An experimental physical-model piano. Instead of playing back recordings, it simulates struck strings: three slightly detuned strings per note, a felt hammer, dampers, a pedal, a body and a lid, and every part of that model is a control you can change.
The idea
Tricorda is a reduced model for exploring the parts of a piano that are fun to play with: how stiff the strings are, how the hammer meets them, how three unison strings beat against each other, how the open strings ring along when the pedal is down, and how the lid, body and room colour the result. It is an eight-note experiment, not a reproduction of a particular grand piano.
Two string models sit side by side:
- Waveguide, the default, sends each strike around a dispersive string loop.
- Modal builds each string from its partials. Independent lets the three strings move on their own; Shared load couples them through a common bridge, so their shared motion settles while the differences between them keep beating.
