RobedA.

Moog
Departmcnt ol Music
Evolutionof the
University of North Carolina at Asheville
Ashcville, North Carolina 28804 USA Keyboadlnterface:
L Rhea
Thomas TheBiisendoder 290 SE
Music SyndresisDepaltment
Berklce College ol Music Recording PianoandThe
1140BoylstonStreet
Boston, Massachusetts02215 USA MoogMultiply-Touch'
SensitiveKeyboads

In Alfred Dolge's class'\chook PldnQsand Their ports {in two dimensionsl the location ol the pcr
Mal<ers,wc learn that archetypesof thc kevboard former's ffnger on the surfacc of a key as wcll as the
date to antiquity and that cTavis(kcys)came into dcpth of key dcpression.This designirnplies con-
use on church organsalmost a thousand ycars ago siderablecxtension ol existing kcyboard techniquc
{Dolge 19I l). As a musical intcr{ace, the kevboard
has enjoyedremarkable loDgevity ludging bv its
-keyboard on electronic musical instruments, the
poDuladty 291)SERecodingPiano
The&isendorier
shows every sigDof thriving for another 'I
millcnnium. The keyboardoffersthe musician rapid, h e : u r h u r sh a v eh e r r dr c v e r spl c r f o r m a r c ei n ' -
sensitive articulation of multiple soundsand/or volving the B6sendo er 290 SErecording prano
"Livc Recital Rccording"
events and providcs an arguably elfcctive stand'in Moog attendcd a specral
Ior ensembleplayers,particularly in more iniormal featuring the music of Mendelssohnand Mussorgsk,
pe ormcd by FrederickMoyer on the Bdsendorfcr
Literally millions ol amateur and profcssional 290 SE.
musicians have keyboard skills For this reason,thc Enticed borh by the prospcct of a first_ratccon_
continuing evolution of thc keyboardwiII doubtless cert and drc opportunity to hear a comprterized
include designsthat facilitate and possiblv cxtend Bosendorferin action, Moog joined Moyer's audl
idiomatic cxpression.Less traditional kcyboard dc ence in Houghton Memorial Chapel at Wclleslev
signs will also be createdthat requirc developnent College.The event was hosted by Moyer, Cunthcr
of new pcrformancetechDiques Tlis article dis Sctruller,and fohn Amuedo Ior an invited audicnce
cussesrccent results that icpresent these two dd of pianists, computer scientists,3nd musical acous
ferent directions of development.The B6scndorler ticians, in cooperationwith thc Boston chaptcr of
290 SErecording piano is a powcrful svstem that has t h . A . o u . - r i r l q o .r e r )u t A r n e r r c rT. h c o n . r i n q r . -
its roots in severalcenturics oI playel_reproducer markswercmadebyGuntherSchullcr, awell-known
piaDotechrology. The Bdsendorfd 290 SEscnses cornposer and conductor who also has produced
piano Ley and pedalmovements with very hiSh reso severalof Moyer'.srecenr rccoldings. Schuller ex_
lution and stores thcse data on disk ol tape for cdit plained that Moyer's coDcertwould bc recorded
ing and mcchanical playback.The Moog Multiply- digitatly as pcrformancegcsture data lather than
Touch'sensitivc kcyboard exhibits a design that re audio. weeks later, a digital audio rccording systcm
would be set up in the s.rmechapel, ald thc perfor-
mance gcsturedata would be uscd to play the 86'
sendorfcr,recreatingMoyer's performanceof that
evcning. EditiDg that would rormally be done in
Comtuter Muslc Jounal, Vol. 1,1,No.2, Sutumcr 1990,
o l99O Mass.chusctisinstitute ol Tcchnologt the analogor digital audio sigla1 domain would be

