I read the inventor's article about this system with interest a few
months ago.  Some of the reaction given yesterday (minus the evident
animosity) seems to be quite common, yet unjustified.

This common assumption is that the piano comes with a single pre-set
tuning that it maintains.  This isn't what is claimed!  The inventor
says that the system will automatically maintain _any_ tuning that is
established on the piano.  It's an ordinary piano with all the normal
tuning complexities and requirements.  Turn on the system, tune the
piano as you wish, and press 'save'.  There's no reason the system
couldn't store numerous different tunings, so the piano could change
on demand for different players!

The piano is tuned with its wires heated, so the pitch rises when
switched off as the wires cool and shrink and their tension rises.
When it is to be used, the system is switched on and the wires are
heated until the sensors detect each note individually matches the
pitch it was at when you pressed 'save'.

It seems reasonable that this system should work as long as the
tuning re-establishes itself acceptably when the wires are heated
again.  The assumption is that the characteristics of each note are
solely dependent on the wire itself (length, wire gauge, etc - all
fixed) and its tension.  The tension is the only variable, and using
heat to alter it is physically the same as altering it via the tuning
pin.  The relationship of the fundamental to harmonics is determined by
the physics, so re-establishing the fundamental automatically
re-establishes all the harmonics, and hence the scale set by the tuner
with all its subtleties and artistry intact.

Personally I think the whole concept is rather clever (certainly
cleverer than the mockers have grasped).  It's also good to see QRS
still in the market for new ideas! It will be interesting to see how
things work in practice.  As a friend commented, a professional or
studio needing a piano in perfect tune all day every day and
compromising by having the tuner in once or twice a week would leap at
one of these instruments if it really works, and the system would soon
pay for itself.  The other 99.999% of us who have the tuner in once or
twice a year (or decade, to go by some pianos I hear) probably can live
without it.

Julian Dyer

 [ Julian and I worry over other failure modes which may occur,
 [ such as the effect on the piano of the thermal cycling.
 [ Only time will tell...  -- Robbie