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How about a DP with built-in Pianotec and VST instruments?

How about custom made DPs? Select audio / BT in, speaker (size), 76-88, etc? Why "one size fits all"?

Got it as to economies of scale, but I have the impression people are over and underpaying for what they want.

Thoughts?

For the simple reason that there is not enough of a market for these things you mention. Large majority of DP buyers just want to turn DP on and play. Most do not even know what VST is.

Osho

Oh dear... not again.


There is a VST player by MUSE research called Receptor, that does exactly what you want. Loading a VST requires a full OS.

BT and wireless is nonsense. We have not managed to transfer CD quality audio uncompressed wirelessly yet. So BT is completely out of question.

Custom setup Get a stage piano...

There was one... https://www.crumar.it/?a=showproduct&b=3 It came with Pianoteq, but you could load alternate VSTs if you preferred (see the Specifications tab on that page).

But in general, you could buy your DP or controller of choice, put a Surface Pro on it, and have the same thing, probably at lower cost. Keyboard manufacturers can't make the computer part as cheaply as Microsoft can, or sell at the same volume-based low margins.

Perhaps this is the main reason + having to pay Pianoteq for licensing?

Also, your on-board piano is a VST in the sense that it is virtual and not real. So Yamaha doesn’t need to stick Garritan’s CFX in there; they only need to make their own CFX sample/modeling better. I’m simply assuming Garritan’s rendition is better based on other people’s opinions (I’ve not tried Garritan’s CFX), but truth is that the current offering by Yamaha is very good, and it ‘blends’ beautifully with Pianoteq via the audio interface.

About Pianoteq : you can purchase a Steingraeber piano with its Silent module made in collaboration with Modartt. I suppose that the Piano Phoenix by Adel H came from a collaboration with Modartt too (pure speculation).

About “any” VST instrument. A VST instruments is optimized to be controlled with a screen and a mouse. A digital piano has typically a very little screen not usable for most VST. A typical DP should not look like a workstation synthesiser. Then an adaptation of each virtual instrument is needed to use efficiently the available screen/button set.

A custom made DP does exists. It is the Viscount Legends’ 70s where you can choose the keyboard (3 options), and add different sound modules (Acoustic piano, Clavinet, External module) to the default E.Piano and Sound Collection modules.

Some synthesisers did have some extension possible (Motif ES with its PLG cards, Roland synthesisers with SRX cards), but now, the extension is mostly by downloading libraries.

This thing has a windows XP in it. WERSI also has a similar concept.

The point is the loading time. The majority of high-end DPs use microcontrollers that have very simple motherboards, or an on-board tone generator (e.g. Yamaha).

No one is interested in a silly Windows XP embedded in a fake digital piano shell. You can buy a mac mini and hook it under a far better DP.

The loading time is a major factor. I'm will only buy Pianoteq if it's ready to play under 5 seconds including the boot time/stand-by time for the operating system.

Imagine to log-in to your computer to play Pianoteq... how stupid is that?

Yes, my old (2002) piano has a simple Super Hitachi 3 (SH3) CPU too handle user the interface and a SWP50 DSP (Yamaha specific), to produce the sound from a wavetable in ROM. Now the SWP70 (Montage and some Yamaha arrangers) can stream samples directly from NAND flash... no loading times like in most sampled based VST. The way Yamaha works has some important advantage from a DP point of vue (fast boot) over a PC based architecture (the booting time of the Kronos is far too long).

I don't see the point. Every piano already has a VST built-in.
Small caveats:
Except for the VPC.
And, strictly speaking, the built-in sound is not a VST. The tech is a bit different.

Yes, a VST is just a bunch of software which is compliant to the Steinberg’s Virtual Studio Technology. It is not a synonymous of a virtual instrument which can be compliant to something else (AAX, AU, LV2, LADSPA...).

But here what was expected is a DP which can import a VST made for a PC... there are too many issues to fixed (graphic user interface, licence activation, full OS support...) that it won’t happen. The best thing to expect is a partnership with a VST editor which would port the VST engine to a DP platform. Probably easier with Pianoteq which has an ARM version.

Native has Maschine+(standalone sampler technology), some midi keyboards and some great piano library.
Maybe, in the future, they will combine everything in a unique piece.
A 88 midi controller with Noire/Gentleman vsts built in would be awesome.

Ptq inside, or Ptq music box.
I think the latter is more possible and convenient, based on ARM structure and built in DAC. Just MIDI USB out and line in from DP.
UI controlling by iPhone or ipad remote connection.

Pianoteq in my piano!!! Nope. I don't even want Pianoteq in my quadrant of the galaxy.

Interesting responses for this somewhat multi-part inquiry... ranging from the "forget it" to the "well, maybe...."

I don't know about you swingin' cats, but I get bored with having only "one" piano sound and like the variety that Pianotec and VSTs bring to the table. It's pretty much agreed here that DP manufactures won't spend the coin to put VST level samples in their boxes. (note: I like the sounds from my Kawais very much). But why not join forces? BTW, I successfully ran Pianotec off of a $100 Windows tablet (that had a USB port), for busking with a $100 61 key, ketar-able but unweighted controller. Sounded great.

BTW, the same debate is currently ranging in the wind synth world, with new offerings, but none of them getting it right yet.

So plug that same Windows tablet into your keyboard of choice (your PX5S, your Numa Compact 2X, whatever), and it sounds like you're all set! Not only have you done it more cheaply than if those companies had built PT into the boards themselves, but you even have the bonus of only having to have bought it once, yet you can use it on any of numerous boards you have or may buy in the future!

Pretty much sums up the story. No point in reinventing the wheel when it's already there. The other solutions mentioned all use this similar setup.

The most extreme case is the Korg KRONOS. Kronos is a plug-in player. I don't know anything about their formats but Korg has its own Linux OS that is capable of loading its own plugins, the 9 engines you see in Kronos.

My iPad Air 2 with Korg Module and Synthogy Mobile American Grand (and other built-in piano sounds) along a cheap camera kit interface is also a good way to have better piano sound, in my case with my MOX8 I have on an alternate residence.

iPads, even old, have a good potential as sound modules.

Buy a Roland and you’ll have a piano similar to Pianoteq, namely an “infinitely tweakable” piano that can be made to recreate any existing or even non-existing piano in the universe, if you’re that type of believer.

LOL, "I Darth Mac 'your galactic quadrant overlord' hereby ban Pianoteq from my piano and the third spiral of the milky-way, by order of the imperial senate"

I don't reckon they're that tweakable. The variations between different pianos in Pianoteq are subtle and reflect the character of the original instrument, I fondly like to think.