s2 ConpLlter Music bund

 carried out on the B6sendorler performaice data the pedal motions! The conttolled releases
directly, before the ffnal audio mastering of the of the sustain pedal by which Moyer slowly
compact disk {CD)was to tak€ place.The CD of damped the ends of cettain phrases were all
Moyer's live cotrcert would then be recorded in an accurateb redeated on playback. Finally, all of
mvircnment free of audience and environmental th.is wes going on with no thumps, wheezes,
noise, nums, ot 6queaks.
John Amuedo, a rcsearch scientist ftom the MIT By the end of the evening it occurred to me
Artiffcial Intelligence Laboratory, coordinated the that this tecbnology might iust be the most
deta gathedng. Before the performance, he explained alramatic advance in piano rccording that we
in simple tecbnical terms the operation of the Bii- have ever seen.rusr as digir^alaudio recordir€
sendoder 290 SE.He then took his position at the and the CD bave broughiaudio reprooucrronto
IBM ?C computer system as Frederick Moyer walked a point wherc the full dynamic range of vir-
on stage.What the au&ence witnessed was aD ap- tually any audio material car be reproduc€d
parently traditional classicalpiano recital. There with nearly inaudible noise end distortion,
were no microphones,extraneousmechanicalnoises, the technology within the Bijsendofer 2g0 SE
or motions to distract from Moyer's splendid perfor- has brought the reproducing piano to such a
mance, which fflled the hall with the dorious sound state of advalced tecbaical developmetrt that a
ol the B<jsendorfer. Anthony lommastr. music whole gamut oI new musical applicatronsrs
citic oI the Boston GJobe, described Moyer,s per- now feasible.
formance as having "a dch tone, clarity, l,. cal sen,
sitivitt and plenty of viftuosic energy.,, The 290 E system was invented by Wayne StahDle,
AJter Moye/s encoie/ a cu ous audience came up a musician-engineer vrho lives in Woodland Hills,
to coogratulateMoyer and to look inside the piano. Califomia USA. As a young bo, he fell in love with
Amuedo announce4 "now we,ll hear some of the the player piano, and as a teenager he tri€d to build
music being played back." As the piatro,s keys be- an improved ve$ion. In 1972, aJter acquirinS the
gan to move, some people gazed at the keyboard, necessary engineedng skills in coll€ge, he built an
shaling theh headsin near disbeliel Others rc, electrcnic inte ace between a pair of pneumatic
turned to theii seats, listening closely to determine reproducinS pianos. Next came an all-electrcnic
iust how faidfullv the perfonnancewas bejng re- recorder-player lor an upright piano with state-of-
prcduced.Moog r€calls his imprcssions vividly: the-art features,such as op(ical sensingot bammer
velocity and indivrdual expressionper ke} Thar in-
With my evesclosed,I had no troubleimagin strument required a y€ar o{ concentrated effort and
ing that Moyer was in {act playing the instru- evoked considerable interest {rcm the pianists who
m€nt. I could spot no clues whatsoeverthat I tried it. It also attracted the attention oI the Merle
was hearing a playback. The timings oI the Norman Foundatioq which maintains a lagc mu-
rapid passages,the variations from soft to lou4 seum of autorratic musical instruments.
and every dJ,.namicmarking and pedal move- A commission from the owner of the Merle Nor-
ment were exactly as I remembered in the odgi- men Founalation enabled Stahnke io build his tech-
nal pefiormance. nology into a new Steinway model D grand pisno, a
While I listened, the engineer side of my project that took nea-rly three years oI full,time ef-
bmin chugged awa, estimating how eccurately fort. By this time, adequately powerful mrcropro-
the playback mechanism must be to rccreate cessors had become available, which tmnsformed
Moyert perforrDence. The dynamic range of the prciect liom an exercise in hardware to a need
Moyer's playing was very wide-perhaps 50 dB. to develop intelligent software. AJter beinS shown
Now, 50 alBis a power ratio of 100,000:l, end publiclt the Steinway instrument was donated to
the system's key solenoids were handling that the University of Southern CaliJornia.
range. Whatb moig th€y were hanalling it with Stahnke'snext proiect involved a recordrn. rn-
a timing accuracyof bett€r than 5 msec. And suument basedon a Yamaia gand prano, wiich

