sigasa wrote:A message to GRB, have you yourself used food grade silicone grease on a Casio action? I'm interested in hearing more on this as you say it smooths out the action. Do you mean that the chromatic runs become more even in velocity consistency? I used plumbers silicone grease on the TP40WOOD action and it worked quite well. Please share your experience.
As I've said a number of times before, it is vital that a keyboard/bed be level. This is the reason piano technicians have to set up piano actions accurately. Note to note velocity is affected by even the slightest twist and therefore lubrication alone is not sufficient for a smooth consistent velocity response. And from experience the affects of a twist in the keybed of a board cannot be perfectly compensated for using software either.
Having said all this, the Casio is very good, albeit not perfect, velocity wise. I may attempt to smooth the action with food grade
silicone grease after further research.
Chris
The thing about Slicone Grease is that it's not supposed to affect or deteriorate rubber. I only used it on one key that was "clicking," noisy and not responding completely well. You can also add a small amount of DAP® DYNAFLEX 230® Premium Indoor/Outdoor Sealant to the bottom of the plastic key hole that operates the steel bar which provides the "balanced action." I think this is where the "click" originated. Casio should really put a thin square rubber grommet in each of those wholes. Also the felt strip in the back where the steel bars fall back should be made wider and more sturdy. I think some little slider weights on the back of the steel bars would be good too in terms of regulation. My best guess is that velocity is more a matter of the sensors under the key and I just don't know if they are truly well made or not. I think setting up the velocity is very tricky at best. I have used the "key mode" or "individual note mode" to soften and louden certain notes in the treble. To be honest, I really don't understand how to actually set up the so called velocity curve on Pianoteq. It's not very scientific. I think the idea is to translate the numbers coming from the keyboard to more suitable numbers for the Pianoteq voices. I notice the factory setting for most voices if not all is completely linear. I'm not at all sure that any of the submitted velocity curves are correct at all. For one thing, it appears to me that the way velocity works on these electronic keyboards is that it is a measure the time that passes between two trip points. To get a soft note you have to push the key very slowly. On a mechanical piano it's more a matter of how the hammer is flipped up towards the string by the jack, and the speed at which the jack is pulled out. It's possible that a truly velocity sensitive keyboard needs more than simple sensors under a simplistic key mechanism, Perhaps they need rubber headed hammers that are actually flipped and then strike the sensors.
I think Roland had an action that is more complicated and more piano like. The thing that Casio has achieved is a rather good feeling and playable keyboard that is light weight. You don't want something that is as heavy as an actual piano that is only slightly better. I had the opportunity to play on a good Baldwin grand the other day, and to be frank, I didn't care for it as much as my Casio teamed with Pianoteq. I think you have to adjust your playing to these new keyboards and not have the expectation that it will feel exactly like a traditional grand piano. Also there are two types of spring mechanisms used in conventional grands.
I prefer the feel of the Steinway butterfly spring, but I think there are some Renner actions that are easier to adjust. Some have a screw that adjusts the spring. What is pictured is a modern Renner that is a copy of the Steinway style butterfly spring action. Notice that the traditional action is very complicated, made of wood, felt, has springs, with many adjustments. It's a very time consuming and tedious process to regulate a tradition grand.
http://www.rennerusa.com/wp-content/upl...-cover.png
Modern mechanical/electronic keyboards are more "assemble it and hope that it works" type of devices. That's where Pianoteq is very good. It offers the potential to regulate the feel with the way the voice sounds when you play a given key. A lot of the "feel" is illusionary. A key feels right when it sounds right. You can test this by forcing notes to play too softly through the software. The keyboard will "feel" terrible, because the notes coming out don't sound right.
Last edited by GRB (08-08-2015 14:24)
Pianoteq Pro 7.x - Kubuntu Linux 19.10 - Plasma Desktop - Hamburg Steinway
