Yamaha Corporation's "Silent Brass" brass musical instrument muting system and its CX Series of grand pianos received awards in the German Design Award 2016 competition. The "Silent Brass" system, in particular, was designated to receive "Winner" award this year. This is the first time for a Yamaha product to receive this commendation.
Yamaha Corporation's "Silent Brass" brass musical instrument muting system and its CX Series of grand pianos received awards in the German Design Award 2016 competition. The "Silent Brass" system, in particular, was designated to receive "Winner" award this year. This is the first time for a Yamaha product to receive this commendation.
The German Design Award program is organized by the German Design Council in 2012, and has been held every year since then. This award program has gained an excellent public image for identifying and honoring unique designs from a communication and product design perspective. The awards consist of first-place "Gold" prizes, "Winner" awards that go to top-class products, and "Special Mention" prizes. This year, there were 3,400 entries, with 33% of the entries coming from outside Germany.
Award-Winning Products in 2016
Winner: Silent Brass
A muting system for brass instruments that comprises Pickup Mute™ (muffler) and Personal Studio™ (amplifier and signal processing), enabling the user to practice or play at any time, in any place. In addition to its high muting capabilities, the system contains unique signal processing technology that provides even more ambient and pleasing sound when listening with headphones. Pickup Mute™ is a uniquely shaped muffler that reduces the sound during playing to the level of a whisper. It comes in four types—trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, and horn—so that it can be used by a large number of brass musicians. This most recent award for Yamaha's muting systems follows the Good Design Award 2013 Gold Award (in Japan), the iF Design Award and Red Dot Design Award (both in Germany), and the Asia Design Awards Design Grand Prize (in Hong Kong). In addition, the design used in the latest "Silent Brass" was awarded the 2015 Asahi Shimbun Invention Prize in the National Commendation for Inventions 2015 (in Japan).
SB7X, the latest model in the muting series for trumpets and cornets
Special Mention: CX Series of Grand Pianos
The CX series incorporates much of the technology and sound-creation know-how that Yamaha developed for its flagship CFX concert grand pianos. The CX Series responds to the high expectations of all piano performers, from beginners to experienced professionals. Traditionally, the crafting of the decorative design of pianos was based on architectural concepts. However, the CX series completely eliminates these concepts and seeks to recreate the piano as a modern instrument with a simple and beautiful design. This award follows the selection of the CX series for the Good Design Award 2014 Best 100 (in Japan).
