Although there were earlier attempts to make stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings, most notably hammered dulcimers such as the Iranian instruments santur and santoor, the concoction of the modern piano is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua, Italy, who was employed by Prince Ferdinand de Medici as the Keeper of the Instruments.

Since the 1980s, digital pianos have been available, which end digital sampling technology to reproduce the right of each piano note. The best digital pianos are sophisticated, with features including working pedals, weighted keys, Piano Lamps multiple voices, and MIDI interfaces. However, with such technology, it was difficult to duplicate a crucial aspect of auditory pianos, namely that when the damper pedal (see below) is depressed, the strings not struck vibrate sympathetically when other strings are struck, as well as the unique instrument-specific mathematical non-linearity of partials on any given unison.