While I don't think we're there, I feel like there's a little exaggeration here in how hard it would be to replicate digitally. All this talk of sensors and stuff. There are already plenty of decent keyboards that have multiple checks on the actions.

A keyboard doesn't need to be able to read the hands or the fingers differently. It just has to be able to have the weight of a piano keyboard and get an idea of the pressure and velocity of the strike. The action of a piano is a relatively simply mechanism where you press a key and a hammer strikes a string. There's plenty of nuance built in, but I don't think it's beyond digital keyboards to replicate.


Where I think it's difficult is with the output. Emulating the way a soundboard works with the strings and even the way the strings react with one another while vibrating in that space might be difficult, but the latter is certainly an approachable problem. The former is the big issue.


I never though the tech would be a problem. The only issue I think that exists will be in people's willingness to cling to it for tradition sake in light of the fact that digital keyboards are more versatile and portable. The piano by its nature will never allow for a portable acoustic model. That's one thing that's just beyond possibility without breaking the laws of physics.