Digital pianos offer several extras to enhance practice sessions and performances, and musicians can play on them with headphones so no one else can hear. But serious piano players prefer traditional acoustic pianos because they can feel the vibrations of the keys.
Western Pennsylvania’s QRS Music Technologies has built a name for itself in the industry through its PNOscan technology, which combines the benefits of a digital piano with the tactile feedback of a traditional keyboard. PNOscan is installed under the piano’s keys and uses sensors to detect the motion of each key on pedal, translating the resulting sound for digital output.
“You get the best of both,” says Tom Dolan, president and CEO of the company based in Seneca.
PNOscan has been used during performances at the Grammy Awards and adopted by composers in Los Angeles. QRS has a patent pending on an improved version the technology that gives musicians improved feedback by measuring the motion of keys more precisely.
QRS is also working with third-party software developers who create applications for the use of PNOscan. As one example, Dolan says, the technology could be used for long-distance piano lessons with a teacher and student on opposite coasts.
Source: Tom Dolan, QRS Music Technologies
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen
