Analysis of the similarity of a virtualized historical square piano to its original and a modern grand piano

Abstract

A very well preserved historic square piano built by Steinway and Sons in 1863 forms the basis of this study. This study is part of a research project focusing on the development of methods for the digital preservation of historic instruments. Part of the study is to investigate the spectral and temporal characteristics of this square piano in comparison to the virtual instrument under development and further to a modern Steinway B-211 piano. A solenoid is used to collect the necessary data sets from both real pianos. The spectral analysis includes the evaluation of the spectrogram, the spectral centroids and the spectral slope. The temporal analysis evaluates the correlation between velocity and loudness. These tests are used to validate the results of the project and to compare the historic square piano with a modern Steinway B-211 grand piano. The comparison shows deficits in the loudness curve of the virtual square piano. These deficits have to be compensated. Furthermore, the biggest difference between the Steinway B-211 and the square piano is the emphasis on the fundamental frequency. The lower emphasis on the fundamental frequency of the square piano results in a colder and harsher sound.