In celebration of their 50th anniversary, musical instrument manufacturer Roland has re-thought the form of the grand piano with this 50th Anniversary Concept. Intended to signal that “Roland and our pianos will never stop evolving,” the instrument contains “sound field realization technology” that allows it to mimic the sound of earlier Roland pianos and keyboards, going back to the company’s inception in 1973. It also features their more recent PureAcoustic Modeling technology, which uses multiple speakers to create a realistic piano sound (right down to the pedals being pressed).
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To create and execute the stunning design, Roland partnered with high-end Japanese furniture company Karimoku. “We aimed for a design that naturally blends into your life as part of the interior,” Karimoku craftsman Takahiko Fujimori explains. “Like an armchair that is fun to look at. For that reason, we conducted extensive research and development on a structure in which the heavy keyboard and the housing containing the electronic unit get sandwiched by a slim frame.”
Interestingly, the design was not constructed from slabs. This was done for both for the environmental benefits and ease of repair:
“SDGs, or Sustainable Development Goals, are at the heart of the design, which has always been important to Karimoku. The new model uses Japanese Nara oak wood from Hokkaido, as oak is hard and heavy. However, Karimoku used already cut, small-diameter oak, mainly used as raw material for paper. This ensures that the model can be repaired when needed and not discarded like many modern electronics.”
“We created the new model by machine-cutting layers of small wooden pieces from digital data and stacking them to shape a single body. We incorporated the concept of 3D printing, in which cross sections are made with high accuracy and layered, and the ancient method of manufacturing Buddhist statues based on the characteristics of wood movement, etc.”
Sadly, Roland has not released a video revealing what the piano actually sounds like. (C’mon, PR people!)
Source: core77