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A harpsichord-shaped instrument with an action different from both harpsichord or fortepiano ... On depressing a key a wooden strip, not unlike a harpsichord jack, is propelled through an intermediate lever called a Treiber, or driver, upward to the string. It then immediately falls back. The technical difference from the early piano (of whichever sort) is that this tangent slides loosely in a channel, unconnected to any part of the mechanism. The top of the tangent is usually uncovered, and therefore produces a sharp and somewhat cymbalonlike sound, which differs considerably from the "average" fortepiano sound of that time, produced by leather-covered wooden hammers. The difference between this and the harpsichord is that the sound is produced not by plucking but by striking the string, which allows for dynamic variation. (Skowroneck, "The Keyboard Instruments of the Young Beethoven," p. 162-163).