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It's probably common knowledge that the GranTouch series and the new AvantGrand (N2 and N3) are hybrid pianos, combining a real (well, slightly modified) grand piano action coupled to a grand piano sample.

Are there any other similar pianos out there? I remember hearing about another one years ago, Kawai ... ?

I got to test drive Bösendorfer's answer to the then GranTouch in Vienna about three years ago. They were working on a hybrid that used the action from their nine footer. I played one of only three prototypes but felt a disconnect from the action and the sound. It was a prototype after all and since then Bösendorfer has been taken over by Yamaha and I'm guessing that hybrid has been permanently shelved.

I've written Steinway encouraging them enter this market but my suggestion fell on deaf ears.

So, does Yamaha have this hybrid market all to itself?

In the UK there is Robertson who sell a Digital Grand Piano. http://robertsonpianos.com/ I have seen and heard one in a restaurant, but don't know if the action is a modified acoustic one. Robertson do make acoustics too.

spanishbuddha, I looked at their site and contacted them to ask them if their pianos are in fact hybrids. I have never heard of them. I'll report back when I hear back from them. (It's 12:25 AM here.)

I think there are several companies who can fit hammer velocity sensors on any acoustic piano. But these are in effect one-off hybrid pianos.

I don't think I'd call a Yamaha N2/N3 a "hybrid" as it is purely digital. It is just a digital piano with a high quality key action.

The acoustic with a sensor would be a true hybrid.

I guess there is a third class that we don't see much of any more, electric pianos. These are 100% mechanical analog pianos that use eletric picups and an amp.

That would include the Bosendorfer CEUS:

http://www.boesendorfer.com/en/ceus-reproducing-system.html

My personal definition of a hybrid does not include strings. The entire point of a hybrid is to eliminate much of the weight (and construction) associated with having a stringed instrument.

My AvantGrand (as did my GranTouch) has the action (slightly modified) of a real grand piano but ... no strings.

The Bösendorfer hybrid I played looked like a casket, a casket with the action (and no strings) of a nine footer. I really would like the option to play a hybrid with the action from a nine footer.

No, it's not purely digital. That's what makes it a hybrid. If you played one, you would realize this, trust me! BTW, Yamaha in fact calls the N series "hybrid".

Before I posted in this specific section I thought perhaps it might be better placed in the acoustic section.

For my money, these hybrid pianos should be, as long as here are two camps, lumped in the acoustic side and not the digital side.

it is purely digital, the sound generation path does not have any sort of analog component.

The fact that the keyboard has the same action as a grand is immaterial, you could take the sound generation of an avant grand and control it with an unweighted synth keyboard and it would sound exactly the same.

I think 'hybrid' is more marketspeak than anything, AvantGrand instruments are 'just' digital pianos with a more realistic keyboard and higher quality speakers, but they are still DPs, there is nothing 'analog/hybrid' about them.

MarcoM, have you played one? (Didn't think so!) You're "more realistic keyboard" comment gave you away.

An acoustic action is NOT the same as a DP action. The AvantGrand instruments are most certainly hybrids - part acoustic, part digital, not pure at all!

So many comments about the AvantGrand by so many who have not actually played one. Amazing.

I actually have played an N3 a couple of times at the Yamaha showcase store downtown, yes, the action is a lot more convincing than the average DP's (obviously, it having a grand-action keyboard inside) but sound-wise if you take the nice speakers out of the equation and listen through headphones it is still a DP, and it doesn't sound qualitatively different from a P155, CP1, etc. (all of which I have personally tried).

Note I said *qualitatively*, obviously given the presentation (nice cabinetwork, nice speakers, 4-channel sampling etc.) it does sound *quantitatively* better, but it is still a DP, when you turn it on every day it sounds exactly the same (which of course for some customers is a plus) and if you strike a key at the same speed it will always play back an identical note no matter what (it being a 'digital' sampled instrument), there is nothing 'analog' about it, it is purely deterministic.



please tell me where in the sound generation path of an AG there is anything acoustic and not 'digital'



you know what they say about assumptions...

In the Larry Fine book, they make a distinction of acoustic-based hybrids (silent piano with sensors on the action to enable it to be used as MIDI controllers) and digital-based hybrids (like the AvantGrand). They discussed and clarified both types at length. I think this should help in the dispute of the definition.

Anybody who doesn't like to call the AvantGrand a hybrid can call it a digital or a digital-based hybrid if they'd like. Anybody who likes to just call the AvantGrand a hybrid for short can just do that, too. Neither of them are wrong, and it's a free country, so why not call it what you like? We need not argue about it if we know exactly what it is. As for me, I'll continue to interchangeably call it either a digital or a hybrid when the different situations warrant which name will help make my discussion a bit clearer. For example, if I'm talking about it in the sense of having all the advantageous characteristics of a digital, I'll call it a digital. If I want to differentiate it from other digitals that don't have real grand piano actions, I'll call it a hybrid.