MooS and Rhea sit

 Fis. L R.sistive kdy su1
fa.es fot sensins finsel
posxion. Ftum battom of
phato: Top ol white key
surlacq bottam af white
key stdace; top af black
key suidce; battom of

he built for his own use. fohn Amuedo saw the

Yamaha basedprototype of Stahnke'stcchnolog) in
l g b l s h i l c o n J r n p r o l o . A n B c l c 'r \ o r t l . t h c r c
after, Amuedo was invited to orsanize thc lirst MIT
Co crenceon Musical Lcaming, hcld Septernbcr
1982 at the Miramar Shctaton hotel in Los ADgclcs -
This conJercncebrought together a Sroup ot musl
c ; n . c u g n r r r r e p - r t 5 ^ l o c r nr.n. d . n m p L t c r- . ' e n _
tists to discusst o aspectsof musical icarning: thc tj:==t*11 gjF:L=
p r r , r c e ' t r r t c o r c 'r h a t p r n i e s r o r r a l
when learning unfamiliar music, and the spontane-
ous learning tha! occ rs in improvisatton, such as
ilzz cnsemble playing. stahnke made $e Yamaha
prototype systcm availablc for this conferencctn or
d€r to document drc musicll proccedings.The re-
sponscof the dozcn concert artists who attended
r h c . n n l e r e n . cw r . J | l i l o r r r l y e n r h r - . r r ' t tI 'u h a r r
HaIIis recails: Thc Biisendoifer290 SETechnology

The expcrienceol hcaring mysclf plav from the The systcm that Stahnkedesigneduscs optical scn'
vantagepoinl of a listener, rather than a pcr sors to detect both key and hammer posilions Each
t u n n e r w a ' p r o l o u n dI.r h i n k r h . r l r r n gr h . r r
sensorconsistso{ a light-cnitting diodc {LED) and
moved rnc so about this experiencewas that a phototransistor facing cach other acrossa gap ot
the piano presewcd a1lof thc cmotional qualr : l b u u rl ^ n . W h . n r k . y o n t h ( r ' i r n ^ r . . r ru L l ( r.
ties of the pe ormance that I had intended ro precision-cut aluminum shutter mountcd in rhe
convey.This instrumeDt didn't sound mechaDi_ shank of that key's harn er moves acrossthis gap'
cal at all-it was recreatingan exact reflecdon the shuftcr either blocks thc llght fron thc LED or
of what I wanted to share. allows it to shine on the photo.ransistor. The LED-
At the tine, Amuedo was consulting Ior lcmball phototransistor scnsor assernbliesare 6xcd, while
lnternationAl, evaluating new colnputer_based lnu the aluninum shulters arc attached ro both the
sical technologics. He recornncnded that KinTball keys and the haurmcr shanks.Each shutter aDdits
pursue licensing and devclopment of Stahnke'stech- tiny mounting screw weigh a small fraction of a
nology for mamrfacture in the Bosendo er concert grrm, contibuting negligiblc ma. s to thc hammer'
instruments. Amuedo lurther proposcd that Krrn' A singlc key shuttcr is located on thc bottom ol
ball build a prorotypc Bosendorfcr 290 model piano each key, directly under wherc thc pcrformer's firr
cquipped widr Stxhnke's technology for his proiecl S . r w o u l d t ' p r c av . L ( ' h e I I l j - o h u t u t t a n . ' r o r
at the MIT Artificial Intclligence Laboratory.That asscnbly for each kcy is positioned so that an indi-
instrrment was deliveredin Fcbitlary 1985,and vidual key down sisnal is produccd as sooll as the
Anuedo subsequentlyprovidcd beta test support key is rnnrutcly depresscd.The associatcdhan,mer
for Kimhall oD issuessuch as system software and shank shurter is located ncat the baseof thc ham
user interfacc desiSn,srgnalprocessingrechnrques nTer. The hammer-shank,LED phototransrstoras
for asscssingplayback {idelitt :rnd thc designol a . e r n oy . p o ' n o r r . d . r \ a t r h el r a r t m ,r . p o ' t t t u n
pcrsonal computcr interface. Kimball of6cially an is reporled iusr as it is nbout to hit the strins. Thc
nounccd avallability of thc 290 SE rccording piano trrnc bctwccn key down and hrmmer strike ls thcre_
in the sunmer of 1986,and sirce that time has forc an inverse function of h:lmncr vclocity.
made Stahnke'srechnologyavailablc inB6serdo cr's A11key sensorsare scanned800 times per sccond
9 ft and 7 l/2 lt conccrt instrurneDts. Whcn a key is deprcssedsuffrcicntly to rctivatc rts

