Future Ready
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Something interesting with our new Bechsteins...
Each and every new Bechstein is being shipped with Bluetooth MIDI capabilities. There is not a silent system (though the Vario system can easily be retrofitted), no player system, simply an optic sensor system that is capable of connecting to hundreds of apps and programs. It doesn't even have MIDI ports or a USB port, simply the Bluetooth connection (though they do have a PRO system that will allow you to run wired connections as well.
The optic sensors are recording over 10K levels of expression. While that seems ridiculous since most apps and programs are still at 128 levels, the idea is to be ready for the next generation of MIDI and products coming 5-10-20-30 years in the future. It's a pretty cool concept, IMO
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As my son said about Elon Musk...Musk is not in the EV business, he's in the data collection business.
Who's to say that the products of the future will not only allow Bechstein to put in a superior teaching/player/sheet music system, but will allow Bechstein to harvest a good deal of data on each individual pianist?
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Oh, great, now your supposedly “analog” piano can spy on you — with 10K levels of expression!
Your playing may be digitized with great precision, with tons and tons of your playing’s telemetry data be uploaded and used to train some AI model that can one day replace all human pianists.
Now who’s going to trust a Bechstein again?
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Cost of install at point of manufacture is probably pretty reasonable, done well, and adds a nice feature that will hopefully resonate with modern piano buyers. Crossing my fingers they've worked to make it as open ended as possible. A lot of this proprietary nonsense piano makers have come up with is counter-productive to the industry long-term. (imho)
There's a reason MIDI standard remained relevant for so long...even as "HD MIDI" languages with thousands vs 127 levels of expression have been around for so long.
