My personal suspicion as to how this stuff matters for the timbre of a piano is that there are maybe two mechanisms aside from the obvious one (velocity of the hammer):
1. Subtle movements of the damper, which is linearly linked to the key. You can hear this interference with the string if you get the string loudly and don't completely release the key/pedal.
2. Some second-order effects that alter the post-escapement flight of the hammer. There is still some friction in there, and most piano actions have a lot of wood parts that can flex a little.
I sort of doubt #2 there, honestly.
Another thing you learn as a pianist is that literally nothing matters for the sound except what happens at the point of contact between the hammer (and the damper) and the string. If you want to unravel piano timbre, you should worry about that.
The general vocabulary for describing timbre is limited and highly imprecise. There are many ways in which a passage of music could be perceived as "bright" or "dark", even if the timbre is identical.
It might just be a translation issue, but the paper gives me the strong impression that the authors do not actually understand timbre.
> Another thing you learn as a pianist is that literally nothing matters for the sound except what happens at the point of contact between the hammer (and the damper) and the string. If you want to unravel piano timbre, you should worry about that.
Heh, my piano teacher was pretty convinced that you could control timbre independent of amplitude.
You sort of can! For example, by loudly humming at the string, supplying extra energy in some frequencies but not others. (Or, less facetiously, by playing other notes.)
Well you have a point there, lol. Half-pedalling is really lovely in that way, where the dampers are off just enough to let inter-string resonance fill the sound out without the notes getting smudged.
You definitely can affect timbre of a piano string by crafting how you hit the key, but you can't do it with juju that doesn't affect how forces are applied to the string.
1. Subtle movements of the damper, which is linearly linked to the key. You can hear this interference with the string if you get the string loudly and don't completely release the key/pedal.
2. Some second-order effects that alter the post-escapement flight of the hammer. There is still some friction in there, and most piano actions have a lot of wood parts that can flex a little.
I sort of doubt #2 there, honestly.
Another thing you learn as a pianist is that literally nothing matters for the sound except what happens at the point of contact between the hammer (and the damper) and the string. If you want to unravel piano timbre, you should worry about that.