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55-428: It has exceptionally complete performer expression features, such as a layered keyboard that was both velocity-sensitive (like a piano's) and pressure-sensitive (" after-touch ") but unlike most modern keyboards the aftertouch could be applied to individual voices rather than in common, and a ribbon controller allowing for polyphonic pitch-bends and glissandos . Production of the instrument ceased in 1980. Vying with

110-593: A 34-rank organ in the Swiss village of Ursy is equipped with hi-tech features from Syncordia, including what some erroneously claim is the first non-mechanical action that directly controls the opening of a pipe organ's pallets in direct proportion to key movement, ostensibly combining the virtues of electric action with the intimate control of tracker action. However, Vincent Willis' 1884 patent Floating Lever pneumatic action also had this capability. Other more sophisticated sensitivity forms are common in organ keyboards. Both

165-746: A clean sound for softer notes, and a distortion effect for louder notes—and fixed wah-wah pedals that filter the audio signal based on loudness. Clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages , through the Renaissance , Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces sound by striking brass or iron strings with small metal blades called tangents. Vibrations are transmitted through

220-400: A quieter, shorter sound stopping. The displacement-sensitive keyboard on a digital piano were designed to simulate the similar effect. Acoustic pianos have expression pedals that change the response or tone of the instrument. On small upright pianos, the soft pedal (also called una corda or half-blow pedal) moves the hammers closer to the strings. On grand pianos, the soft pedal moves

275-575: A real instrument, mainly because of the keyboard — the way it's built and what you can do with it." The CS-80's features can be heard on the Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis , in which CS-80 is featured prominently, as well as the composer's soundtrack for the film Chariots of Fire , and the bassline of Peter Howell's interpretation of the 1980 theme tune to the BBC science fiction show Doctor Who . Aftertouch Keyboard expression

330-481: A richer sound. Most electronic keyboards also have a sustain pedal that holds notes and chords, but only high-end digital keyboards reproduce the sympathetic vibration effect. Electromechanical keyboards and electronic keyboards offer a range of other expression devices. Electromechanical keyboards such as the Hammond organ offer additional means of keyboard expression by modifying the starting, stopping, or speed of

385-594: A series of clavichord improvisations. The Beatles ' " For No One " (1966) features Paul McCartney playing the clavichord. Rick Wakeman plays the Clavinet in the track "The Battle" from the album Journey to the Centre of the Earth . In the clavichord, strings run transversely from the hitchpin rail at the left-hand end to tuning pegs on the right. Towards the right end they pass over a curved wooden bridge. The action

440-424: A series of dots above or below a note; the number of dots indicates the number of finger movements. On electronic keyboards and synthesizers, pressure sensitivity is usually called aftertouch . The vast majority of such instruments use only channel aftertouch : that is, one level of pressure is reported across the entire keyboard, which affects either all notes pressed (even ones not being pushed into aftertouch) or

495-406: A similar fashion to the hammering technique on a guitar. Unlike in a piano action, the tangent does not rebound from the string; rather, it stays in contact with the string as long as the key is held, acting as both the nut and as the initiator of sound. The volume of the note can be changed by striking harder or softer, and the pitch can also be affected by varying the force of the tangent against

550-409: A smaller volume, even though many or most unfretted instruments tend to be significantly larger than fretted instruments; and many more strings to keep in tune. Unfretted instruments tend to have a sweeter, less incisive tone due to the greater load on the bridge resulting from the greater number of strings, though the large, late (early 19th century) Swedish clavichords tend to be the loudest of any of

605-504: A subset of the active notes in some instruments that allow this level of control. A minority of instruments have polyphonic aftertouch , in which each individual note has its own sensor for pressure that enables differing usage of aftertouch for different notes. Aftertouch sensors detect whether the musician is continuing to exert pressure after the initial strike of the key. Some aftertouch sensors also measure that pressure's intensity. The aftertouch feature allows keyboard players to change

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660-429: A time on each string, the fretting pattern is generally chosen so that notes rarely heard together (such as C and C ♯ ) share a string pair. The advantages of this system compared with unfretted instruments (see below) include relative ease of tuning (with around half as many strings to keep in tune), greater volume (though still not really enough for use in chamber music ), and a clearer, more direct sound. Among