54 Con p L1
| er MLtsi c I oum aI
 Fig.2 Keyswith rcsistive
suta.es and aluminium

comc into contact wlth the key lcvers only during

playback. Thereforc, they don,i intedere with rhs
instrumcnt's keyboardresponscduring perrormance.
The pcdalshavc their own linear motors, which
rre much largcr than the key actuaror motors. Thc
srsbin pedalnotor must be ablc to lift all the damp-
e r . L h c . o f rl c J r l L a \ r o . n r h r h ec n r i r ep r a n u . r c
tion horizontall, and thc sostenuto pedal has to ac
tuate an eiaboraterncchanical latching m€chanism.
Thc sensorsfor the sustain and soft pedrls measuc
the pcdal positioDscontlnuously ro a resolutioD of
I part in 256. The sustain pcdal solenoid is updated
100 timcs a second,while thc sostenutopedal is
updated 50 times a sccond.Thc pedal soleloids are
enclosedin a wooden box finishcd to match dr€ rcst
oi thc piano. This box is mounted rLnobrusivcly on
the botton of the piaro, in back o{ the pedaF.
sensor,the scanning circuitry then awaits the sig- Stahnke dcsignedthc scanningard lincar moror
nal from thc hammcr,shanl<scnsor and resorvestnc drivc clectronics to optinize the pc ormancc of thc
timing oI the two events to within 40,(m. Thus, sensorsand morors. He first built a custon com
thc velocity of cach hammer is accur:tely mcasured puter to analyzc serNorsignals,acruatethe motors,
when it is abont ro strike rhe string. This-and not and storc, retrievc, and edit piano perlormlncc dau.
thc velocity of the kcy-is what is recordcd.xrd The product nanufactured by Bdsendorfcrusesan
played back. This design lnirigates crrors thit indi IBM PC to manageperforrnancedata. Stannxe ano
vid ai mechanical differenccsarnongvarious kcys the enginceringstaff of Kimbail lnrerDarional (Bc;-
of the plano action might othcrwise contnbute. scndorfer'sparent company in the Unitcd Statcs)
The B6scndorferuseslincar motors mounted have spent considerabledme developingsoftware
under the kcy bed to actuate its piano i(cys. Most that provides aD expandingrcpcrtoire of musical
electric motors you are famili:rr with are rotary and support funcrions for this software intcnsive
types.Two types of linear nrotors that you may bc
familiar with are the soleDoid{c.g.,the oncs thrt go { r n o | l gr h r r , l rr n . c . u t w h , c h5 t i h n t ( i , m . 5 r
"kachunl(l" to open a valvc
ir a washnrgmachine) proud arc th€ soltwnre routilles that correcr ror tnc
and thc ddver elcmcut of a loudspeaker Ncithcr of piano's time delay and rcsponsecharacteristics.His
rhesc would be suited to thc task of prccisely actu- t t r n s f o rL J e l ; v r o rr c c r o r p r o Le d ur c r . r l ,., r n t , a c
J i r q r n . J r u k e v m u . . n l c n o r J . , r rdec . i g rF d r ^ count thc time delaylvariableup to 100msec)be-
push as hard as possihlc without regardto spced, twccr initial actuatjor of a key during playuacx
. o n t r o o r m , r l - ; n r L ,nr ol i . ( O r r 1 . u r l e r h ) n , l and thc striking of the striDs by the hamncr. This
- p c a k c or r i , c r . c r n " * . q , . f f " " " a - . . r , " ' " l l routin€ starts the solenoid in andcipation ot thc
but are too large and inclficient to be lined up in a timc at which a not€ is acrually intended ro be heard.
row ot 97 {asthc Bcisendo er Impcdal grand piaDo Adaptive cdlibntiotl is another routine thar en-
has 9 cxtra notcs in the bass). ables the systcm to calibrat€ irsclf to match play,
Stahnke designedhis kcy actuator motors ro back vclocities to thosc measurcdduring rccording.
work efllcicntly ovcr thc 1/2 in that they are re This routinc stdkcs each of the notes on the pian;
quircd to travel and to work qui€tl, .iuickly, and at eight dil{ercnt dynanlic levels, discernsrne rcra-
preciscly.Th€y arc shapedli1ie a solcnoid, about an tionships bet$,ccDhammcr velocities and noror
inch in diamcter and a few inchcs long. Trey arc currents, and calcularesthc loudncss corrections
mounted under thc kcy bed so thar thc actuators that mllst be flpplied to makc the instrument play

