Ravenchord

dore_m

And I used to work for Dan Harden. Wish he'd have talked to me about this one.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90923604/this-wing-shaped-instrument-is-a-redesigned-baby-grand-piano

HZPiano

dore_m this one

Visually, a lovely thing (the fanning strings in particular)!

Cheers and happy form factors,

CyberGene

Interesting but I can’t see a soundboard, wondering how it will produce sound.

P.S. Ahh, there is soundboard and they mention it. Well, if it sounds good, it will be great 👍🏻

QuasiUnaFantasia

Maybe it has a "bridge" to the floor, using the floor as sound board.

SouthPark

Their first mistake is with this sentence - 'Ravenchord looks nothing like a piano.'

They just don't know that a 'piano' is a music instrument that has a harpsi keyboard type layout, and which has soft-loud control of the individual notes. Anything else is just 'extra'. And this particular instrument - ravenchord - indeed has a harpsi keyboard type layout, and has soft-loud (piano forte) control of the notes. So it's a piano - just like a digital piano is a piano. Real piano.

SouthPark

But - as long as it works - then it's good!

And - they just really meant 'it looks nothing like a traditional acoustic piano'.

It does look nice and elegant though. Just got to also think of the human factor too - as in hopefully the tuner doesn't have a tough/tougher job of getting into the tuning of it - including orientation of themselves, as well as the piano during tuning.

Pete14

But it seems like the Ravenchord is no more than a drawing at the moment.

Heck, I can draw the most beautiful & futuristic piano; building it is a whole other story!

He says he needs money for the project to jump from the page to your living room; so I ask, who here is brave enough to send him a bag of cash?💰

dore_m

It's funny when they think so hard about the direction of the sound projection but forget that the keys need to trigger hammers that magically are placed in a spiral. And that tuning might have something to do with string length and scale design. Unless the thing is totally digital and the strings are totally ornamental.

Pete14

dore_m ….the thing is totally digital and the strings are totally ornamental.

This!

dore_m

So the job of the industrial designer is to conceptualize and allow us to rethink form and function. I've seen much more far out designs from Dan and others, as the first 15 years of my career was turning ID into mass produced products. I think the first product I worked on with Dan was Packard Bell desktop computers. Ironically, I would play the Bosendorfer in front of his office. That was back before we had our own companies.

Anyway, if I make jokes about the design, its out of love. It is a nice concept.

Pete14

dore_m Anyway, if I make jokes about the design, its out of love. It is a nice concept.

Is it fair to say that as it stands, the Ravenchord is simply an idea on its way to a concept?

And I, too, say it out of love: ‘sup with that freakish name?

Anything with “Ravens” in it conjures up images of a Hitchcock horror movie: “The Ravens Attack!”

And not to be too forward, but, for just a small fee I could help out with the naming of this “idea,” for you see, I am Pianoclack’s nomenclator in chief!

dore_m

Pete14 Is it fair to say that as it stands, the Ravenchord is simply an idea on its way to a concept?

I would say that @Pete14 is as creative with words as Whipsaw PD is with artistic product ideas.

CyberGene

dore_m I'm a sucker for good design and I see some nice projects in their portfolio 👍🏻

dore_m

Posting an image for reference if you didn't open the link and read.

SouthPark

It is true. As yesterday - one look at the shape of it immediately led to the 'implementation' question. The implementation of the sustain mechanism(s), escapement, hammer mechanism(s). Consideration of gravity - geometry - feasibility etc. This is assuming fully acoustic design - as that is what it 'appears' like.

Khuja Wangtishvili

I see absolutely no way of putting there normal working action, unless it will be extremely overcomplicated and overengineered.

navindra

This definitely seemed interesting until I got to the part where there isn't even a prototype. While it looks great, if it's going to be so wide, that would be a problem as well.

Here's a piano that actually has a prototype. They look like upside-down counterparts:

https://futurepiano.co.uk/

SouthPark

Oh geez. If that upright tall harp version toppled over, then end in tears for somebody, or worse.

When they propose these new they most likely need to first show at least 'some' idea of the sustain plus escapement plus hammer mechanism operation. Plus tuning area.

That upright harp is like an acoustic grand piano 90 degree version. Or vice versa. The acoustic grand piano is a 90 degree version of the upright harp.