Answers.Body: <p>There is <a href="http://www.henrylim.org/Harpsichord.html" rel="noreferrer">this</a> monstrosity as an example on the internet, which proves that you can work with proper metal strings. But your biggest enemy will be the huge tension everything is under. There is a reason that proper pianos have steel frames. As you only want one or two octaves, you can probably do without reinforcing the frame, but wherever the strings terminate will be a single point of failure. Apparently the harpsichord in the example uses some mutilated pieces there (though the only mention of glue is for the lid).</p>
  <p>Also note the sound example. In any string instrument, sound is generated by the combination of the string and the resonating body of the instrument itself. In other words, it will always sound &quot;plasticly&quot; and there is nothing you can do about that.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-21T11:41:24.240Z
Answers.Text: ...Which is why I keep telling the OP to use EV3 bricks instead. Makes life easier.
Answers.UserDisplayName: mindstormsboi
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-23T03:34:38.150Z
Answers.Text: I came here to post about Henry Lim's harpsichord. Glad to see someone else did it already, so all I have to do is +1. :)
Answers.UserDisplayName: shoover
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-21T07:38:40.520Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-06-21T07:38:40.520Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: mlk
Answers.Body: <p>Donny Chen made a LEGO piano that I believe is just large enough to play. Details are available on <a href="https://ideas.lego.com/projects/a4e4413f-8488-4551-ac9d-9e7f8c35154e" rel="nofollow noreferrer">LEGO Ideas</a>. You can watch him show it off in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zcZ9toUjyU" rel="nofollow noreferrer">video from Brickvention 2019</a>. He has it motorized in that video.</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/7PCpa.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/7PCpa.jpg" alt="Piano" /></a></p>
  <p>From your comments, it sounds like you are interested in not simply having a piano with keys that can move, but one that actually emits proper sound. I think it will be quite difficult to do that effectively using LEGO elements (string, rubber bands, etc). The best that you can probably do to deliver sound using LEGO elements would probably be using EV3 or BOOST. This would be similar to the guitar model from the BOOST set:</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/8p9Yc.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/8p9Yc.jpg" alt="BOOST Guitar" /></a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T09:32:25.703Z
Answers.Text: It is possible to tune rubber bands, but not really at that scale
Answers.UserDisplayName: Chris H
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T10:52:50.613Z
Answers.Text: Indeed, you're kinda lucky if you have 17101 and want to make a piano. I can explain how that guitar in the photo works if you don't mind: The guitar handle is covered in colored tiles, and a studded technic beam goes around it. On the other end of the stick, there is a color/distance sensor. When you move the studded beam up and down, the distance sensor detects it and sends this info to the hub, and then the hub sends the same info *again* to the app to operate it, which means that your device plays the sound.
Answers.UserDisplayName: mindstormsboi
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T10:53:18.893Z
Answers.Text: The colored tiles are not detected in any way, they are just there to help you to remember the correct positions on the stick to play the correct sounds.
Answers.UserDisplayName: mindstormsboi
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T11:03:45.043Z
Answers.Text: Personally I would recommend EV3 instead though, BOOST quickly gets boring and with EV3 you can do many, many more things. The only downside of EV3 is that [it gets tricky when you're trying to make big projects like this sometimes](https://i.sstatic.net/ufOQ2.png).‮
Answers.UserDisplayName: mindstormsboi
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T13:35:25.387Z
Answers.Text: @mindstormsboi So this "guitar" really has more in common with a theremin than an actual guitar, being based on distance rather than a vibrating string...
Answers.UserDisplayName: Darrel Hoffman
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T13:49:47.327Z
Answers.Text: Ohhhh... thats actauly a very smart idea @Chris H , using lego boost sensors so that they detect when i push something down
Answers.UserDisplayName: Nerd
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T13:51:13.007Z
Answers.Text: And @Chris H it is possible to tune rubber bands at a scale, you just pull it or twist it until you get the right scale
Answers.UserDisplayName: Nerd
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T14:14:03.810Z
Answers.Text: @Nerd Boost app doesn't have piano sounds I think. You can record them but I think they will come out bad, so just use EV3 instead. The rubber strings don't actually matter at this point (too hard to manipulate, you might as well set up fake ones instead), the EV3 can use buttons and when it detects you pressing them the EV3 itself can play the piano sounds.
Answers.UserDisplayName: mindstormsboi
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T14:38:02.863Z
Answers.Text: @Nerd having tried it recently (making a functional "guitar" with a biscuit tin, not Lego) I knew it wasn't going to work well.  You're technically correct, but with (fairly thin) rubber bands and using technic to put a tuning peg 12 studs from a bridge the tension one a single band was high enough to pull bricks apart by the time I got near A440.  So you'd need a lot of reinforcing for an octave.  I also found that rubber bands don't stay in tune for long.  A little strumming and they creep/warm up enough that the pitch drops.  By "scale" I meant Lego/model proportions, not musical scale BTW
Answers.UserDisplayName: Chris H
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T18:02:28.267Z
Answers.Text: Ok thanks @ChrisH
Answers.UserDisplayName: Nerd
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T01:00:01.460Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2020-06-19T11:27:24.850Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2020-06-19T11:27:24.850Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: jncraton
Body: <p>I was thinking of how hard it is to make a LEGO piano.</p>
  <p>I have already tried to use a rubber band but it did not make a good sound when I plucked at it.</p>
  <p>My problem is that I want to make a piano but I don't know what to use for the strings. Can someone help?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-18T22:36:47.200Z
Comments.Text: And also i want to make a piano in which i can actualy play! I want a mini one that is not to big maybey a little smaller than a laptop keybord
Comments.UserDisplayName: Nerd
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T00:57:59.460Z
Comments.Text: got a hunch it might take [a wrench](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xILUI0Jan7c)... (youtube)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Uli
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T07:48:30.980Z
Comments.Text: @Henrik: Questions only become untagged if they are migrated or all of their tags get deleted. You cannot create a question without tags.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Wrzlprmft
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T10:58:21.120Z
Comments.Text: @Uli That looks like an answer!
Comments.UserDisplayName: jpa
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T12:11:14.247Z
Comments.Text: @mindstormsboi Nerd said "about the size of a laptop keyboard". Let's compare it to a 32 studs baseplate. Let's take a 2x8 plate for each key on our piano keyboard which gives us 16 keys (we'll ignore the black keys for a moment). That's 2 octaves. Is it possible to determine the position of each key over this distance of 32 studs with the EV3 distance sensor?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Uli
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T12:13:18.617Z
Comments.Text: @Uli EV3 has a touch sensor, which is basically just a button. We could bury it under the key and when pressed down it would detect it. Another upside is that it would already provide the mechanism of popping the key back up.
Comments.UserDisplayName: mindstormsboi
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T12:20:54.103Z
Comments.Text: @Uli Only downside is that an EV3 as well as an NXT can only hold up to 4 touch sensors, so you will need duplicate EV3s  connected together via USB if you don't want to individually turn each one on/off or something.
Comments.UserDisplayName: mindstormsboi
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-19T14:37:26.290Z
Comments.Text: I've removed a number of comments from this thread. If I've deleted your comments, it might be good to review this: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment and this: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/conduct
Comments.UserDisplayName: jncraton
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2020-06-21T11:48:34.223Z
Comments.Text: @Uli That piano seems to be an xylophone in disguise, I don't think it's suitable. Let's... *lets use mindstorms bricks instead.*
Comments.UserDisplayName: mindstormsboi
Tags: <building><design>
Title: How could I make a playable LEGO piano?
UserDisplayName: Nerd
ThreadText: # How could I make a playable LEGO piano?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2020-06-18)
  
