Letter: Letters: Speak low

From MIKE STEER

Your article ‘Computer breathes new life into Jazz Age’ (Technology,
5 February) about transferring Gershwin’s piano rolls to MIDI files says
that Yamaha claims it as the first use of the Disklavier for recording.

In fact, I programmed a prototype version of the Disklavier to perform
several pieces by George Antheil for a BBC Radio 3 documentary on the composer
in 1988. The results were wholly convincing.

There was a neat irony in this because Antheil’s most celebrated work,
Le Ballet Mecanique (1926) was conceived for 16 player pianos in unison.
Unfortunately they could not be synchronised and it ended up being played
by four live pianists in the Paris premiere.

When I used the Disklavier in 1988 the mechanism driving the hammers
was not sufficiently reliable to allow the use of the lowest 25 of its 128
levels of volume. Doubtless the instrument has been improved but I doubt
that the inflexible nature of a mechanically controlled hammer could ever
achieve the subtlety of a pianist playing very soft or very loud without
at least 512 levels of volume – a scale that lies outside the parameters
of the MIDI format.

Mike Steer London SE15