"

On Makemi’s previous comment
Makemi said ""I'm not clear on how this is revolutionary, it seems like a bigger/faster/louder computer piano.""

I deleted the remark on the CEUS being a milestone. I even deleted anything that could be judged as being a praise. Despite the fact that even the praises I made were based on facts, on the quest that has been going on for more than two decades by makers of reproducing pianos to try to produce a reproducing piano that would truly record and playback the full gamut of expressiveness of the best performers at the piano.

So here is the current article that I have, incorporating the recent change I made, following Makemi’s feedback. Any praise of any kind has been deleted by me (even though my praises were based on facts, on knowledge).

The New (2006) Bösendorfer Reproducing Grand Piano: the CEUS Computer Grand Piano
Pianos That Has For goal of Accomplishing Full Expressiveness at the Keyboard==
During the past recent decades, a reproducing piano (also sometimes called a computer piano or a player piano) has been defined as being first an acoustic piano that is not diminished in any way in its ability to play piano pieces. The touch at the keyboard and the sound produced by a reproducing piano is not changed in any way compared to a normal acoustic piano. However, a reproducing piano has an unobtrusive computer interface that allows the pianist to record and playback the piano pieces that are performed on it. Usually, it also has a silent mechanism that stops the hammers from striking the strings and that allows the pianist to play silently at the keyboard, at any time during the day or the night without disturbing others, and with the option of using headphones to hear digital sounds while playing silently at the keyboard (many digital sounds are available: piano, harpsichord, organ, strings, etc.). It also has a MIDI interface that allows the pianist to play back many pieces that are available on this particular MIDI format. However, the MIDI format allows the recording and playback of the velocity of the hammers of the piano only at a level of accuracy of 127 scales (or 127 steps if you prefer). The problem is that several pianistic techniques move the hammers at an incredibly high speed, making these 127 scales highly insufficient to be able to record and playback accurately the very high velocity of the hammers. The capability of a reproducing piano to convey the full expressiveness of the pianist at the keyboard is directly related to its ability to record and playback accurately the velocity of the hammers that are moved when the pianist presses the keys at the keyboard. Consequently, a reproducing piano usually also has a more accurate proprietary format to record and playback piano pieces at a much higher level of accuracy than the MIDI format. In summary, a reproducing piano is a very flexible musical instrument that combines the old (an acoustic piano) with the new (a MIDI format but especially the recording and playing back of the piano) at the same time. It allows the pianist to play the numerous MIDI piano pieces available but, more importantly, to record and playback piano pieces at a higher level of accuracy than it is possible to do with the MIDI format.

The quality of the Bösendorfer pianos and especially the sound that they produce are the result of a long and old tradition of piano making.

Bösendorfer also kept in touch with modernity. They took an active participation at making reproducing pianos first with their SE 290 computer piano that was made in collaboration with Wayne Stahnke. It was considered by the entire community of piano makers to be the most accurate reproducing piano of its time.
At the beginning of 2006, Bösendorfer introduced its next generation of reproducing pianos: the CEUS Computer Grand Piano.

Previously to the Bösendorfer CEUS Computer Grand Piano, several scientific studies were made that had for main goal to assess if the reproducing pianos that were available were as faithful to the expressiveness of the best performers at the piano as they should be. These studies concluded that the best reproducing pianos (including the SE 290 computer piano) were not as faithful at recording and playing back the performance of the best pianists as they should have been (see in particular ""Measurement and reproduction accuracy of computer-controlled grand pianos"" by Werner Goebl, et al., August 6-9, 2003).

Taking this conclusion as an incentive to raise the accuracy of its reproducing piano (the SE 290 computer piano), Bösendorfer set themselves to create an even more accurate reproducing piano that would accomplish THE VERY CHALLENGING GOAL OF BEING ABLE TO RECORD AND PLAYBACK THE FULL GAMUT OF EXPRESSIVENE