55
FiE. 3. Citcuit boa'd lol
sensins key heighL

tle nuancesof the pedormer. The 290 SE also pto_

vides obvious artistic possibilities for composers
who might not nec€ssarilyev€r place their hands
on the keyboard of the system due to the {act that
the pe ormance data may be easily edited and the
MIDI protocol nay be implemented.
l-ike all systems,the 290 SE requires se ice For
an expert opinion we tumed to Kathleen Allen,
who enjoys a reputation in the Boston arca for her
ability to rrouble"hootand reparrunusualpianos
ln addition, her educationalbackgroundin physics
provides her witli a strong grssp o{ the technical
principles of piano design.Allen notes that th€ op-
tical sensorarraylocatednext to the hammersrs
mounted on a monolithic rail suspendedabovethe
Dianoaction. This rail may be removed {or those
maintenance procedures(such as regulation) that
may require accessto the moving parts o{ the piano
action. SheobseNesthat becausethe key frame has
evenly. The adaptive calibratiotr routine can be run been modiffed to accommodatethe electonics, ad_
every {ew days or after the instrument is moved in justing the piano for a concert or recording sesslon
order to correct {or factors such as wear and humid- would take more time than normal. Other than
ity that would otherwise affect the system'splay- that, the piano part of the 290 SE system is adjusted
back response. and tuned Lke a convcnLional grandprani
Th€ 290 SEis a new resource that a skilled pianist
can exDloreimmediately without having to con-
Pe$pectives on the Biisendorfei 290 SE front Jnew technique or being lorced to cope with
frustrating design deffciencies lrederick Moyer is
From an historical viewpoint, the 290 SE can be ideallvsuited to explore Lhe2o0 SE He is an e\pe-
viewed as the culmination oI severalcenturies of rienced concerl pianist and an avid compuler uter
attempts to mechanize and automate th€ piano by a as well. ExDertise with compute$ rs by no means
vaiety of manufacturers.The use o{ mechanical de_ requrredLouseLhe2o0 SE.Tbir experrence can,
vices to play an instrument with a keyboard dates however, demysrify Lhe concepts relrted to rhe per_
back to 1731 (Dolge l91I). At the beginning o{ the lormanceda(aand iLsmanlpulr(ron.For Mover,lhe
twentieth centurt the Welte Mi8no, reproducing idea that Derformanceis data-data that can be re-
piano and the ,ea system were used to record the corded.edlted, and made into an audio recording-
playing of loseff, Rosenthal,De Pachman,Busoni, makes unqualified good sense As he commented to
and other piano vituosos usinS paper tape (Dolge us, "there's no ma$c in prcducing piano tones ll
1 9 r1 ) . vou can duolicate the hammer speedsat the right
whilewerecognize that anymechanicalrccording- iirne, vou will essentially have duplicated the per-
playback system for the piano owes something to formance." Commenting on his motiv4tion for us_
"l
this evolution, we wonder iJ the Bijsendo er 290 SE rn!.the 240 SE,Moyer explrrned ve beendis
might not be different from its predecessorsnot ap-pornted bv pianorecordrngs LhatI ve donc and
"
onty in degree,but in kind. It miSht reasonablybe tiro'e that havebeendonebv other prani*rs He
consideredthe ultimate developmentin the long feels that p no recordingsere generallynot as spon-
lineaSeot mechrnrcalpianoplavbackdue lo its ca_ taneousoi inspired as unrecordedlive performances'
pacity to rccord and reproducethe exceedinglysub' In a live perfoimance,people assumethat thele will

