Reference Manual

398 Live Instrument Reference
The full version of Electric is not included with the standard version of Live, but is a special fea-
ture available for purchase separately.
24.3.1 Architecture and Interface
The mechanism of the electric piano is actually quite simple. A note played on the keyboard ac-
tivates a mallet that hits a fork. The sound of that fork is then amplified by a magnetic coil pickup
and sent to the output, very much like an electric guitar. The fork is made of two parts, called the
tine bar and tone bar. The tine bar is where the mallet hits the fork while the tone bar is a tuned
metal resonator, sized appropriately to produce the correct pitch. Once the fork is activated, it
will continue to resonate on its own for a long time. But releasing the key applies a damper to the
fork, which mutes it more quickly.
The Electric interface is divided into five main sections, some of which are further divided into
related subsections. The first four main sections (Mallet, Fork, Damper and Pickup) correspond
to the sound producing components mentioned above. The Global section contains parameters
that affect overall behavior and performance, such as pitch bend and polyphony.
24.3.2 Mallet Section
The Mallet section contains the parameters related to the physical properties of the mallet itself,
as well as how it’s affected by your playing.
The Stiffness control adjusts the hardness of the mallet’s striking area. Higher values simulate
a harder surface, which results in a brighter sound. Lower values mean a softer surface and a
more mellow sound. The Force knob adjusts the intensity of the mallet’s impact on the fork. Low
values simulate a soft impact while high values mean a hard impact.
The stiffness and force can also be modified by velocity and note pitch, via the Vel and Key slid-
ers found below the knobs.
The Noise subsection simulates the impact noise caused by the mallet striking the fork. The De-
cay knob adjusts how long it takes for this noise to fade to silence, while the Pitch control sets the
center frequency. Level adjusts the overall volume of the noise component. An additional Key
scaling control adjusts how much the noise volume is determined by note pitch.