  I was thinking of how hard it is to make a LEGO piano.
  
  I have already tried to use a rubber band but it did not make a good sound when I plucked at it.
  
  My problem is that I want to make a piano but I don't know what to use for the strings. Can someone help?
  
  **Tags:** building, design
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: And also i want to make a piano in which i can actualy play! I want a mini one that is not to big maybey a little smaller than a laptop keybord  
  > **username_1**: got a hunch it might take [a wrench](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xILUI0Jan7c)... (youtube)  
  > **username_2**: @Henrik: Questions only become untagged if they are migrated or all of their tags get deleted. You cannot create a question without tags.  
  > **username_3**: @username_1 That looks like an answer!  
  > **username_1**: @username_4 username_0 said "about the size of a laptop keyboard". Let's compare it to a 32 studs baseplate. Let's take a 2x8 plate for each key on our piano keyboard which gives us 16 keys (we'll ignore the black keys for a moment). That's 2 octaves. Is it possible to determine the position of each key over this distance of 32 studs with the EV3 distance sensor?  
  > **username_4**: @username_1 EV3 has a touch sensor, which is basically just a button. We could bury it under the key and when pressed down it would detect it. Another upside is that it would already provide the mechanism of popping the key back up.  
  > **username_4**: @username_1 Only downside is that an EV3 as well as an NXT can only hold up to 4 touch sensors, so you will need duplicate EV3s  connected together via USB if you don't want to individually turn each one on/off or something.  
  > **username_5**: I've removed a number of comments from this thread. If I've deleted your comments, it might be good to review this: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment and this: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/conduct  
  > **username_4**: @username_1 That piano seems to be an xylophone in disguise, I don't think it's suitable. Let's... *lets use mindstorms bricks instead.*  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2020-06-21. Score: 10
  