56 Comouter Music lournal

 Fis.4. Sideuiew of an
otgan style keyboa with
MTS sensotsystem.XI
cn Ditry is seento the
left; Z ctucuity is undel

be occasionalwrong notes and perhapssome hesita-

tions- These mistakes are difficult to tolerare on re-
cordings,due to thek ptedictability upon repeated
h€arings.Pianists naturally becornemore conserva-
tive when they are being recorded,even before an
audience,Audrenceand enr uonmenralnoi"esmay ,---.. i
aBecrLhequaliiy ol the retordedperformances as
well, these noises cannot be tolerated in a sommer- : \ :
cial product. As a result, live concert piano record-
ings arc edited-sometimes extensively.
Mover feelslhar trad ronallyrecordedplanoper-
Iormancesare compromised in three ways. The pel,
formance itself is constrainedbecauseatrsts srve
prroriLyto avoidrnBwrongnotes.especiallyth-ose
they know cannot be removed by editing. Second,
editing often consists ofpiecinS together sectionsof
separateperformances,a practice that minimizes
the number of mistakes but degtadescontinuity. ments cited previously are that with the 290 SE
Third, ambient noises can also be conttolled in a re system it is easierto obtain an exciting, musically
cording studio, but most pianists need the stimula- satistyinSrecording o{ a concert performalue, cvcn
tion oI rcsponsive ]rsrenersin orderr o plal therr before editing; that deciding what to edit and what
best. The 290 SEsystem providesa way of allevia. to leave alone are impottant musical choices that
ing these problems. ideally can be made by the pienist, and thar an au-
The questions that arise have to do with iuds- dio recording of an edited 290 SEperformancecan
men(sabout musrcalinretsnry.whrt r<rhe por;Lof be more musically effective than a direct auoto re-
recording a live performanceif the result rs sam- cording-whether or not the direct audio recording
tized to perfectionl Amuedo, who has recotdeda is edited both for the pianist and for the listener.
number of concert artists on the 290 SE at the MIT SEinstrumerts have been sold ro academicinsti,
A-rnAcialInrelhgence tutions, where they are used for composition and
Lrborrtory,offerqhr\ perspec-
tive. He statcs that "technical perfection is not the researchas well as for recording.Instruments have
issue.Mistakes in perfomance that dont contdb, been permanently located at the Royal Academy of
ute to a satislying musical experi€ncemay simply Music in London, Ohio State Universitt the Uni
be more readily corrected.In a sense,this may be versity of Marlland Inrernational piano Archive,
giving both thc listener and the performer exactly and YamahaPiano Company,sresearchlaboratories
in Osaka,Japan.S! instruments have also been
what they want." Amuedo found that many notcs
not on the manuscript cteep into peformance, es made availablefor extendedresidenciesat the Men-
pecially dudng fast passages. hattan School of Music, the Moscow ConseFarory
Most of these so-called
brushed notes are soft and are not played deliber- Indiana Universit, and the University of Sourhern
ately. Theit musical effect is often to thicken the Califomia.
texture of the playing. Amuedo and Moyer found Will compurer-conrrolled reproducrng pianos
that when these notes were taken out, the result- supplant conventional direct digital audio rccording
ing pefomances had a strange,steel, mechanical as the standardfor piano rccording technology?Igo;
quality- So they were lelt in. On the other hand, an Kipnis'review of Moyer,s CD in the luly 1989 issue
occasionalprominently audible wrong note could ol Saeftropft
rJecomments:
be corected, and that, in theiriudgment, did improve Does the lBdsendorlerlsystem make sense?
the musical quality of the recordedperformance. Does it have advantages?It would appearso, at
The points that emergeclearly from the corn- Ieast to achieve rhe spo[taneity of the live con-

Moog and Fhea 57

 FiE 5. A ponion al a
YamahaCP80 Piano key
board, showins the Xx key
swlace sensots.Nak that
white key surfacesare
coatedwith white eporf

cert minus its pedpheral disadvantagesoI hu-

man error and noise. A pianist is not only able
to respondintepretively to his audience,but to
the acousticsof the hall as well.
Kipnis preisesMoyer's performanceof the seven
Mendelssohn compositions on the CD as having
been "played with warmth and sensitivity." Kipnis
funher suSgesrs rhat Moyers searchingmu5rcran_
ship is also evident in the evocative,thoughtful,
and well-characterizedPicturcs at an L\hibitiot."
Readerscan judge for themselvesby listening to
Fredeick Moyer's ffrst CD using the B6sendo er
290 SErecording piano (Moyer 1988).

