I was blown away by the sound of both the CFX and the Steinway D samples and seeing that Stefan Mendl played this in real time on a master keyboard, I was thinking what it would take to retrofit an existing acoustic piano with a silent system such as a Yamaha upright, because the sound of these systems isn't anywhere near the quality I've heard in VSL piano demos.
As I understand, such a silent system has midi outputs that could be used to connect it to a compatible computer set up. Here is a couple of questions in this regard:
- Is my thinking correct at all that this might work?
- Would a mini PC such as https://www.hystou.com/fanless-mini-pc-i7-7500u be good enough?
- Is it possible to pre-configure the necessary software to use the PC as a standalone box, i.e. have it start up to be ready to play?
- Is there any way to control various aspects of the system through a remote app on a tablet such as an iPad?
- Are there any pitfalls in terms of latency and number of samples played at the same time?
- What resolution in terms of using the maximum dynamic range of a mechanical action can be expected? Is it anywhere near the acoustic piano itself?
- What software components are required and what have I possibly missed?
TIA!