  There is [this](http://www.henrylim.org/Harpsichord.html) monstrosity as an example on the internet, which proves that you can work with proper metal strings. But your biggest enemy will be the huge tension everything is under. There is a reason that proper pianos have steel frames. As you only want one or two octaves, you can probably do without reinforcing the frame, but wherever the strings terminate will be a single point of failure. Apparently the harpsichord in the example uses some mutilated pieces there (though the only mention of glue is for the lid).
  
  Also note the sound example. In any string instrument, sound is generated by the combination of the string and the resonating body of the instrument itself. In other words, it will always sound "plasticly" and there is nothing you can do about that.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_4**: ...Which is why I keep telling the OP to use EV3 bricks instead. Makes life easier.  
  > **username_7**: I came here to post about Henry Lim's harpsichord. Glad to see someone else did it already, so all I have to do is +1. :)  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2020-06-19. Score: 10
  
  Donny Chen made a LEGO piano that I believe is just large enough to play. Details are available on [LEGO Ideas](https://ideas.lego.com/projects/a4e4413f-8488-4551-ac9d-9e7f8c35154e). You can watch him show it off in a [video from Brickvention 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zcZ9toUjyU). He has it motorized in that video.
  
  [![Piano](https://i.sstatic.net/7PCpa.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/7PCpa.jpg)
  
  From your comments, it sounds like you are interested in not simply having a piano with keys that can move, but one that actually emits proper sound. I think it will be quite difficult to do that effectively using LEGO elements (string, rubber bands, etc). The best that you can probably do to deliver sound using LEGO elements would probably be using EV3 or BOOST. This would be similar to the guitar model from the BOOST set:
  
  [![BOOST Guitar](https://i.sstatic.net/8p9Yc.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/8p9Yc.jpg)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_8**: It is possible to tune rubber bands, but not really at that scale  
  > **username_4**: Indeed, you're kinda lucky if you have 17101 and want to make a piano. I can explain how that guitar in the photo works if you don't mind: The guitar handle is covered in colored tiles, and a studded technic beam goes around it. On the other end of the stick, there is a color/distance sensor. When you move the studded beam up and down, the distance sensor detects it and sends this info to the hub, and then the hub sends the same info *again* to the app to operate it, which means that your device plays the sound.  
  > **username_4**: The colored tiles are not detected in any way, they are just there to help you to remember the correct positions on the stick to play the correct sounds.  
  > **username_4**: Personally I would recommend EV3 instead though, BOOST quickly gets boring and with EV3 you can do many, many more things. The only downside of EV3 is that [it gets tricky when you're trying to make big projects like this sometimes](https://i.sstatic.net/ufOQ2.png).‮  
  > **username_9**: @username_4 So this "guitar" really has more in common with a theremin than an actual guitar, being based on distance rather than a vibrating string...  
  > **username_0**: Ohhhh... thats actauly a very smart idea @username_8 , using lego boost sensors so that they detect when i push something down  
  > **username_0**: And @username_8 it is possible to tune rubber bands at a scale, you just pull it or twist it until you get the right scale  
  > **username_4**: @username_0 Boost app doesn't have piano sounds I think. You can record them but I think they will come out bad, so just use EV3 instead. The rubber strings don't actually matter at this point (too hard to manipulate, you might as well set up fake ones instead), the EV3 can use buttons and when it detects you pressing them the EV3 itself can play the piano sounds.  
  > **username_8**: @username_0 having tried it recently (making a functional "guitar" with a biscuit tin, not Lego) I knew it wasn't going to work well.  You're technically correct, but with (fairly thin) rubber bands and using technic to put a tuning peg 12 studs from a bridge the tension one a single band was high enough to pull bricks apart by the time I got near A440.  So you'd need a lot of reinforcing for an octave.  I also found that rubber bands don't stay in tune for long.  A little strumming and they creep/warm up enough that the pitch drops.  By "scale" I meant Lego/model proportions, not musical scale BTW  
  > **username_0**: Ok thanks @username_8  
  
  ---
  
  