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Doesn't matter as you like the results. For me too on my Casio PX5s keyboard I use Pianoteq and like the results. Others might not and that is there choice.

. . . I then tried ASIO4ALL, but I get absurd levels of sound distortion (no matter what buffer I use, even at max) in every DAW that I've loaded (VSI Workshop, Reaper, Cantabrile). My next step would be purchasing an audio interface that includes its own ASIO drivers, but I'm a bit new to this and would rather not spend more money if avoidable.

Agreed. Pianoteq is really good here!

Congratulations navindra. Thanks for sharing.

Nice playing. Really. You seem more at ease playing this piece. On some or your previous video you looked more tense.

One thing, would you mind sharing the Pteq piano version AND preset on your videos?

I've only recorded two videos with Pianoteq -- the first was with U4 à la Monk with Pianoteq 6.7 and I think it was generally well-received.

For the second one, I used Pianoteq 7.0.5 but I'm still very curious to know what people think about it generally and whether any Pianoteq users can identify the instrument independently.

My Guess is the Bluthner

I've been working on this for a while, so here it is:


A musical concept where I use the Novus NV10 native engine for the first half of the piece then switch over to Pianoteq 7 running on the Raspberry Pi 400.

If you know Gymnopédie No. 1, you know that the two halves are nearly identical except for the concluding measures. Hence, it's up to the pianist to create interesting musical contrasts and variations. I very much attempted to do this with dynamics and phrasing, but added a touch of individuality by switching voices as well -- I think of it as easing up on the metaphorical soft pedal.

I'm a beginner pianist, so I would never be able to match the more advanced players in this forum, but what Pianoteq afforded me here was the ability to create something individually unique, and hopefully, something musically interesting.

Down to brass tacks -- Novus vs Pianoteq.

I'll have more to say about Novus-specific things in the Novus thread. Let's just say it was not entirely a bed of roses and I experienced some frustrations.

I chose the SK-EX Romantic rendering here and, to me, it's undeniable that the sample is absolutely gorgeous. The resonances are lush and the SK-EX engine's hybrid modeling approach is extremely effective.

The playability and versatility of this Romantic rendering doesn't match the Classic rendering, let alone Pianoteq, however Romantic absolutely sings a sweet song and the more limited palette afforded only seems to make it easier to play and make it sound good. I was often tempted to finish the entire piece using just this rendering, especially since switching to a different piano with a different response mid-way can throw things off.

You be the judge on Pianoteq's timbre and overall sound. I tried to create my own personalized piano for this piece, for better or worse -- you tell me.

Frankly, I don't think anyone outside of elitist circles, not even most amateur pianists, really care about timbre in a more absolute sense. I flighted my piece with my inner circles and no one had anything bad to say -- usually it was "we like both" and "what are you even talking about". There was absolutely no criticism directed at Pianoteq, and usually it was more along the lines of "wow, that sounds really good" or "I really like both of them".

My theory is that once timbre is decent, or good enough, string resonances trumps everything. Resonance+reverb is a major component of what creates the feeling of a piece.

Pianoteq is absolutely majestic here. Pianoteq sings effortlessly with crystal clarity and bringing out different voicings can be a joy, despite my skills and consistency in playing being limited. In the hands of an expert, responsiveness and playability is everything.

I didn't tamper with any settings that might have made it easier to play consistently by restricting the tonal palette i.e. the velocity curve and dynamic settings -- so there was a lot more to work with here. The wider tonal palette makes it easier to shoot oneself in the foot, so to say, but provides for a true range of expression for a more experienced pianist. There is one regret I have -- a Pianoteq setting that I overlooked until it was too late -- but I'm not going to mention it unless someone notices it first.

Beyond the sound, Pianoteq provided a superior environment in every way:

• Unlike with the Novus, I never lost a recording. MIDI auto-archiving is priceless.
• Unlike the Novus, capturing MIDI with the ability to tweak voice settings and re-render extremely high quality audio is priceless.
• Reviewing my performance on Pianoteq allowed me to identify many mistakes, such as missed or silent notes, and diagnose issues with my performance. Even when I wasn't performing on Pianoteq, it was always recording. Truly instrumental to the learning process, when you can no longer have a teacher by your side. It taught me to me listen more intently.

The Raspberry Pi 400 never broke a sweat with this piece. It was flawless and invisible.

I ran Pianoteq on it at 48000 Hz, 128 samples, and 256 polyphony (never got this high), in real time. I had two simultaneous VNC sessions open to it to monitor recordings. I controlled switching purely from the Novus touch screen.

So, is Pianoteq worth it? Or did I blow it?

With what latency? I find that even with my MacBook Pro the latency is barely acceptable. Feels "weird", and reason becomes clear if you play both Pianoteq and internal sound together: the former is a tiny bit too late...

With what latency? I find that even with my MacBook Pro the latency is barely acceptable. Feels "weird", and reason becomes clear if you play both Pianoteq and internal sound together: the former is a tiny bit too late...

I was tipped off on Twitter that Pianoteq ARM64 on Raspberry Pi yields a significant performance boost.

...

It's a remarkable achievement. No spikes whatsoever on a challenging test.

I only hacked up my current installation to support 64-bit ARM temporarily -- this isn't even a proper install.

Good guess! It's actually the C. Bechstein.

I missed it, but do you have an idea how much latency overall there is with your Pi/Pianoteq setup with respect to the internal Novus generated sound?

So you don't have any issues with running PT7.x on a Raspberry Pi. I've ordered an audio interface (MOTU M2) in preparation for when I receive the NV-10, so I can create the same setup as you have.

In the end the only difference would be that I'm running Pianoteq on an (older) Intel NUC, with an i3-6100 CPU. When I start swiping the keyboard up and down with pressed pedal, the performance index is 79, and it starts clipping at a polyfony of around 160.

navindra, my apologies if I overlooked this, but which generation of Raspberry Pi are you using?

A Raspberry Pi 400 from Pianoteq's forum KJ.

Navindra: why haven't you used something like a NUC and a bluetooth keyboard with integrated touchpad? You could have put the NUC permanently behind the piano, and it wouldn't have required a cable. It would also have been faster. (I like Linux, and use it a lot, but not when I am not certain of hardware support such as with audio interfaces... maybe I'll someday try it on the NUC and see how the MOTU 2 works there.)

Your plans are really impressive and elaborate! Photos of your final setup will be great. I only used velcro and light tape... and well, you can "see" the results of that in my video above.

I have an Intel NUC Skull Canyon from a few years ago but it is far from silent, although I use it for desktop computing not an embedded application. I am quite allergic to fan noise and the Raspberry Pi 400 is 100% silent yet always working.

This person is using a Raspberry Pi 400 with MOTU2 on their AvantGrand N3X.

The MOTU2 looks super nice and I do wish I had gotten that one!