5 ms·

You're saying its not possible to tune a piano to an arbitrary set of 88 pitches?

organsnyder 6d ago
Of course you can, but that's not what's implied by the quote. In addition to microtonality, many instruments (and the human voice) are capable of infinite tuning, and musicians will deviate from the "correct" note (as played by an even-tempered instrument) based on chord structure, voice leading, etc.
- BigTTYGothGF 6d ago
  Also quarter step bends in guitar and vibrato in general.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5d ago
  That's not what "tuning" means. Yes, fretless string instruments, the human voice, instruments like the trombone are all capable of being played with arbitrary or semi-arbitrary pitch. But they are still either tuned in some way, or never tuned at all. Performance is not tuning.
jpitz 6d ago
there are absolutely pitches that an arbitrary piano cannot be tuned to. it is also non-trivial to tune a piano.
- waffletower 6d ago
  https://www.modartt.com/pianoteq_overview https://www.modartt.com/pianoteq_overview :) Very high quality and affordable software modeled piano. It is rather easy to tune via Scala KBD formatted files.
  - totallymike 6d ago
    Not a piano, and not relevant to the parent remark.
    - waffletower 5d ago
      And that isn't a nuanced opinion; a common one among rigid materialists. Its not the best piano for a stage, but I am sure it could fool your ears in a recording. Morpheus would think it was a piano too. "What is real? ..."
- HelloNurse 5d ago
  Since an "arbitrary piano" is tuned by turning screws, like simpler string instruments, the only pitches that it cannot be tuned to are those that fall outside the range of each string. Departing from the usual inharmonically tempered 12-EDO tuning would just sound strange, possibly outside some piano tuner's professional comfort zone.
BigTTYGothGF 6d ago
That's clearly not what was meant, even without the context of this following bit: > To describe tones that exist in music, we can describe tones that exist on a piano. There are only two rules: > the first key must play a tone of 27.5 Hz each next key must play a tone 6% higher than the previous key (This is not to mention that at a 1.06x increase per half step you're going to be sharp by 1 cent / octave which starts to add up).
dahart 5d ago
Aside from that not being what was said (the parent’s pull-quote is wrong in multiple ways), it is in fact not possible to tune a piano to any arbitrary set of 88 pitches without changing the design so dramatically and fundamentally that it would no longer be a piano. The triangular shape of a grand determined by the strings lengths, the placement of the pins, the use of double/triple strings in some frequency ranges, and design of the sound board, all permit only a very limited range of frequencies for each key on the keyboard. You very obviously cannot take an existing piano and tune it to 88 keys of A0, nor to 88 keys of C9.

Of course you can, but that's not what's implied by the quote. In addition to microtonality, many instruments (and the human voice) are capable of infinite tuning, and musicians will deviate from the "correct" note (as played by an even-tempered instrument) based on chord structure, voice leading, etc.

BigTTYGothGF 6d ago
Also quarter step bends in guitar and vibrato in general.
PaulDavisThe1st 5d ago
That's not what "tuning" means. Yes, fretless string instruments, the human voice, instruments like the trombone are all capable of being played with arbitrary or semi-arbitrary pitch. But they are still either tuned in some way, or never tuned at all. Performance is not tuning.

jpitz 6d ago

there are absolutely pitches that an arbitrary piano cannot be tuned to. it is also non-trivial to tune a piano.

waffletower 6d ago
https://www.modartt.com/pianoteq_overview https://www.modartt.com/pianoteq_overview :) Very high quality and affordable software modeled piano. It is rather easy to tune via Scala KBD formatted files.
- totallymike 6d ago
  Not a piano, and not relevant to the parent remark.
  - waffletower 5d ago
    And that isn't a nuanced opinion; a common one among rigid materialists. Its not the best piano for a stage, but I am sure it could fool your ears in a recording. Morpheus would think it was a piano too. "What is real? ..."
HelloNurse 5d ago
Since an "arbitrary piano" is tuned by turning screws, like simpler string instruments, the only pitches that it cannot be tuned to are those that fall outside the range of each string. Departing from the usual inharmonically tempered 12-EDO tuning would just sound strange, possibly outside some piano tuner's professional comfort zone.

BigTTYGothGF 6d ago

That's clearly not what was meant, even without the context of this following bit: > To describe tones that exist in music, we can describe tones that exist on a piano. There are only two rules: > the first key must play a tone of 27.5 Hz each next key must play a tone 6% higher than the previous key (This is not to mention that at a 1.06x increase per half step you're going to be sharp by 1 cent / octave which starts to add up).

dahart 5d ago

Aside from that not being what was said (the parent’s pull-quote is wrong in multiple ways), it is in fact not possible to tune a piano to any arbitrary set of 88 pitches without changing the design so dramatically and fundamentally that it would no longer be a piano. The triangular shape of a grand determined by the strings lengths, the placement of the pins, the use of double/triple strings in some frequency ranges, and design of the sound board, all permit only a very limited range of frequencies for each key on the keyboard. You very obviously cannot take an existing piano and tune it to 88 keys of A0, nor to 88 keys of C9.