Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Pianoteq introduced a Steingraber E-272

https://www.pianoteq.com/steingraeber

Looks interesting with the Sordino pedal and Mozart rail.

https://www.keyboardmag.com/gear/modartt-releases-steingraeber-e-272-grand-piano-for-pianoteq

Also: "Offer until 30 June: Buy the new Steingraeber E-272 instrument pack and get 50% discount on one additional instrument pack of your choice."

And Pianoteq 6.2 available.

I was too hurry to buy mine, and didn’t see the discount.

No promotional code was sent to me : I should have buy two instruments in the same order.

Please inform us what you like and don't like about it

It's wonderful. Seems to combine the subdued character of a Blüthner with the strength of a Steinway D. And there's the Mozart Rail. Simply wonderful.
Pianoteq has upped the ante once again

I do feel better a « real » piano sound with its complexity. Although I have found other Pianoteq a little synthetic (and prefer sampled piano for this reason), this one pass the bar (then I was in hurry to buy it)

I have read that other pianos have been (freely) upgraded.

I think the free demo is worth a try with this piano.

nice, this is the first time in my life that I liked the pianoteq sound.

Same here. I'll try it. But even at 50% off, I don't think I'd buy any of their older ones, they just don't work for me. Even for the version of Pianoteq I'd buy to run this new piano, I'd pick the one that comes with the EPs, which I'd probably find a use for before the two grands that come with the "piano" version. But wow, this new one sounds impressive.

If you talk to Modartt’s customer service I am confident they could offer you the 50% off discount separately. They have been quite responsive when I have interacted with them in the past.

I play it this morning after I play new VSL CFX and my first impression it is probably the best Pianoteq piano instrument. I like the sound very much. Let the time tell the rest.

......did you prefer it over the VSL CFX?

Because it is Pianoteq and earlier we have a hard debate about modeling vs sampling so I stop comparing this two. People love to choose sides and then wrote hard words against the opposite that leads nowhere. So, different approach, different instruments. I love both and enjoy both for different reasons

@Frederic, I'm sure if you contact Pianoteq they will offer you the discount after you've made the purchase. The contact person (Niclas) was very helpful each time I contacted them and a pleasure to talk with. I really enjoyed their customer service!

I can't wait to try it. The constant updating and the possibility to buy new instruments is one of the best parts about Pianoteq! And I also love the very small footprint, loading speed, auto-recording function (this beside the playability which is it's well-known strength and the sound placement which immerses me like I'm in front of the real thing!).

And last, but not least, I see Phil has upgraded his piano. Until now he was playing on an FP90. But if I'm not mistaken, he stuck to the PHA50 action - I think that's a polished ebony HP605. I wonder if it's purely by preference towards the action or there are other reasons as well behind this choice.

EDIT: I didn't watch the whole video yet. He mentions it at around 3:15 that he really likes the action, that it feel really similar to Steinway. It's funny, I had the same feeling a couple of years ago in a large music shop that had several brands (Steinway, Boesendorfer, Yamaha and more uprights and digitals).

I don't really get it. I tried it, it was okay, but very similar to the Grotrian. The tone is slightly more focused and less flabby than the Steinway D, for example, and maybe that's what people like? Honestly, though, to me it sounds like a small incremental change at best, and I'm not sure I even prefer over the other Pianoteq instruments.

What am I missing? This is all through headphones; are you guys using speakers/monitors? Are you adjusting the settings in some way? I'm genuinely curious.

I gave it a quick try now and I can't say I like it more than the Grotrian Player for daily use. I can see it being an interesting choice for certain music, but for the time being it didn't make it to my wishlist. And I actually fell it's quite different from the Grotrian. Brighter, a little thinner, more responsive, even a little jumpy I'm tempted to say. I feel like I should change the velocity curve for it to feel more controlable.

I'll definitely download the update and check out the new instrument demo. I gotta give it to them that they're pretty much the only VST developer who allows you to actually demo their instrument in a meaningful way, along with Arturia and their PianoV2. (I think some other developer offered you like a single octave as a demo or something? lol)

Anyway, IMHO they should just focus on getting the core piano sound improved. What's the point in releasing instrument upon instrment when the basic sound still has a lot of improvement ahead until it can actually pass as a replacement for a recording? At this pace I'll not experience a modeled piano that satisfies me in my lifetime.

I don't get it, especially considering that with Arturia PianoV2 they finally have some competition which will hopefully improve over time as well.

Oh well, I don't care all that much. Everytime I play Pianoteq and then start up a sampled piano I am so glad that it's over. I wish them all the best and hope that they'll improve on the sound even more, because modeling definitely has a good future.

VSL let you demo theirs as well for 30 days without restriction if you have bought a Vienna Key (for €24). Not sure about their policy if you already have an elicencer key; it's possible they'll let you demo for free then, but I don't know if that's the case. Without an elicence key, you can also access buy a short demo of all their products for €18. So possibly not free, which is unfortunate, but definitely meaningful.

They are going for the creative approach because the market is practically empty (only Roland are making hay with Pianoteq):

a) By creating different models of various pianos, they might learn something they otherwise wouldn't have learned if concentrating on improving just the Steinway D. They can then apply these to the other pianos.

b) They are pretty much competing in the modelled piano market successfully with Roland. Roland can offer 1000's of sounds, rhythms, hardware etc that Pianoteq can't. By expanding their instruments, Pianoteq can create markets Roland is not competing with (all the other modelled instruments pianoteq have made other than the Grand Piano) instead of just maximize the existing market.


c) This is the beginning of the piano modelling era---which only kicked off big-time in 2009. When you start off, you're better generating lots of variation because there is less competition in the market.

Compare this idea with open positions in Chess: you might consider 5 different moves only 2 or 3 levels deep in an open position where things are not critical (hanging on a knife edge); whereas, if the position were static during a tight midgame with only a few good candidate moves worth pursuing, you'd more likely attempt to consider 2 moves 5 levels deep.

In the same way, as there is no great competition in the piano modelling market, now is the time to create more products to diversify the market that you're in. When other competitors start to develop serious modelled piano competitors, Pianoteq will then use their greater market share and distribution (as well as resources such as research cash) to invest in improving the quality of all their instruments. That way, having already developed many pianos to a decent standard by evolution, when the time comes to stave off competition, all can be improved for quality leaving competitors far behind.

Look at it this way: when Apple computers was run by Steve Jobs, Apple continually brought out new products rather than sitting on their laurels. Pianoteq are constantly innovating, this way, they can start new markets whilst still pretty much dominating the existing modelled piano VST market.

There is an additional thing to consider. It is in principle always possible to increase the sound quality of a modelled piano by increasing the number of calculations involved. This, however, makes greater hardware demands. Since the very low demand on hardware is a selling point for Pianoteq, they most likely do not wish to sacrifice that, merely to bring out better sound quality.

Instead they likely want to wait until their customers have upgraded their hardware, and then unleash the higher quality sound.