Keyboards
TheMoogMultiply-Touch€ensitive
The development oI the Moog Multiplv-Touch-
Sensitive(MTSlkeyboards beganwith a research lloog MTS KeyboardTechnoloSy
contract between the lndiana School of Music and
Moog Music, Inc. The immediate predecessorof the The sensorsof each active MTS key continuously
the curent design was describedin a paperby Moog rcport three positionsr the left- ght position of the
(I982) at the 1982 International Computer Music player'sfinger on the key surfece(xaxis), the front-
Conferencein Venice,Italy. back position of the player'sffnger on the key sur'
The MTS keyboardsare a {amily of keyboard face (Y axis),and the up down position o{ the key
controllers. Each model featuresindividual sensors itself (Z-axis).The X and Ysignals are sensedby a
for each key that allow real_time,continuolrs con- rcsistive 0lm on the playing surface of the key. The
trol of up to three musical paiameters.The key lev- substrateis made of thin, epoxy_glasscircuit board
ers and Leybedare standardwoodenorganor piano material, with a conductive pattern on one side and
keyboards.The sensorson each key continuously the resistive fflm on the other side. The frIm forms
detect the up'down position of the kev 3nd the po- one plate of a capacitor.The player'sfinger is on the
sition in two dimensions of the musician's finger other capacitorplate and is grounded lat high fre-
on the key curface.In terms ol the feel ihat per quencieslby virtue of its connection to the rcst of
formers perceiveas they depressa key, the sensors the perlormer'sbody.A description of the electdcal
are completely transparent,the keys move and feel characteristicsof the human ffnger has been pro'
exactly like those of a conventional clavier. vided elsewhere.A thin layer of urethane over the
Lrch MTS ke) boardrs equrppedwrth scanntng resistive fflm providesthe insulating dielectric of
processing,and logic circuitry that generatesa digi the capacitor.A dbbon cable connects the four
tal data stream that periodically reports the status cornersof the resistive fflm to circuitly that excites
o{ the sensorsof each active key. software to con- the cornerswith the samehigh'frequency,
vert this data stream to MIDI information is exe- alternating voltage and measuresthe cuffent flow
cuted on a dedicatedsmall computer external to from each of the corners.This circuitry computes
the keyboard.The musical parameterscontrolled the dif{erencesbetween the fflm's corner currents,
by a given MTS keyboardare determined by the ca- th€n divides these diflerencesby the total fiIm
pabilities o{ the tone-producingdevicesto which it current. This gives two analogoutput signals,one
is connectedand by the operating software that re' of which is proportional to the left-right lx)
lates the keyboard'soutput to the tone-produce{'s position of the finger, while the other is propor_
control inputs. tional to the {ront-back (Y)position.

