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Chapter 17 Vintage Electric Piano 458
Stretch tuning in acoustic instruments
The tones of upright pianos, and to a lesser extent grand pianos (due to their longer strings),
have inharmonicities in their harmonic structure. This also applies to other stringed instruments,
but it particularly aects pianos due to the length, density, and tension of the strings. If a piano
is perfectly tuned to equal temperament across the keyboard range, the overtones of the low
strings and the fundamentals of the high strings will sound out of tune with each other.
To circumvent this problem, piano tuners use a technique known as stretch tuning, in which the
high and low registers of the piano are tuned higher and lower, respectively. This results in the
harmonics of the low strings being in tune with the fundamental tones of the upper strings. In
essence, pianos are intentionally “out of tune” (from equal temperament), so that the lower and
upper registers will sound in tune.
Electric pianos don’t have strings, so this inharmonic relationship doesn’t apply to Vintage
Electric Piano nor to the original instruments it emulates. The stretch feature was primarily
included for situations where you want to use Vintage Electric Piano alongside an acoustic piano
recording or performance.
Vintage Electric Piano extended parameters
Click the disclosure triangle at the lower left of Vintage Electric Piano to show or hide the
extended parameters.
Extended parameters
•
Delay PP slider and eld: Drag to set the delay time (in milliseconds) when the keys are struck
pianissimo (PP-soft).
•
Delay FF slider and eld: Drag to set the delay time (in milliseconds) when the keys are struck
forte (FF-hard).
•
Midi Mode pop-up menu: Determine how Vintage Electric Piano responds to MIDI controllers.
Choose from: O, Modwheel to Tremolo, and Full Remote.