Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Can't get a good sound in any software instrument

Have fun, let us know what you think.

Yes, I agree.

These last days I use Pianoteq with the reverb off. Instead, I use the Voxengo OldSckoolVerb in my DAW, which is a free plugin that gives me a very descent reverb sound. To me it sounds better than the Pianoteq reverb.

For me …. This is a perfect example of why I do not stay with VST sounds for very long when I do try them.

My interest lies in learning to play …. not in learning to find ways to get a "good" sound.

I want to go to the piano … sit down (turn it on) and play.

Pianoteq is definitely not an out-of-the-box great sounding program, but with some time spent setting it up properly and combined with a decent keyboard, I have found it to still be miles better than any crappy or even just semi-crappy acoustic.

Soo....from reading some of the post here.....it should sound like [censored], and everything is just the way it should be. There is nothing wrong with any hardware or software settings.

It's just strange how people can pay hundreds of dollars for something that sounds so bad you can't even play it. And even more strange that it sounds very good when hearing people play it in Youtube videos.

As I said in the beginning, when trying out Pianoteq, it sounds;

Metallic/Electric
Fals, and pitch goes up and down
Closed in, like the sound is coming from inside a tiny box
Like a cheep toy keyboard

(And it's worse on the lower notes, and especially when playing chords)

Maybe this isn't coming through in Youtube videos? But then again, it's very strange how reviewers says it sounds amazing!

Well, THIS is what I find ODD.

You would think that the folks at Pianoteq would try to put the BEST SOUND they can possibly come up with as their OUT-OF-THE-BOX sound.

Why would they make it difficult to find ?

When I use Pianoteq (PRO), I grab a preset sound, set the Velocity Curve to moderately fast keyboard, access NOTE EDIT for volume and set the BASS notes progressively to a lower volume and done. Good to go. That is going to have to be it.

I used to tinker with this and that and found that there is absolutely no end to that. I could spend hours with it and it is different but not better.

I also may install a user FXP from Pianoteq just for fun if I am in the mood.

But …. that does not last long …. within the half-hour I am back to the built-in sound of my MP11SE with satisfaction that Pianoteq (or any other VST) is not better …. just different.

My FP30 out of the box sounded like a toy keyboard. I got Pianoteq to cure that and it did. Pianoteq sounds awesome to me. If I were a reviewer, I would say it too. Sound is personal though. Some people should just go buy acoustical pianos as no digital will be suitable if they don't like either modeled or sampled instruments.

I've tried a thousand ways to tweak PT. The only setting that improved it was this:

Wouldn't it be just as effective, but a lot quicker, to just type "it's crap" again? No need to mess with making graphics for the purpose of putdownery, really...

Bet you never tried the Petrof . . . sounds like a decent acoustic upright. My missus said so, I played it today through speakers. She's right, y'know! Nor did you try the ancient Bechstein. All the qualities of a vintage monstrosity, that's why I love it . . . .

I fed Pianoteq a samplicity reverb file. Sounds pretty neat.

usually I don#t fuss much with the sound. It sounds like a piano either way and the real difference between nice and not so nice is in my hands, so 99.99% of my time at the piano is spent learning the piano because the best tech, the best VST, the best acoustic will sound like crap if the hands aren't up to the task.

It'll be a few decades/lifetimes until a VST like Pianoteq or Garritan CFX will limit my skills.

Yes, Peter. I tried them all.
I tried. And tried. And tried. And tried.
Every version. Every piano. Every tweak, including one suggested here this week.
Really.

It's a small software. Its UI is quite good. Its responsiveness is superb.
But the sound? I've wanted it to be good every since I tried v2.5 almost ten years ago.
No dice.

That's 6.3. You should try 6.4 with the new Bechstein.

Joking aside, I doubt any product would get a universal love from all customers/users. There is no need to get stuck with this one.

However, finding a perfect VST piano that also suit personal preference is both cost and time consuming. I learned it the hard way from the Ravenscroft.

I found the Bechstein to be the best. I was using the the Steingraeber E-272 until the Bechstein came out, and now I use the Bechstein almost exclusively since it sounds better to me than the Steingraeber.

I did try 6.4. That screenshot is old. I should update it.

I noticed a tonal difference between 6.3 and 6.4 . . . kinda spoilt it for me. I'll try it again, to make sure it's not just my imagination . . .

By "difference" you mean a degradation, then. That's definitely not how improvements are supposed to work. Something's backwards, there....is it Pierre, or Pianoteque?

A slight sharpening of the tone, which would require adjustment to the vel curve, or the equ. I really don't want to go there at my age . . . .

I did try the Petrof. And the Bechstein.I tried them all.

Some people like -- or at least accept -- modelled pianos; others don't. Once someone knows his preferences, I think (based on evidence so far, in this forum) that he's unlikely to change them. Especially when we have no agreed-upon, quantitative vocabulary for describing piano sounds.

I can see that MacMacMac is unlikely to like _any_ Pianoteq sound.

Can we stop beating this horse? It's not dead, but it's not going to get up and pull our wagon, for all our prodding.