With a Digital Flourish, Player Pianos Come Back

Player pianos are back and, thanks to digital technology, there are no strings attached.

Yamaha’s Disklavier GranTouch Digital Grand Piano morphs the traditional instrument with a futuristic touch.

A traditional keyboard lures musicians to play, with each key responding to the normal touch of fingers. But instead of striking melodic strings, the Disklavier’s rubber-tipped hammers cross an optical sensor and trigger a digitally stored sound. To mimic the style of a real piano, this sensor measures the velocity of each key stroke. This way, each note can sound loud and aggressive, or soft and timid, depending on how quickly the hammer breaks the beam.

“We’re discovering that people want to play the piano, and also have the piano play for them,” said Paul Calvin, a keyboard division manager at Yamaha Corp. of America’s headquarters in Buena Park. “With the emergence of computer technology, the public is demanding a lot from a $16,000 musical instrument. They want the real thing and they want something more.”

Enter the digital add-ons. Tucked below the keyboard is a tiny computer, where a user can pop in a floppy disk and boot up a tune by Chopin, Beethoven or Jerry Lee Lewis. Press play and watch the keys dance, almost magically, by themselves.

The piano can also be programmed to add 700 other musical sounds, from a funky backbeat to a string quartet. These sounds pour out of a set of speakers, which are camouflaged inside the body of the piano. Users can also plug their PC into the piano’s computer and play files off the Internet.

Yamaha sees its Disklavier line as a way to recapture a dwindling market. So far, the company’s approach seems to be working. When Yamaha launched its first models of the Disklavier in 1988--a normal piano with a digital player device--the line was a hit.

The instruments, which retail from $9,500 to more than $50,000, accounted for 10% of the $600 million in domestic piano sales last year, according to industry analysts.

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P.J. Huffstutter covers high technology for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com