
CHAPTER 6. THE ADVANTAGES OF A MODELED PIANO OVER A SAMPLED ONE.
So, after all this talking about modeling vs. sampling and various polyphonic models, what are the real advantages of a physical
modeling piano instrument over a sampled piano?
Polyphony. We've talked about numbers and how voices are allocated, but from a musical point of view there's something special
about having a fully polyphonic instrument that makes it stand out from other polyphonic models, even if the number of voices is very
high. Especially in a piano instrument where multiple elements vibrate together at the same time. Imagine the harp of a grand piano, in
some cases there are 243 strings free to vibrate when the sustain pedal is held down, and each string can transmit a part of its vibration
to other strings. This would not be possible to emulate with sample playback.
Sympathetic resonances. It's what happens when an element transmits parts of its movements to other elements. All piano
instruments, including the electric pianos of the seventies, do resonate, even the Clavinet. There are several cases in which the
resonances can be more or less evident. For example, with the Acoustic Grand Piano model or the Electric Baby Grand, try to press
down a group of notes very softly so that they don't produce any sound, then play staccato on other notes one octave up. Or you can
do the other way around, play some note very hard, then press down other notes then release the first group of notes... you'll find that
the notes that you haven't played hard enough have been put into resonance. Now you're probably thinking that there are sample-
based instruments that can do this, and you're probably wondering how they can achieve this result, right? Well, there's a synthesizer
that plays along with the samples that generates just the resonances. GSP-01 (Seven's sample player engine) can do that as well.
Sound manipulation. Once a sound has been sampled, there's very little you can do to change its timbre. But if you're generating the
sound in real time, you can practically do everything. Imagine changing the pickup position of a “Tine” E.P. or the string detuning of a
Grand Piano, or the amount of resonance a piano can have, or the wear on the mallets of a Vibraphone. Many of these changes can be
also applied in real time while playing, letting the player appreciate the difference between one setting and another.
Crumar Seven User's Manual - Page 13