Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Which DP could play Pianoteq best?

It costs extra money, it also sounds worse, is more inflexible and might have latency problems etc.

All of the suggestions everyone is making at my request are very sensible, and well worth considering. But it seems that in one way or another there always has to be a fly in the ointment.

A good set of external speakers, and the equipment needed to power them, I think would work perfectly for playing Pianoteq, and all of my problems would be solved. The sky would always be blue and the grass would always be green. Alas, if the sky is always blue then the grass isn't going to stay green for long. Or something like that. Anyway, there are problems for me with that setup. In my 13x13 room I can't think of anywhere to seat good external speakers. In the cavity of the CA65? On both sides of the music holder? One solution sounds bad, and the other looks bad. In my room, which opens out to the living room and kitchen, I have ultra-expensive oak desks and very expensive art works. Quite simply, adding external speakers in my case would be like painting a Rolls Royce in pink, with purple dots. So I'm afraid that isn't an option. As well, by keeping the CA65 I'm still left with only one bland default tone (the Concert Grand) if I decide to use just the piano voices for playing live. But I'd like everyone to know that I deeply appreciate the suggestion.

I'm thinking that there *might* be a sound idea for my particular case, quite different from what I've originally planned. I'm a 68-year-old retiree with a good pension, full insurance, and social security. I don't need to work any longer, but to buy expensive toys--and to get out of the house--I work a few hours every week at Wal-Mart (yecchh!!). Hey, it's a job. And I think 'Bless the Children' when I'm zoning the toy aisle. Oh yes, Lord, bless the children. At any rate, it lets me take home $860 every month, all pure play money. I'm thinking about financing a higher-end DP next April, putting half down immediately, and paying the rest off in about four months. Sounds like a plan. And I think at my age I could keep such a piano for the rest of my life.

The pianos I'm considering right now would include Kawai's replacement for the CS11 (or the CS11 itself), the Yamaha NU1 X, or the Roland LX-17. For feel, tone and the ability to play Pianoteq, I think these might be worth considering. If anyone has experience with any of these models, by all means please feel free to give your opinions.

Thanks to everyone for all the help you've given.

Out of curiosity, why do you need to play Pianoteq and nothing else? Have you tried it yourself, compared to "bland" sampled sounds or you've been just reading some stuff? Have you tried the Roland's own fully modeled sound in LX-17 for instance if you insist on modeling?

It requires nice looking speakers, too! Mine are pretty good looking.
The laptop takes up lvery ittle room, and the cables are hidden.
The original speakers required no stands, but the add on speakers did. All nice looking, though.

Otthers can (and have) done better. But I've had no wife complaints, so we're good.

if you want good sound, maybe consider getting good speakers, even if they don't look good. you may adapt, in time to the look.
check these out:

http://atomicamps.com/clr-reference-frfr-monitors/

CyberGene, thanks for taking the time to respond to my posts. What I'm looking for is two things: a DP that can play Pianoteq with full fidelity through its speakers, and a higher-end piano than my CA65, which has several superb native piano voices of its own, quite apart from Pianoteq. Sometimes I will want to fire up the computer and play Pianoteq modelled pianos, and sometimes I'll just want to turn on my DP and play its default sampled or modelled voices. Pianoteq has so many superb modelled voices that it becomes fun to play a song with different forms of expression, but sometimes I'll just want to sit down at the keys, turn on the DP and play.

The CA65 is okay I guess, and I try to find various ways of altering the sound of the Concert Grand for certain moods, but YouTube videos give me the impression that 2018 may be a good year to upgrade. I think maybe my best bet is to just be patient for now, and see what happens in the next six months.

Again, thanks for your response.