Friday, September 6, 2013

No Strings on a Piano, but the Tone Is Grand

There are some things you just don’t expect to read about in a column about electronics. Gluten-free waffles, for example. Ferrets. Moist towelettes.
The latest in technology from the Times’s David Pogue, with a new look.
The NU1 upright is Yamaha’s fourth AvantGrand hybrid digital piano.
And you’d probably expect that list to include pianos.
No, not digital pianos. Not those plastic, flat appliances with 983 instrument sounds and realism that would fool nobody. I mean real pianos, the kind in concert halls, clad in glistening black lacquer, with three pedals and wooden keys that make felt-covered hammers strike taut metal strings. Those instruments have always been strictly analog. And very expensive.  More