The Avant Grand is a "hybrid" of genuine acoustic grand piano action, and digital sound generation (Spatial Acoustic Sampling) with 256 notes of polyphony.

It is on a whole other level above regular digitals, and a big improvement over acoustic grands that have to be tuned.

In my educated, but humble, opinion, it sounds a lot better through headphones than a CP-1, P-155 and yes, the V-Piano as well...all of which I have personally played.

Snazzy

I guess you're assuming that the sound generation path, alone, determines the definition, whereas I'm assuming that the mechanical aspects of the grand piano action, soundboard etc. form part of the definition, hence the term hybrid.

I have played both the CP1 and the AG N2 and AG N3 and I would have to disagree that they do not sound qualitatively different.

I totally agree it sounds better, that's why I said that *quantitatively* it DOES sound better, but it is still a DP. Let me play devil's advocate a bit more here: if Roland tomorrow came out with a PHA IV that was absolutely indistinguishable from an acoustic grand action (but of course mechanically very different), would you call the DP using it a 'hybrid' or not?

I am uncomfortable with the 'hybrid' moniker as applied to the action, in my opinion for a piano to be called 'hybrid' the *sound generation* path should contain acoustic (some sort of strings likely) and digital components (which would 'process' it somehow in the digital domain), just because a DP has a fancier keyboard from another DP to me it doesn't make it *qualitatively* different, better oh yeah, for sure, but still 'the same thing', just a 'more refined' version of it so to speak.

Yeah, I know, splitting hairs a bit here

If Roland used an action indistinguishable from an acoustic grand piano in feel, but mechanically different than an "acoustic grand's action", I would not call it a hybrid.

I am quite comfortable with the Avant Grand being called a hybrid, which to me, means the combining of two (or more) contrasting (yet compatible) technologies, aimed at obtaining a particular goal...in the Avant Grand's instance, it is the combining of the acoustic action from a grand piano (slightly modified) and the sound generation of a digital (including the TRS), resulting in an instrument that plays and feels like an acoustic and has the advantages of the digital (no tuning, headphones etc.).

Even through headphones the Avant Grand still gives the tactile feedback that makes one feel they are playing an acoustic instrument.

Snazzy

I think what muddies the water is that the two camps think differently in terms of what technology is. One camp thinks that there are 2 different technologies in the acoustic piano, the keyboard action is one technology (as the input device), and the hammer/string/soundboard is the other technology, as the output device (sound being the output). Meanwhile the other camp views the whole thing as one technology, with the action as just part of the technology and shouldn't be classified as a stand-alone technology by itself. After all, digitals require the action, too, and the action on digitals are also a mechanical input device no less, not any different than the acoustic grand action in terms of classification.

So you can split hair all you want about how to classify things in order to call it a hybrid or not. But to me, the fact that Yamaha decided to implement the traditional acoustic grand action in the AvantGrand at significant R&D and manufacturing cost so that there's no doubt as to whether the action feels like an acoustic or not, that is the undisputed marriage between something old (the old action) and something new (the digital sound) to get the best of both worlds. So it's hybrid to me in the essence of marrying 2 different things to get the best of both worlds, even if it's not hybrid by pure hair-splitting classification.

it definitely is hairsplitting

On the other hand I am not sure Yamaha invested much in terms of deciding to use a grand action in the AG, after all the investment was basically done for the GranTouch and/or Disklavier models I would think, the 'new' feature in the AG IMHO is the TRS, which is surely a cool improvement...

I think while the main action is the same (as the acoustic action), I notice that the hammers are done differently and maybe the hammer shank stop is done differently, too. But I admit it shouldn't be too different than the GranTouch (which is the same as the Disklavier line, with Disklavier being the line and GranTouch being the model), except for the TRS and the pedals. However, the significant investment here is not necessarily a complete redesign R&D cost from the GranTouch action. I'm thinking more in terms of the manufacturing cost being the significant investment. Let's say you want to restore an old acoustic and completely pull out the old action and replace it with a brand new Renner action, I don't know exactly how much it'd cost, but I'd imagine it being in the $5K+ range to replace easily.

Exactly.

As a pianist I would never want a digital piano action as my primary keyboard having spent so many years playing acoustic grands. I might be in the minority here, but for me, the action of the keyboard always comes first and the sound second, not a distant second, but second.

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on what constitutes a hybrid. The fact that the GranTouch and AvantGrand use a slightly modified grand action was my primary reason for buying. (I also have tinnitus and can now play as hard as I want on a real grand action with a very quiet sound emanating from the beast.)