715-406: Is held, acting as both the nut and as the initiator of sound. The volume of the note can be changed by striking harder or softer, and the pitch can also be affected by varying the force of the tangent against the string. When the key is released, the tangent loses contact with the string and the vibration of the string is silenced by strips of damping cloth. By applying a rocking pressure up and down

770-422: Is often associated with funky , disco -infused 1970s rock. Guy Sigsworth has played clavichord in a modern setting with Björk , notably on the studio recording of " All Is Full of Love ". Björk also made extensive use of and even played the instrument herself on the song "My Juvenile" of her 2007 album Volta . Tori Amos uses the instrument on "Caught a Lite Sneeze" from the album Boys for Pele and on

825-399: Is simple, with the keys being levers with a small brass tangent, a small piece of metal similar in shape and size to the head of a flat-bladed screwdriver, at the far end. The strings, which are usually of brass, or else a combination of brass and iron, are usually arranged in pairs, like a lute or mandolin. When the key is pressed, the tangent strikes the strings above, causing them to sound in

880-406: Is speculation that some works written for organ may have been intended for pedal clavichord. An interesting case is made by Speerstra (2004) that Bach's "Eight Little Preludes and Fugues" , now thought spurious, may actually be authentic. The keyboard writing seems unsuited to organ, but Speerstra argues that they are idiomatic on the pedal clavichord. As Speerstra and Williams (2003) also note,

935-404: Is the ability of a keyboard musical instrument to change tone or other qualities of the sound in response to velocity, pressure or other variations in how the performer depresses the keys of the musical keyboard . Expression types include: Keyboard instruments offer a range of expression types. Acoustic pianos , such as upright and grand pianos, are velocity-sensitive—the faster the key strike,

990-571: The Reface CS , a 37 key mini synth, based on the CS-80. The Greek composer Vangelis used the Yamaha CS-80 extensively. He described it as "the most important synthesizer in my career — and for me the best analogue synthesizer design there has ever been ... It needs a lot of practice if you want to be able to play it properly, but that's because it's the only synthesizer I could describe as being

1045-528: The Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and Oberheim OB-X polysynths for the title, the CS-80 is often described as the pre-eminent polyphonic analog synthesizer, and, together with the monophonic Moog modular synthesizer , commands amongst the highest resale price of any synthesizer. There are plug-in instrument software emulations of the CS-80 for usage in digital audio workstation , music sequencer and other software which supports

1100-470: The Yamaha EX5 —the player can select the effects to which aftertouch applies. This allows a performer to custom-tailor the effect that they desire. It may also facilitate the imitation of various non-keyboard instruments. For example, a keyboardist who wishes to imitate the sound of a heavy metal guitar solo could use a distortion guitar sound, and then set the aftertouch feature to apply a pitch bend to

1155-493: The monochord -like nature of a fully fretted clavichord (It. monacordo or monocordo ; Sp. monacordio ). Italian also used sordino , a reference to its quiet sound ( sordino usually designates a mute). The clavichord was invented in the early fourteenth century. In 1404, the German poem " Der Minne Regeln " mentions the terms clavicimbalum (a term used mainly for the harpsichord ) and clavichordium , designating them as

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1210-580: The 16th century to the 18th century, but mainly flourished in German-speaking lands, Scandinavia , and the Iberian Peninsula in the latter part of this period. It had fallen out of use by 1850. In the late 1890s, Arnold Dolmetsch revived clavichord construction and Violet Gordon-Woodhouse , among others, helped to popularize the instrument. Although most of the instruments built before the 1730s were small (four octaves, four feet long),

1265-628: The Pratt Reed and Kimber Allen 61-key (5-octave) keyboards have provision for up to nine rails so they can sense various amounts of displacement, as well as velocity in various regimes of distance from the top to the bottom of the key travel of each key. Some modern instruments, such as the Continuum , a MIDI controller for keyboards, have extremely sophisticated human interface schemes that provide dynamic control in three dimensions. In principle, displacement can be differentiated to get velocity, but

