Touch dynamics

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Touch dynamics is the property of keyboard instruments to react to differently strong touches of a key with different strengths of the generated sound and thus allow a variable dynamic . In fact, not only does the sound get louder, it also changes its tone.

Model of the piano action of a Steinway -Flügels

Some keyboard instruments also offer weighted keys that simulate the difficulty of playing a piano mechanism. With the piano , both the touch dynamics and the difficulty of playing are made possible by the mechanics.

Many keyboard instruments have no touch dynamics, such as the organ or (with restrictions) the harpsichord . Therefore, other measures for shaping the sound play an important role. With these instruments, other aids to regulate the volume are common, but they do not allow the player to influence the volume level of every single tone. It was precisely this new possibility of differentiated dynamics that was the basis for the triumphant advance of the fortepiano in the 18th century and the reason for calling it "pianoforte": For the first time, it offered the possibility of changing the volume between soft (piano) and loud (forte ) to change.

In the case of an electronic musical instrument , the strength of the strike (as the speed of key movement) is measured electronically and is independent of any weighting. It influences various parameters of the sound generation:

  • When imitating natural instruments, this is mainly done by changing the volume level and the brilliance of the sound produced.
  • In the case of intentionally synthetic sounds, other parameters, such as effects, duration of swing-in or swing-out, or even by switching to other sounds can be controlled via the strength of the attack through appropriate settings.

In the MIDI protocol, the strength of the strike is transmitted through the velocity of the strike together with each NoteOn command (note) via the value "Velocity".

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Good harpsichords definitely have a certain touch dynamics - the volume differences that can be measured between individual tones are, however, very small, see the text Dynamics for the harpsichord on www.kalaidos-fh.ch with a downloadable scientific study (as of April 1, 2018).