skip wrote:Elastic force? Yuck - no thanks.
Greg.
well let me expand (unfortunate pun) on what I was getting at earlier: because what it comes down to (more unfortunate pun) is returning the hammer to it's resting state. In a piano, gravity pulls the hammers downward. It looks to me like VAXMIDI has a system that pulls the hammers back to rest with elastomeric tubing, if I'm seeing that correctly.
The end effect should be identical since we're talking about force acting on the hammer, not the key. If we start picking gnat's eyebrows, you could argue that gravitational pull (weight) would remain absolutely constant while spring force would increase the more the tube is stretched from rest, but I would guess the change would be negligible compared to that caused by the changing angle of the hammer relative to it's pulling force as it pivots. I doubt there is enough stretch to affect any meaningful change in the spring force in the first place.
My guess is that there would be no perceptible difference in the effect each type of hammer has on the lever through which you're manipulating it; the key, which remains free and unsprung (so it's not like a spring-return synth keybed). If the mechanics of the key/hammer interaction...the lever ratios, angles, friction, release point, etc. were the same, I would shocked if you could measure, let alone feel a difference.
So the question is...is the latter part done well? Does the mock hammer carry enough inertia to move and bounce similarly to that in an acoustic instrument? If so, I see no reason to dismiss the system based on the hammer-returning method. It is still a hammer action and should behave like one.
As for the black/white key rails...just looking at the extruded frame they're using for the 2-actave modules, I see only 2 rails; one for keys, and another for hammers. I assume this means all keys must pivot around the same axis.
Last edited by DefaultIT (13-07-2016 22:31)