What Is a Reproducing Player Piano System?

Whereas a normal player piano system simply has added mechanical equipment that allows the piano to “play” by itself, a reproducing player piano system reproduces the exact performance of the person doing the playing, including the nuances of dynamics, tempo, and phrasing. In other words, you get to enjoy your own private concert performed by the world’s best pianists. And with the Steinway and Sons industry leading SPIRIO and SPIRIO | r systems, you get to enjoy the music in its full glory!

Reproducing player piano systems in crude form can be traced back as far as the 1700’s but really didn’t come to full fruition until the late 1800’s when some surprisingly advanced systems were being developed. They’ve certainly come a long way since the paper rolls but we do have recordings from pianists like Scott Joplin, George Gershwin, and many others beautifully captured by those early reproducing player piano systems.

Leave it to Steinway and Sons though to develop the most advanced ultra high resolution reproducing player piano system yet. The original SPIRIO was released in 2015 and in 2018 they made it even better with the release of SPIRIO | r. Find out more about these SPIRIO systems and our factory trained service and calibration.

NOTE: The predecessor to the SPIRIO systems was the Wayne Stahnke Live Performance LX Reproducing Player Piano System and though not produced for over 15 years is still highly sought after. We’ve done recent high end piano restorations that included this amazing system.