Steingraeber Transducer Pianos

Steingraeber Creates New Artistic Possibilities With Electronics

Electronics are not always used to serve artistic and creative expression in the world of music. They are often used for muting, or in ‘player pianos’ for example, and in pop music where, of late, the sound just booms out directly from the piano’s soundboard. A musical enhancement? Hardly!

However there are a multitude of professional applications that electronics can offer music and Steingraeber has demonstrated just that with a Steingraeber Transducer Piano in a series of trial runs* by composer Robert HP Platz from the University of Musik Würzburg, and pianist Clara Murnig from the Beethoven Institute at the University of Music Vienna. This particular transducer technology was born out of a collaboration between Robert HP Platz and IRCAM Paris, and subsequently optimised in SWR’s (Südwestrundfunk) Experimental Studio in Freiburg. The startlingly-authentic grand piano sound is thanks not to out-dated sampling techniques, but to the physical modelling approach of piano sound ‘Guru’ Philippe Guillaume and his firm Modartt/pianoteq.

Transducer + Physical Modelling = Possibilities

Without Strings / With Hammer Stop
  • Play in all registers (e.g., 415 hz, 435 hz, 442 hz, 460 hz) switching from one to the other instantly at the click of a mouse
  • Play in all volume levels
  • Play in all temperaments, including historical or non-European, switching from one to the other instantly at the click of a mouse
  • Play other instruments (Harpsichord, Synthesizer, etc.)
With Strings / Without Hammer Stop
  • Play on 2 levels
    • e.g. live performances of quarter-tone music, by Charles Ives and Alois Hába for example, can be created easily, as the sound of the piano’s own strings is mixed flawlessly with that of the transducer, all within the same soundboard. The Transducer Grand Piano is controlled by both the pianist themselves and the sound engineer at the computer.
    • mix the sounds of the real piano and any other instrument
  • Play on 3 levels (2 levels plus the playback of a previous recording = improvisation to a previous improvisation)
  • Compositions requiring a piano with live electronics no longer need an external loudspeaker.
  • The transducer increases the soundboard vibration (strings + piano transducers) and, thus, acts as a ‘volume booster‘ to the sound of a live piano, perfect for open-air concerts.
For Playback
  • Usable as a self-playing-system. The acoustic body of the grand piano and the transducers make the re-production of piano sound very realistic. Normal self-playing-system cannot create the same dynamic range due to the mechanical re-production.
  • Usable in piano lessons. Professors and students can listen to and discuss about the latest performances.
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Part 1: Introduction – Contemporary and Historical Tuning and Temperament

00:00 Simon Vincent: La Mia Coppa Trabocca (2016): Introduction & Verse 1
01:37 Introduction and Contemporary Tuning and Temperament
12:07 Historical Tuning and Temperament
14:06 Bach: Toccata C-Minor BWV 911 (Excerpt) 442 Hz
14:32 Bach: Toccata C-Minor BWV 911 (Excerpt) 415 Hz
16:23 Bach: Toccata C-Minor BWV 911 (Excerpt) Werckmeister III

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Part 2: Harmonics, Resonance, and Microtonal Music

00:00 Harmonics and Flageolet Notes
02:42 Microtonal Tuning
04:48 Acoustic and Electroacoustic Pianos: 2 Sounds, 1 Soundboard

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Part 3: Acoustic Piano and Synthesized Sound

00:00 Combination and Counterpoint
04:21 Recording and Playback
07:59 Acoustic Piano with Pre-Composed Electronic Sounds

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Part 4: Acoustic Piano with Transducer Amplification
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Part 5: Interview with Michael Acker, SWR Experimentalstudio

Transducer Background and Concept

Steingraeber

Our Steingraeber Transducer Piano Showroom

Come and visit our Transducer Showroom in the Steingraeber Haus Bayreuth to learn all about the countless possibilities. Undisturbed and without obligation, you can test the grand piano and the sound software.

* Visitors to the VdM Congress in Stuttgart in May 2017 as well as the Cremona Piano Festival in September 2017 organised by Roberto Prosseda, and the ‘Zeit für Neue Musik’ Festival in Bayreuth in March 2018 were able to witness the trial runs at first hand.

Further Videos

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Donaueschinger Musiktage 2019 with a Steingraeber Concert Grand Piano E incl. transducers.

Michael Pelzel: Mysterious Benares Bells for Orchestra with elektronics (Uraufführung / Kompositionsauftrag des SWR mit freundlicher Unterstützung von Pro Helvetia)

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Live recording, “Alte Schmiede” Vienna 2021: Clara Murnig, Piano – Aydin Leon Pfeiffer, Sound engineer

Works from: Clay McMillan, Aydin Leon Pfeiffer, Doina-Cezara Procopciuc, Robert HP Platz, Armin Sanayei

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BBC Persia, Broadcast of the VdM Congress in Berlin, May 2019

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The first grand piano of that kind was presented on May 20, 2017 in Stuttgart’s Liederhalle at a concert involving artists from the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. The concert was titled “Self-playing and alternately tuned pianos: how modern technology can creatively expand the artistic possibilities of classic pianos: A live demonstration of the Steingraeber & Söhne D-232 Transducer Grand Piano in concert”

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“Frankenschau Aktuell”, a broadcast by Bavarian TV (BR), portrays the Steingraeber transducer pianos and their application by Professor Pooyan Azadeh.

Steingraeber Pianoteq recordings by Simon-Mary Vincent

Three Greenhills Pieces consists of three individual short movements for solo piano. Each movement sketches—rather than translates in any literal musical way—the aura of its subject, ranging from the flitting, slightly mischievous character of The Sylphid, the bold annunciatory presence of The Songthrush, and the open-hearted joy of The Spirit of Ecstasy.

The pieces were created using Pianoteq’s physically modelled Steingraeber E-272 Concert Grand Piano with a preset customized by the composer. The midi information of the performances was captured by the software and exported as digital audio.

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