Camputer Music lounal

 The cirLuirboardmaterialthar comprisesLhekey tive keys, the data update rate, the selection of
surfacers glued,resrsrivefflm-srde-up,'to the rop oi c teria lor determining which keys are active, and
a standardwooden o4an or piano ket White k€ys the selection of which sensotoutputs will be trans-
are parntedwhite wrchepoxypainr A specjallycur mitted to the MIDI output.
[r]lboardcoversrhe rerminatronpoflionsof the key The MTS sensorsystem has been iNtalled in
sudaces.Figures I and 2 show the elements of the organ- and piano-style keyboards.Tlpically, the
resistive key surfacesand their constructror mro keys are spring'loaded-Circuitry associatedwith
piano-style keyboard. the X y sensorsis located behind the keys, while
Yet another veriable capacitanceschem€is used circuitry associatedwith the Z and F sensorsis Io-
to measurethe key/svetical lZ)position. An alu- cated in the key bed itself, under the keys. One oc-
minum vane, attached to the bottom of each kev. tave of keys ar€ typically removed to make room
forms a capacrrorwith I portronoi rhe patternof a Ior a left-hand contioller-a panel of global controls
circuit board that is mounted below the key. Since that will be scannedand processedalong with the
the dielectricof the Z-measuringcapacitorisair, the individual key sensors.
capacitor'soutput dependsalmost entirely on rhe The keyboardof a YamahaCP-80 electno prano
spacingof the vane and the circuit boa-rd.In addi- hes also been fitted with the MTS sensorsystem.
tion to this, a force-measuring(fl sensorfor each fubbon cablesfrom the keys are dressedalong the
key is positioned under the Iront rail felt punching. sidesof the keys and down to the X-Ycircuitry that
This sensoris an electrically resistive fflm that is is located in a well at the bottom oI the instrumenr
placed in contact with a closely spacedconductive case.Thus, the s.isting piano action alrd strings ar€
grid on a thin circuit boad. With no force on the not disturbed.Figures4 and 5 show the MTS sys-
sensot the resistanceacrossthe grid is very high. tem installed in orSan-and piano-style keyboads
When the key bottoms out on the front rail, the re, rcspectively.
sistanceacrossthe grid drops in roughly inverse
proportion to the fotce on the key.
Summary
The resistancesof the force sensorsare measured
and scannedat the same rate as the Z-axis sersors, The advent oI electronic musical instruments by no
The scalinSof the sensoroutputs is adjustedby the means signalsan end to the evolution of the cla-
keyboard'soperating software,so that the Z output vier, or keyboardcontroller. This evolurion wiII bi
goeslrom its minimum to its maximum value when furcate generally into designsthat ernbracetradi
the key bumps into the IeIt punching. From tfus tional piano or organ techniquesand those that
point the F output starts {rom its minimum value requirc ext€nsion of clavi€r technique with atten-
aIId approachesits maximum value as]anptotically dant extension of our understandingof what is idi- .
as the key is press€dfurher into the felt. Fisure 3 omatic to the k€yboard.
showsone oi rhe 7-axissensorcircuit boards. The two systemswe have descdbedin this article
Each MTS keyboard has its own microprocessot- representexamplesof these two directions of dev€I,
basedoperating system that performs scanningand opment. The nrst usesrccent developmentsin elec-
data formatting functions. A single connector in- tromechanical and compurer technology to extend
corporatesboth an 8-bit parallel output and an 8-bit the usefulnessoI the traditional piano instrument
parallel input. The number of each active kev. Dlus andpeformance technique byprovidinghigh,ffdelity
rhe key'\ sensorourputs,,re loadedinro a queue gesturerecordingand playback built into concert
{FIFOIregrsterin chekeyboard.readvto beiead by quality instruments. The secondsystem we pre-
(he externalcompurer.fhc keyboard,s inpur rs sentedrepresents an exampleof rhe currenrdirec
used by the external computer to select operating tions for rhe exrensionof the rangeand drmension-
system options and to run calibration and diaqnos- ality of control avsilable in the keyboard-styleo{
nc soltwareon the kevboard.Typicaloperat"rg"y". perlomance inte acebeyond that of currenr organ,
tem options include: the maximum number of ac piano, oi synthesizerkeyboards.

Moog and Rhea 59

F

ReIercnces for ComputerMusic." Prcceedingsof the 1982Intema-

nonal Computer Music Coilercaca SanFlancisco:
Dolg€, A. l9l l. Piaros and ThetuMake$: A Compehen- Comput€i Music A$ociation, 601-605.
sive History of the Developmentof the Piato. Covirr , Moyer, F. 1988.Pian]st lrederic.L Moy?r. CompectDisk
Calilomia: Covi$ Publishing CrEpary. Reprintedir GI0024. Newton Centre, Massachusetts,GM Record-
1972.New York: Dover PublicatioDs. in8s, Irc. ll,iblary of Consess numbei 88-74i)118.)
Moog; R. A. 1982."A Multiply Tbuch'SensitiveClaviei

ql Computer Musjc lo4rnal