Electric Pianos

A variety of modern leading tracks have their roots in digital piano compositions. Utilizing Wurlitzer electric pianos, these compositions form a core collection of electronic music. The editors of Electric Pianos review some of our favorite tracks with electric scores:

Daft Punk, the French music duo featured the track “Digital Love” as a single on their 2001 album Discovery. The song is based upon an electronic sample by BJ Sneak, which is overlaid by vocals by the Daft Punk duo, along with various electronic samples. Produced using synthesized samples from electric pianos in the studio, the track gained world wide acclaim.

A popular track on Pink Floyd’s well received Dark Side of the Moon, Money is composed by Roger Waters with the assistance of a variety of electronic effects. The song gained widespread acclaim for its unique 7/4 time signature as well as its electronic effects and chord progressions.

Another classic track “You Don’t Know How it Feels” from Pink Floyd, was the top single from the band’s 1994 album Wildflowers. Featuring a variety of electronic effects, the album explores the downsides of the drug scene.

The evolution of the two major electric pianos over the past few decades largely mirror the development of digital music technology. Improvements in electronic feedback have allowed musicians to incorporate digital technology with studio-quality audio feedback standards.

The Fender Rhodes electronic pianos emerged from the researched of Harold Rhodes, who was constructing traditional acoustic pianos for decades. Rhodes developed a music school to focus on music theory, and further developed his skills as part of the Army’s Air Corps. Based upon the skills developed in the military, Rhodes began to develop one the first electric pianos in 1946, which was capable of reproducing 3 and a half octaves of sound, and including an integrated digital speak and amplifier system. The patented design led by a complete 72-note model, working with legendary musician Leo Fender to improve the model to develop the modern electric piano we know today. Fender expanded his reach from classical guitars to pianos, and began to work on the release of a series of improving models until they realized an accurate 88-key model in the 1970s. Over the past few decades, the company has introduced improved electronic acoustics and integrated software.

The modern Wurlitzer piano has its roots back in the early 20th century, when Benjamin Miessner, who helped develop the modern electronic radio at RCA. As a result of this research, Miessnger began working with Wurlitzer to develop an electric piano, and produced the first modern model in 1954. Advances in the technology produced near perfect-tune by the 1970s, and the software continued to improve, becoming a performance-class machine by the 1980s.

Standard acoustic pianos are known to produce a unique set of sounds which are directly linked to their physical construction – digital pianos are engineered to re-produce the delicacy and intimacy of this sound. Piano purists focus on the inability to truly replica the details and richness of the acoustic sound in electronic form, but advanced electric acoustic technologies are increasingly coming closer to this level.

The sound emanating from an acoustic piano is inherently linked to its strings, which must be regularly tuned to ensure they remain true to form. Strings vary in thickness, ranging from 1/30 inch, which produces a high-end vibration to a third of an inch, a thickness that produces a higher level of base. In general, the thickness is proportional to an octave on the piano – so that pianos are designed to reproduce the vibrations of strings accordingly.

The vibrations also produce overtones, which oscillate to produce harmonics which are pleasant to the ear. These oscillations are difficult to reproduce, although advanced digital pianos can now capture these frequencies with a high level of accuracy. The quality of the strings is directly related to the ability to produce high-quality sounds. As a result, tuning a grand piano requires important attention paid to the detail.

A variety of measures of the scale vibration, including the Railsback curve, capture the deviation between a tuned piano and a perfect scale. The unique sounds produced from a piano, including overtone vibrations, give it a unique sense of sound quality.

An advanced electric piano series released by Yamaha, Clavinovas are designed to replicated the features of acoustic pianos, while allowing for advanced electronic feedback and sampling. A digital replica of advanced acoustic pianos, clavinovas have impressive digital sampling capabilities, including integrated software packages.

Clavinovas featured advanced hammer grading, which simulates the graded feel of traditional acoustic keyboards. The digital sensors provide a higher level of feedback quality when compared to traditional digital pianos – as a result, Clavinovas are considered more reliable substitutes for acoustic pianos for training and educational purposes. Advanced models such as the 407 include improved keyboard technology, making them true to scale.

With graded keys, musicians can feel the true feedback scales as they ascend and descend the keyboard. Advanced synthesizers result in improved sound quality and feedback, resulting in a true acoustic feel and product. Each model features an impressive acoustic digital technology that can easily replicate sampled effects, as well as a variety of instruments, including pianos, percussions and guitars. As a result, individuals can compose a broader range of pieces than they otherwise could playing solo.

Modern electric pianos have advanced to offer a full spectrum of features in an affordable, reliable package when compared to more expensive acoustic pianos. Modern electric pianos are automatically tuned and their quality output has improved to mirror that of well-tuned acoustic pianos. Additionally, integrated features, such as metronomes and internal recording, allow for feedback and practice features that allow you to get more out of your compositions.

Digital pianos have advanced to feature impressive digital sound replications, which are now as advanced as digital pianos for top models. Additionally, many electric pianos feature effects such as synthesizers, sound sampling and other effects that go beyond what a traditional acoustic piano can offer. Top electric pianos feature complete 88-key scale keyboards, as well as functioning pedals that allow for complete feedback.

The major features of electric pianos result from their ability to play back and record MIDI inputs – as a result, you can integrate samples from instruments such as strings, guitars and vocals in the same key as the traditional piano scale. Many pianos feature impressive synthesizers which allow for advanced feedback from a variety of music samples. Depending on the particular make and model that you select, it’s possible to realize a variety of potential benefits from your digital piano, including the ability to review your performances in real-time and modify them using integrated digital music creation software.