1320-401: The amount of force applied after initial impact—they are pressure-sensitive . This can be used by a skilled clavichord player to slightly correct the intonation of the notes when playing on a clavichord, and/or to play with a form of vibrato known as bebung . Unlike in a piano action, the tangent does not rebound from the string; rather, it stays in contact with the string as long as the key

1375-501: The attractiveness of the pianoforte and in addition features the vibrato (Bebung) and portato (Tragen der Töne) which I produce by means of added pressure after each stroke. It is at the clavichord that a keyboard player may be most exactly evaluated." Among recent clavichord recordings, those by Christopher Hogwood ( The Secret Bach , The Secret Handel , and The Secret Mozart ), break new ground. In his liner notes, Hogwood pointed out that these composers would typically have played

1430-470: The best instruments to accompany melodies. One of the earliest references to the clavichord in England occurs in the privy-purse expenses of Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII, in an entry dated August 1502: Item. The same day, Hugh Denys for money by him delivered to a stranger that gave the queen a payre of clavycordes. In crowns form his reward iiii libres . The clavichord was very popular from

1485-677: The bridge(s) to the soundboard. The name is derived from the Latin word clavis , meaning "key" (associated with more common clavus , meaning "nail, rod, etc.") and chorda (from Greek χορδή) meaning "string, especially of a musical instrument". An analogous name is used in other European languages (It. clavicordio , clavicordo ; Fr. clavicorde ; Germ. Klavichord ; Lat. clavicordium ; Port. clavicórdio ; Sp. clavicordio ). Many languages also have another name derived from Latin manus , meaning "hand" (It. manicordo ; Fr. manicorde , manicordion ; Sp. manicordio , manucordio ). Other names refer to

1540-508: The clavichord in the privacy of their homes. In England, the composer Herbert Howells (1892–1983) wrote two significant collections of pieces for clavichord ( Lambert 's Clavichord and Howells' Clavichord ), and Stephen Dodgson (1924–2013) wrote two clavichord suites. In a note written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's wife, Constanze Mozart (1761–1842), found inside Mozart's clavichord, it is mentioned that Mozart composed his works, including The Magic Flute, La Clemenza di Tito, The Requiem, and

1595-521: The clavichord with them on their travels to practice. During the Mozart family's visit to Augsburg, they had the chance to visit the outstanding German keyboard instruments maker, Johann Andreas Stein (1728–1792), and purchased a clavichord from him. In a letter to his friend, Leopold Mozart (1719–1787) described it as "A pretty little keyboard instrument, which does us good service for practicing on during our travels." Until electronic amplification in

1650-493: The compass of the keyboard parts of Bach's six trio sonatas for organ (BWV 525–530) rarely go below the tenor C, so they could have been played on a single manual pedal clavichord, by moving the left hand down an octave, a customary practice in the 18th century. Much of the musical repertoire written for harpsichord and organ from the period circa 1400–1800 can be played on the clavichord; however, it does not have enough (unamplified) volume to participate in chamber music, with

1705-444: The converse is not entirely practical, without some amount of baseline drift . Thus a displacement sensing keyboard may be better at providing both organ and piano feel in a single keyboаrd controller. Most digital pianos implement a displacement-sensitive keyboard, in order to simulate the sound-stopping length of the note after the key is released. On an acoustic piano, releasing a key after being partially depressed will result in

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1760-427: The disadvantages: temperament could not be re-set without bending the tangents; and playing required a further refinement of touch, since notes sharing a single string played in quick succession had to be slightly separated to avoid a disagreeable deadening of the sound, potentially disturbing a legato line. Some clavichords have been built with a single pair of strings for each note. The first known reference to one

1815-434: The hammers sideways so each hammer strikes only part of its string group. The sustain pedal (also called damper pedal) prevents individual key dampers from lifting when the player releases the key. All notes played with the sustain pedal ring until the player releases the sustain pedal (or until the note completely decays). With the dampers not applied, octave, fifth, and other overtones vibrate sympathetically, producing

1870-412: The harder the hammer hits the strings. Baroque-style clavichords and professional synthesizers are aftertouch-sensitive—applied force on the key after the initial strike produces effects such as vibrato or swells in volume . Tracker pipe organs and some electronic organs are displacement-sensitive—partly depressing a key produces a quieter tone. The piano , being velocity-sensitive, responds to

