Piano Technology & Digital Applications 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which DAW feature is most useful for correcting the timing of a recorded MIDI piano performance without re-recording it?
- Pitch correction
- Quantization (Correct answer)
- Normalization
- Reverb tail trimming
Correct answer: Quantization
Quantization snaps MIDI notes to the nearest rhythmic grid value, correcting timing imprecisions.
Question 2: What is 'polyphonic aftertouch' in an advanced MIDI controller keyboard?
- Playing multiple patches at once
- Pressure sensitivity per individual key after it is pressed down (Correct answer)
- Automatic chord inversion
- Pitch bend applied to all notes simultaneously
Correct answer: Pressure sensitivity per individual key after it is pressed down
Polyphonic aftertouch detects continued pressure on each key independently after initial contact, enabling per-note expression.
Question 3: In streaming piano lessons via video conferencing, why is acoustic echo cancellation important?
- It reduces the file size of recorded videos
- It prevents the teacher's voice from being picked up by the student's microphone and looped back (Correct answer)
- It automatically transposes the piano to a different key
- It compresses MIDI data for faster transmission
Correct answer: It prevents the teacher's voice from being picked up by the student's microphone and looped back
Echo cancellation removes the teacher's audio that would otherwise be captured by the student's mic and re-transmitted as an echo.
Question 4: Which format is best for sharing an editable piano score between Sibelius and Finale notation software?
- WAV
- MIDI
- MusicXML (Correct answer)
Correct answer: MusicXML
MusicXML is an open interchange format that preserves notation data including notes, dynamics, and articulations across different software.
Question 5: What is the purpose of a 'piano roll' editor in a DAW?
- A tool that automatically prints sheet music
- A grid view displaying MIDI notes as horizontal bars, allowing visual editing of pitch and duration (Correct answer)
- A plugin that adds reverb to simulate a concert hall
- A feature that scrolls sheet music on screen during playback
Correct answer: A grid view displaying MIDI notes as horizontal bars, allowing visual editing of pitch and duration
The piano roll displays MIDI events on a grid where vertical position represents pitch and horizontal length represents duration.
Question 6: Which type of microphone placement technique is typically recommended for recording an upright piano at home?
- A single mic inside the piano bench
- One or two mics positioned near the open lid or soundboard, away from the hammers (Correct answer)
- A mic clipped directly onto each piano string
- A boundary mic placed on the floor under the pedals
Correct answer: One or two mics positioned near the open lid or soundboard, away from the hammers
Positioning mics near the open lid or front panel captures balanced tone from the soundboard while avoiding excessive hammer attack.
Question 7: What does 'sample rate' (e.g., 44.1 kHz) determine when recording piano audio digitally?
- The number of piano samples in a virtual instrument library
- How many times per second the audio signal is measured and converted to digital data (Correct answer)
- The bit depth of the MIDI controller
- The distance between microphone and piano
Correct answer: How many times per second the audio signal is measured and converted to digital data
Sample rate defines the frequency of audio snapshots taken per second; 44.1 kHz is the CD standard and captures frequencies up to about 22 kHz.
Piano Technology & Digital Applications 3
Which DAW feature is most useful for correcting the timing of a recorded MIDI piano performance without re-recording it?