Andrew McPherson of Drexel University’s Music and Entertainment Lab:
The acoustic piano is a percussion instrument: felt hammers strike steel strings, causing them to vibrate. As a result of centuries of development, the piano has a rich, vibrant sound and tremendous versatility; on the other hand, it lacks the degrees of performer control commonly found in electronic synthesizers. In particular, once a note is struck, the performer has no further control over it until it is released. My research installs electromagnetic actuators inside the piano to directly vibrate the strings, allowing continuous control of the resonant sound of the instrument. This hybrid acoustic-electronic instrument maintains the richness of the acoustic piano while expanding its vocabulary to include infinite sustain, notes that crescendo from silence, harmonics, and new timbres.
I want one of these so bad.