1925-414: The harpsichord and the clavichord. The former is used mainly in louder music, the latter alone. The more recent pianofortes, when they are durable and well built, have many advantages, although their touch must be carefully worked out, a task which is not without difficulties. They sound well by themselves and in small ensembles. Yet, I hold that a good clavichord, except for its weaker tone, shares equally in

1980-400: The historic clavichords. While clavichords were typically single manual instruments, they could be stacked, one clavichord on top of another, to provide multiple keyboards. With the addition of a pedal clavichord , which included a pedal keyboard for the lower notes, a clavichord could be used to practice organ repertoire. Most often, the addition of a pedal keyboard only involved connecting

2035-511: The key with the finger, a performer can slightly alter the vibrating length of the string itself, producing a vibrato quality known as bebung . While the vibrato on fretless string instruments such as the violin typically oscillates in pitch both above and below the root note, clavichord bebung only produces pitches above the note. Sheet music does not often explicitly indicate bebung. Composers generally let players apply bebung at their discretion. When sheet music does indicate bebung, it appears as

2090-437: The keys of the pedalboard to the lower notes on the manual clavichord using string so the lower notes on the manual instrument could be operated by the feet. In the era of pipe organs , which used man-powered bellows that required several people to operate, and of churches only heated during church services if at all, organists used pedal harpsichords and pedal clavichords as practice instruments (see also: pedal piano ). There

2145-438: The latest instruments were built up to seven feet long with a six octave range. It was a preferred instrument in the 18th century due to its unique expressive features, size, elegance, and affordability. Due to its lower cost compared to other instruments, the clavichord was accessible, making it the first choice for individuals who wanted to learn the keyboard. Composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), used to bring

2200-439: The leading representatives of the 'Empfindsamer stil' or 'Sensitive Style,' emphasized emotional depth and expressiveness in his compositions. The clavichord was very successful in conveying these characteristics. With its unique sound, touch sensitivity, and ability to convey the most delicate nuances, the clavichord became C. P. E. Bach's most preferred instrument. C. P. E. Bach also used the fortepiano in his compositions, but he

2255-406: The note. A third form of sensitivity is displacement sensitivity. Displacement-sensitive keyboards are often found on organs . Most mechanical organs, and some electrically actuated organs, are displacement-sensitive, i.e., when a key is partially pressed, the corresponding note (pipe, reed, etc.) in the organ produces a different, quieter sound than when the key is fully pressed. In some organs,

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2310-417: The pitch or tone frequency may also be altered. Small tabletop organs and accordions often respond similarly, with sound output increasing as keys are pressed further down. Even the small circular accompaniment ("one button chord") keys found on accordions and on some organs exhibit this phenomenon. Accordingly, some electrically actuated organs have retained this form of keyboard expression   —  

2365-417: The player's hand and the production of sound, the clavichord has been referred to as the most intimate of keyboard instruments. Despite its many (serious) limitations, including extremely low volume, it has considerable expressive power, the player being able to control attack, duration, and volume, and even provide certain subtle effects of swelling of tone and a type of vibrato unique to the clavichord. Since

2420-631: The plug-in formats. This includes the following plugins with the year they were first released: There are no known hardware clones of the entire CS-80. At the 2014 NAMM Show , Studio Electronics premiered the Boomstar SE80 synthesizer which includes a cloned filter section of the CS-80. Black Corporation's Deckard's Dream (2017) and upcoming Deckard's Dream MK2 (autumn 2024) are rackmount synthesizer with CS-80 inspired architectures and features which support polyphonic aftertouch using compatible third party external keyboards. In 2015, Yamaha introduced

2475-576: The possible exception of providing accompaniment to a soft baroque flute, recorder, or single singer. J. S. Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a great proponent of the instrument, and most of his German contemporaries regarded it as a central keyboard instrument, for performing, teaching, composing and practicing. The fretting of a clavichord provides new problems for some repertoire, but scholarship suggests that these problems are not insurmountable in Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier . C. P. E. Bach, one of