As one of the original electric piano makers, Wurlitzer produces a variety of well-established digital piano models. True to the form of traditional pianos, and extending well beyond the traditional capabilities of keyboard, Wurlitzer offers complete 88 note digital pianos. With a focus on replicating the tone quality of grand pianos, Wurlitzers are expertly engineered with a focus on quality.

The company began producing traditional pianos in the 1930s and gradually evolved to become one of the first producers of electronic models in the 1950s. Over the years, the company has innovated a number of new techniques in electric piano production. With the beginning oft he models, with a 100-series electric piano, the material sources and wiring have improved to professional levels, and have been used by a number of leading bands, including the Beach Boys, for tours.

Wurlitzer can be found in a variety of music studios and labs, owing to the quality of their sound replication. Today, Wurlitzers are used by a variety of musicians who rely upon electronic effects including the Stereophinics, Medeski Martin & Wood, as well as Gnarls Barkley. Famous tracks featuring Wurlitzer samples include Beck’s “Where It’s At” as well as “Photo Booth” by Death Cab for Cutie.

Today, musical compositions of all types are much easier to create, thanks to advanced digital music notation software. Taking a composition from idea to reality is easier than ever, including raw composition, arrangement, notation and production. The editors of ElectricPianos.com review some of our favorite Digital Music software packages:

Finale Music software is an advanced package that provides support for note entry in a variety of styles, giving a greater sense of flexibility to the process. Major musicians such as Wynton Marsalis, a Grammy winning composer, utilize Finale to help arrange new music. With a variety of options for arrangement, Finale is a flexible solution for nearly any type of music.

A top quality software that is designed for music creation, Sibelius specializes in electronic music creation, while also supporting classical and pop methods. A number of leading composers, including Esa Salonen, director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic rely upon Sibelius to craft and arrange new scores. With the ability to easily add new instrumentation, Sibelius offers a complete set of features from creating to selling musical scores.

Cakewalk’s Sonar 8 is a leading digital music studio package which provides tools to help develop new electronic and studio tracks. With impressive sound capture and audio effects, it’s a solid package for musicians looking to fully create a new album.

A leading songwriter and pianist, Ben Folds has had a productive career as a musician, ranging from his early work with Ben Folds Five, which led to his entrance into the musical mainstream. As both a producer, writer and performer of piano-based tracks, Folds has helped expand the reach and diversity of piano rock music into new directions.

Folds attended Music School at the University of Miami for percussion, although he took increasing interest in focusing upon his piano skills. Upon graduation, Folds started his first band in North Carolina and went on to have critically acclaimed success. Ben Folds Five released several albums, as well as going on a number of well-received tours, which were sold out across the country and also included several international performances.

With his prowess as a pianist, Folds established a solo career which featured an impressive set of live piano recording, as well as creative vocal arrangements. His tracks have been featured in a variety of media, ranging from television shows to major feature production films. Folds has also performed classically, including a featuring performance with the Boston Pops and the Sydney Symphony at the world-class Sydney Opera House. The quality of his instrumental work is marked by respect as a “pure” pianist and musician, allowing him to play in both pop and classical music worlds to rave results.

Musical scales are based upon a collection of ordered notes (by pitch) which form the basis for a musical melody. Most commonly, musical scales are based on ascending octaves – which is an increasingly class of notes that covers an entire scale. For example, an octave at C would also end at C – comprising 6 notes between the beginning and end, with 8 complete notes in the set.

There are various classes of musical scales, according to the types of intervals and pitch classes within each scale. Major examples of intervals include diatonic and chromatic intervals. A diatonic scale consists of five whole and two half steps, a pattern that re-occurs across the major and minor scales. In fact, you can form the major and minor scales from use of chromatic 12 note scales.

Traditionally western music is built on the idea of scales: the standard major and minor scales consistn of five tones (whole steps) and two half steps (semi-tones.) Recent development of new types of scales led to the development of the chromatic (12-tone) and pentatonic (five-tone, as played by the “black keys” on the piano) as well as the octatonic (diminished) eight-note scale.

Musicians use special terminology to discuss scales – the central (stable) note is known as the “tonic” while the secondary note is known as the second scale (and so on.) Additionally, some musicians use the term tonic, supertonic, mediant, etc. to refer to a scale. Transposed scales are generally shifted up, a process known as scalar shifting, which adds to the diversity of music.

The Arius is a high end set of Digital Pianos which provides the finest Yamaha engineering in a series of electronic pianos. Each of the pianos in the series, beginning with the entry level YDP 140 features graded hammer keys, matte finish, realistic keys and impressive digital acoustics.

What truly separates the Arius series from other models is the quality of the sound they produce – this is the result of Yamaha’s patented advanced wave memory dynamic stereo sound. The result is that you can hear finer gradients of tone and sound across the keys – duplicating the true feel of a traditional, tuned piano. With impressive graded hammer keys, the feedback mechanism is true to form. As a result, you’ll get sound and feedback quality that is close to that of an actual grand piano, complete with detailed effects and sampling details that will help you play pieces true to form.

Additionally, the pianos feature integrated recording, metronomes and samples, so you can get a lot more out of your digital piano. While the Yamaha models are not the least expensive on the market, they are among the highest rated. Additionally, they feature a year-long warranty, which is backed by guaranteed craftsmanship from Yamaha. Whether you select a YDP-140 or upgraded YDP-160 model, most of the pianos include a padded bench and a selection of sheet music – providing you everything you need to get started. The design and style of the pianos is top notch, and the classical styling makes a fine addition to anyone’s home.