Buzzworthy: The Yamaha AvantGrand
BUENA PARK, Calif. — Well in advance of hitting piano stores this summer, the Yamaha AvantGrand has generated significant buzz among the country's hippest, and savviest consumer technology media arbiters.
As the world's first "hybrid" piano that not only effectively simulates the sound of a concert grand, The AvantGrand also actualizes the physical connection pianists have with their instrument—previously only possible on an acoustic grand.
"Why reproduce in digital form something that's worked perfectly fine for hundreds of years as an analog device? That's the question I had for Yamaha about their new AvantGrand piano," wrote Popular Science reporter Sean Captain in his review, Everything Old Is New Again. "The answer: So you can save five feet, 1,100 pounds, and $80,000."
The complete story, along with video footage, is available at Popular Science's web site.
In its posting, Yamaha AvantGrand Digital Piano Vibrates in All the Right Places, the edgy gadget blog Gizmodo called the instrument "an ingenious digital piano that uses strategically-placed resonators to pound the pianist with sound and vibrations, just like the real thing! In fact, the Yamaha CFIIIS concert grand was used to create the digital samples for this piano, and that is the real thing."
In Yamaha Reinvents the Digital Piano, Steve Guttenberg's Audiophiliac posting for CNET, he writes, "The AvantGrand sounds like the real thing," and concludes: "Priced at nearly $20,000, the AvantGrand is aimed at serious pianists with limited space; the piano is less than half the size of a nine-foot grand and nearly $100,000 cheaper!"
View the complete blog posting here.
Darren Murph, of engadget.com, the third most popular English language blog, wrote, "The good news is that you can get 99 percent of a grand in your home for just $20,000."
Read the complete posting at www.engadget.com.
"A new hybrid piano combines the best of a digital piano with a concert grand acoustic piano," according to New York 1's Technology reporter Adam Balkin. The complete segment, "Hybrid" Grand Piano Feels Like The Real Thing, can be seen here.
The AvantGrand is slated to ship in July 2009. A matching padded bench is included.
For more information on the Yamaha AvantGrand Piano, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Keyboard Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail infostation@yamaha.com; or visit www.avant-grand.com.
 Yamaha artist Matthew Cameron Performs on Yamaha's AvantGrand. |
"Why reproduce in digital form something that's worked perfectly fine for hundreds of years as an analog device? That's the question I had for Yamaha about their new AvantGrand piano," wrote Popular Science reporter Sean Captain in his review, Everything Old Is New Again. "The answer: So you can save five feet, 1,100 pounds, and $80,000."
The complete story, along with video footage, is available at Popular Science's web site.
In its posting, Yamaha AvantGrand Digital Piano Vibrates in All the Right Places, the edgy gadget blog Gizmodo called the instrument "an ingenious digital piano that uses strategically-placed resonators to pound the pianist with sound and vibrations, just like the real thing! In fact, the Yamaha CFIIIS concert grand was used to create the digital samples for this piano, and that is the real thing."
In Yamaha Reinvents the Digital Piano, Steve Guttenberg's Audiophiliac posting for CNET, he writes, "The AvantGrand sounds like the real thing," and concludes: "Priced at nearly $20,000, the AvantGrand is aimed at serious pianists with limited space; the piano is less than half the size of a nine-foot grand and nearly $100,000 cheaper!"
View the complete blog posting here.
Darren Murph, of engadget.com, the third most popular English language blog, wrote, "The good news is that you can get 99 percent of a grand in your home for just $20,000."
Read the complete posting at www.engadget.com.
"A new hybrid piano combines the best of a digital piano with a concert grand acoustic piano," according to New York 1's Technology reporter Adam Balkin. The complete segment, "Hybrid" Grand Piano Feels Like The Real Thing, can be seen here.
The AvantGrand is slated to ship in July 2009. A matching padded bench is included.
For more information on the Yamaha AvantGrand Piano, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Keyboard Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail infostation@yamaha.com; or visit www.avant-grand.com.