2530-670: The rotating Leslie speaker or by engaging a variety of vibrato or chorus effects. Digital "clones" of Hammond organs offer recreations of these effects, along with other effects. The VK-9 digital organ, for example, offers a proximity-sensitive detector that triggers the Leslie speaker, a ring modulator, or other effects. Some effect pedals used with electromechanical keyboards such as the Fender Rhodes electric piano or digital keyboards respond to loudness and so, indirectly, to key velocity. Examples include overdrive pedals, which produce

2585-478: The song "Smokey Joe" from her 2007 album American Doll Posse . Amos also featured her use of the Clavinet on her 2004 recording "Not David Bowie", released as part of her 2006 box set , A Piano: The Collection . In 1976 Oscar Peterson played (with Joe Pass on acoustic guitar) songs from Porgy And Bess on the clavichord. Keith Jarrett also recorded an album titled Book of Ways (1986) in which he plays

2640-749: The speed of the key-press in how fast the hammers strike the strings, which in turn changes the tone and volume of the sound. Several piano predecessors, such as the harpsichord , were not velocity-sensitive like the piano. Some confuse pressure-sensitive with velocity-sensitive . To avoid this confusion, pressure sensitivity is often called aftertouch . The MIDI standard supports both velocity and aftertouch. In general, only high-end electronic keyboards implement true pressure sensitivity, while most professional-quality electronic keyboards support velocity sensitivity. Cheap toy or beginning student electronic keyboards may not even have velocity sensitivity. The clavichord and some electronic keyboards also respond to

2695-452: The string (known as Bebung ). When the key is released, the tangent loses contact with the string and the vibration of the string is silenced by strips of damping cloth. The action of the clavichord is unique among all keyboard instruments in that one part of the action simultaneously initiates the sound vibration while at the same time defining the endpoint of the vibrating string, and thus its pitch. Because of this intimate contact between

2750-401: The string vibrates from the bridge only as far as the tangent, multiple keys with multiple tangents can be assigned to the same string. This is called fretting . Early clavichords frequently had many notes played on each string, even going so far as the keyed monochord —an instrument with only one string—though most clavichords were triple- or double-fretted. Since only one note can be played at

2805-442: The tone or sound of a note after it is struck, the way that singers, wind players, or bowed instrument players can do. On some keyboards, sounds or synth voices have a preset pressure sensitivity effect, such as a swell in volume (mimicking a popular idiomatic style of vocal performance with melodies) or the addition of vibrato. On some keyboards—a good example of such an instrument being Yamaha's programmable synthesiser-workstation,

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2860-637: The twentieth century, it was impossible to use the quiet clavichord in anything but a small room. However, during the clavichord's heyday, evenings of music-making in the home formed the largest part of people's musical experiences. In the home the clavichord was the ideal instrument for solo keyboard music and instrumental accompaniment. Organists also were known to practice in their homes on pedal clavichords . Today clavichords are played primarily by Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical music enthusiasts. They attract many interested buyers, and are manufactured worldwide. There are now numerous clavichord societies around

2915-557: The world, and some 400 recordings of the instrument have been made in the past 70 years. Leading modern exponents of the instrument have included Christopher Hogwood and Thurston Dart . The clavichord has also gained attention in other genres of music, in the form of the Clavinet , which is a solid body electric clavichord with magnetic pickups that plug into an amp. Stevie Wonder uses a Clavinet in many of his songs, such as " Superstition " and " Higher Ground ". A Clavinet played through an instrument amplifier with guitar effect pedals

2970-482: Was by Johann Speth in 1693 and the earliest such extant signed and dated clavichord was built in 1716 by Johann Michael Heinitz. Such instruments are referred to as unfretted whereas instruments using the same strings for several notes are called fretted . Among the advantages to unfretted instruments are flexibility in tuning (the temperament can be easily altered) and the ability to play any music exactly as written without concern for "bad" notes. Disadvantages include

3025-401: Was much more interested in the technical features provided by the clavichord. He mentioned this in his book (Versuch über die wahre, Art das Clavier zu spielen, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Berlin, 1759.): "Of the many keyboard instruments, many of which are little known because of defects, or because they have not yet been introduced everywhere, there are two which have been most widely acclaimed,

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