ladelfa
Big for us was the fact that BT had the ability to grab all the details of our Pivotal Tracker project through the Pivotal API, rather than just from the CSV export (which they also can do). It's unclear whether as of today, 1 May 2025, API access at Pivotal is still an option, but I suspect it may not be.
BARDTracker seemed also to be the closest to PT's UX. Nobody in our shop really wanted to rush to learn a new paradigm right now, so that was another important factor.
Their developers have been remarkably responsive to bug reports, feature requests and suggestions.
The only issue that we've encountered is that performance is a little slow, at least in the Web app; I have not tried their Mobile version yet. My understanding is that this is the area they are focusing on presently.
Lastly, they haven't initiated billing yet, so it was zero-cost onboarding. I hope they figure this out soon, because it's a good product that we'd be happy to pay for; their "early adopter" rate of $5/mo/user is more than reasonable and I hope they're able to make it be sustainable in whatever way PT proved not to be for Broadcom.
"Ford, whose electrical engineers couldn’t solve some problems they were having with a gigantic generator, called Steinmetz in to the plant. Upon arriving, Steinmetz rejected all assistance and asked only for a notebook, pencil and cot. According to Scott, Steinmetz listened to the generator and scribbled computations on the notepad for two straight days and nights. On the second night, he asked for a ladder, climbed up the generator and made a chalk mark on its side. Then he told Ford’s skeptical engineers to remove a plate at the mark and replace sixteen windings from the field coil. They did, and the generator performed to perfection.
Henry Ford was thrilled until he got an invoice from General Electric in the amount of $10,000. Ford acknowledged Steinmetz’s success but balked at the figure. He asked for an itemized bill.
Steinmetz ... responded personally to Ford’s request with the following:
Making chalk mark on generator $1.
Knowing where to make mark $9,999.
Ford paid the bill."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-stein...
Didn't see this mentioned in another comment, but when it's time to de-calcify the boiling chamber (very easy to access on this model) I squirt a little Lysol toilet boil cleaner in there and let it foam and sizzle on the scale buildup for about ten minutes, then wash it away.
Anecdotally, I saw this model in a couple different violin shops around the time I got it. Typically in one of these places there will be showrooms where you can try out bows and instruments, and they usually have about a hundred violins/violas/cellos hanging up in there.
Humidity control is extremely important for fine string instrument storage, so I figured if this is the model a shop has settled upon to protect $100-200K of their merchandise, it's probably a good choice.
And then go find yourself any of the multiple-piano music by the Dutch composer Simeon Ten Holt. "Canto Ostinato" is the famous one, but "Incantante IV" is probably my favorite.
On the subject of one string per hammer: while this is novel for a modern acoustic piano, it is not especially so for other members of the family. Smaller harpsichords, for instance, are always strung like this, and even in larger ones having multiple "choirs" of strings, the number of strings being plucked simultaneously by a single key can always be configured, typically through levers or pedals.
In the 1970s Yamaha brought out line of single-strung stage pianos (CP-70, CP-80, etc.) that were popular with rock players because they were relatively portable and significantly faster to tune. (Kawai also had an upright of similar design.) These were not loud enough to be played acoustically, but instead were fitted with electric-guitar-style pickups under each string much like the Una Corda has, producing a similar sound. In fact, as I listened to the soundtrack on the video, I was struck by the resemblance of the sound not only to the Yamaha CP-70, but to the Rhodes electric piano, which has rigid steel tines instead of strings, but also one to a key.
I like the ability to swap in various felts to modify the timbre; many modern harpsichords have this facility also, with something called a "buff stop." Player pianos in the first half of the 20th century frequently featured a lever that would lower a comb of felt with little metal rivets between the hammers and strings, producing a "honky tonk" or "tack piano" sound; presumably one could fashion something similar for the Una Corda.
The open, vertical design reminds me of the beautiful Clavicytheriums produced by the American harpsichord builder Steven Sørli (http://www.lautenwerk.com). Here's a video of one: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL89758D803857A19B
Yes, these are quiet instruments, but the late-Renaissance and Baroque music one would typically perform on them is much better served by this sparse clarity than can be produced on the modern grand piano. I suspect that the Una Corda would be similarly friendly to this repertoire.
Another benefit of the single-stringing is that, presumably, a capable player might reasonably expect to tune the instrument themselves, permitting the setting of very specific configurations other than twelve exactly equal divisions of the octave tuned to A=440. For acoustic and historical reasons, a lot of pieces really bloom in a certain way when you can do this, but on the modern grand piano it's a time-consuming task usually best left to a professional tuner/technician. (Because of the relatively unstable nature of their instruments, harpsichord players, like harpists and guitarists, have to learn to do this themselves early on in their studies, and thereby gain exposure to various temperaments and reference pitches, e.g. Werckmeister III at A=415.)
On the matter of price, 22,000 Euro (~$25K) is about the going rate for a new custom-built harpsichord, so that's not totally unreasonable. Other classical and orchestral instruments of professional quality frequently command similar sums, and new grand pianos easily get up into the six-figure range.
I would love to see one of these in person. Anyone spotted one in the US yet?
Or Tainan. Tainan was awesome too.
"Schwab takes online security very seriously, and all clients are protected against fraud with our SchwabSafe guarantee. This guarantee is available to review online at www.schwab.com/schwabsafe.
"I reviewed the website you referenced in your email, but this is well outside my area of expertise. To discuss these items, I would suggest you contact our Technology Support Group at the Help Desk. Their number is 800-433-9196."
Uh, no. I'm not going to sit on the phone waiting to tell your Help Desk about why they shouldn't store my password in their DB; that's your fuckin job. I'm much more inclined to spend that hour and a half moving my accounts somewhere secure.
For the beginning class, we use Chrome, a text editor, and a lightweight web server app ("Mongoose"), and we learn basic code concepts in JavaScript. Setup time is minimal and anything we do in class the kids can do at home on whatever computer they have access to. For the intermediate class, we install Virtual Box and everyone gets a copy of the same Ubuntu virtual machine image, whether the host machine is Mac or Windows, and we learn Linux and Ruby (it could just as easily be Python). We're looking at Cloud 9 IDE as another potential solution, one that would be completely install-free.
In fact, the only laptop a student's brought so far that we couldn't make use of was a Chromebook.