Name: Benjamin Wynn aka Deru
Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Producer, composer, sound designer
Recent release: Deru's We Will Live On is out via Friends of Friends.

Tool of Creation: Disklavier
Designed by: Yamaha
Country of origin: Japan
Became available in: 1987

If you enjoyed this interview with Deru about the Disklavier and would like to explore his work in more depth, visit his personal homepage. He is also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.

For another view on the Disklavier, read our earlier feature about the instrument with Jameszoo.



What was your first encounter with the Disklavier?

They had one at CalArts, the music school that I went to. It was one of the versions made in the late 80s. At the time I was mesmerized by it but didn't spend much time with it.

It stuck in my head though as something that I wanted to explore one day though.

Just like any other piece of equipment, the Disklavier has a rich history. Are you interested in it? And if so, what are some of the key points from this history for you personally?

It does have a rich history. It's not super easy to find, though I purposefully didn't look extensively. I'm sure I'm missing some amazing moments because of that. The fun thing is that I keep finding new examples.

It's interesting to me that Yamaha has been making them since the 80s, but still many of my musician and composer friends don't know about them. They seem to be a bit more well known in the academic worlds.

What, to you, are some of the most interesting recordings made with the Disklavier?

I don't have a complete history, so I can't speak holistically, but one of the more interesting ones I came across is Hans Tammen – Music For Choking Disklavier.



He pushed the piano to its limits in terms of the speed of information being sent to it, and then recorded the result. The pieces highlight the digital / analog relationship in the pianos, which I find interesting.

While writing this interview I discovered Kyle Gann's Hyperchromatica, where he used multiple Disklaviers tuned differently from each other to compose microtonal music.



I've been wanting to experiment with different tunings on the piano so this is a cool way to handle it.

I like that the Disklavier system enables people to experiment with tone by preparing the pianos, and interactive performance by creating call-and-response systems.

What interests you about the Disklavier in terms of it contributing to your creative ideals?

Being able to use digital sequencing tools with an acoustic instrument is magic. I wish there were more digitally controllable acoustics instruments commercially available.

What are some of the stand-out features from your point of view?

Playing an acoustic piano with your laptop is like magic, or some form of alchemy.

Prior to using it for the first time, how did you acquaint yourself with the Disklavier? Will you usually consult a manual before starting to work with a new device – and what was that like for the Disklavier?

I had the piano for years before I began writing the album. It took lots of tinkering and experimentation before I felt like I had the tools I needed to write a full record. I ended up making a Max/MSP sequencer and various software patches that drove the piano.

Throughout the writing process I called Yamaha's customer service a number of times and I found someone there named Noah Jolly that was incredibly helpful.

He told me how I could enter the service section of the piano to configure how the solenoids responded, and I was able to drastically enlarge the dynamic range so that it could play really quiet notes (where I happen to think it sounds best). He also pointed me to a piano tech in Los Angeles, Peter White, that was instrumental in dialing in the piano for the project, and continues to help with the various video shoots and live installations we do.

Tell me a bit about the interface of the Disklavier – what does playing it feel like, what do you enjoy about it, compared to some of your other instruments?

What I love about it is that the interface is invisible. It's a piano with a USB port.

How would you describe the sonic potential of the Disklavier?

There are tons of opportunities for experimentation. You could prepare each note in different ways, for instance. I didn't do much piano preparation for this record, other than using some different kinds of tape under the hammers, so I want to play with more extreme preparations in the future.

You could also build a system where the piano responds to inputs in different ways. The song "To Quiet The Voices" for instance, is a Max4Live patch made by Joshua Eustis and myself.

[Read our Josh Eustis interview]



It's a MIDI note delay where each delay can move further away from the last one, or closer to it (or be curved both ways). So the delays can get longer and longer, or shorter and shorter. I then improvised on the piano while the note delay was active.

In which way does the Disklavier influence musical results and what kind of compositions does it encourage / foster?

The translation from digital to analog isn't perfect. Therefore I think it excels at playing that which would be hard for humans to achieve.

More generally, how do you see the relationship between your instruments and the music you make?

That's a big question. My past two records required me to make custom software to realize them. When you make your own software there's the time it takes to 'build the instrument', then you have to start learning how to 'play the instrument'. This mode switch can be challenging, so I don't take on building new instruments lightly, but I felt like these tools were necessary for the ideas.

Ultimately I think the interface of whatever we're using, be it an instrument or a software sequencer, dictates so much of how we use it. The interface makes assumptions about how you should use it, which thereby predetermine the end result.

Some see instruments and equipment as far less important than actual creativity, others feel they go hand in hand. What's your take on that?

I think all instruments are less important than what you do with them.

Some instruments spur my creativity more than others though, and can feel like they have 'music inside of them' that's easy to coax out.

In the light of picking your tools, how would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

For the past decade I've been most interested in personal experimentation and exploration. I'd never done a record where everything was acoustic and recorded with mics for instance, so that was an interesting challenge.

In terms of 'timelessness' I think it comes from honesty with yourself and the music.

Are there other artists working with the Disklavier whose work you find inspiring? What do you appreciate about their take on it?

I remember seeing Ryuichi Sakamoto's tour a number of years ago and he had two Disklaviers on stage with him. He would play one and the other would play along, or respond to him.

It was great to see him experimenting and going to these lengths for the live tour. It was inspiring (as seeing him play live always is).