Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards Pianoteq 7 has now been released

Well, a sampled piano sounds like a recorded piano but doesn’t really play like one. Pianoteq does.
If I want a recorded piano, I buy a cd.
And I have dozens of sampled ones

Hahaha quote of the month !!

they have released bug fix 7.0.1

I thought it was good but I couldn't get on board until version 5 came out. That was the one that got me. Not perfect but IMO I liked where they were going even if it is a slow pace. I think it is a great practice tool and super fast loading.

I agree with others here that the update is an improvement over the previous version, but more incremental than saltatory. Certainly worth the 29 euros for updating. I will continue to use my sampled Bechstein Digital Grand as main VST, but it is nice to change once in a while for variation.

And Pianoteq has some model which are not sampled elsewhere (Petrof, Steingraberg...)

Yes, it is true. While we can't say how much the piano in PTQ really sounds like an AP, at least PTQ makes your DP feel like a real electro-acoustic instrument, rather than operating a CD player with a keyboard input.
I remember someone ever complained that the sound of PTQ was not clear or direct, and I think that was because Mics were not set up properly. Put mics close to the strings and soundboard to make sure that the sound was as direct as possible. Of course, adding a room mic and reverb a little is necessary.

In my opinion, PTQ is not really a VST software, but more like a piano editing and creation tool. All its presets are just a basic starting point, and the rest is up to the players to develop by themselves.

Yep. It seems no matter what Modartt does there will always be people on the negative wagon. Do I think it is the holy grail of pianos, no but it is pretty darn good for my needs. Now I just need to find more time in the day for this thing called piano. Why does life have to get in the way.

People are like that. I am one of these people who, when they don't like something, would be triggered to respond negatively whenever someone praises the product too much (IMO). I know how that type of personality might be annoying, since I've received the same type of comments towards Cybrid which is a hobby project I mean, I could do whatever I decided to do with that project. I could have just cr*pped on top of the action and be happy about it. I'm not selling it, not advertising it. But yeah, it's a project I finished for just myself, yet there were people (not on this forum) who mocked it and tried to undermine my achievement in any possible way And I was perfectly OK with that! People are like that.

In my case, I enjoy PTQ mostly with speakers as, when using headphones, I soon get tired from the metallic sound it generates on higher registers... I wonder if someone knows which parameter could help lowering that harsh (in my opinion / configuration) tone. I have plenty of PTQ pianos and all suffer more or less of same problem.

Using the same exact setup along plenty of other VSTs (sampled), that problem vanishes, so I know it is not a matter of my headphones or the rest of the audio chain. Or myself

You mean not really a virtual piano.

A VST software only means a software which is compatible with the VST interface defined by Steinberg. VST softwares include many sampled instruments, modelled instruments, artificial instruments (FM, analog synth, real instrument heavily tweaked...)

Note : if you like tweaked piano, there is Addictive Key which can only use ffff samples, or pppp samples and all combinations (including the full range pppp-ffff). One of its presets doesn’t seem to be a piano !

I've read a 2019 post on the PT forum basically talking about how you need to set up the EQ and reverb settings differently for speakers and headphone use.

Check out the reply by jcfelice88keys at 11-01-2020 16:21

https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php?id=7050

You know what I mean, I mean the other VSTs.

The metallic sound is particularly present at large velocities, and therefore it can be avoided via the velocity curve. Normally, the velocity curve stretches from the lower left to the upper right corner. If instead it is made to reach the right side of the diagram at a velocity somewhat lower (maybe around MIDI level 100). the metallic timbre associated with the largest velocities is avoided. This lowers the dynamic range, but there is a slider for that.

And what exactly is wrong with a little ‘metal’?

I love me a little metallic around the edges (upper velocities)!

Well, I'll take it. I bought it recently enough for it to be free and it's my favorite instrument VST. I like the idea of the morphing and layering as well. So far, all and all, an improvement.

I try to get the metal fillingin my teeth to match the metallic sound for this great sounding effect

The vibrations are wonderful!

I've been a long time supporter of Pianoteq - and have used v6.x.x almost exclusively as a practice instrument. It has been superb. I've upgraded to version 7 and I have a few observations...

New York Steinway D: This instrument feels mostly like a real step up in terms of tone and realism to the sound - but it's like an unfinished product. I've been playing with it all day, I've set up my velocity curve to my DP action, but in the mid-section the sound feels very distant / muffled. There are also some REALLY unpleasant harmonics on some notes that seem to drown everything else out. This happens for me mostly with C6 on this instrument, and it physically hurts! As the note blooms it just becomes harsh, horrible and overpowering. I can sort-of get round it with a custom microphone configuration, but it makes the instrument unplayable on 'binaural' mode - which is what I use 99% of the time. It's such a shame, as this particular instrument shows a lot of promise of a potential step up in terms of tone / tone development.

Bechstein D282: This has been my go-to instrument ever since it came out a couple of years ago - it's exactly the tone and response I like. It feels like this instrument has been totally ruined in version 7 of PianoTeq. I have a similar issue with harshness in the treble, and this time it's G6 that is giving me issues, but the bloom on most of the treble register makes it sound really horrible in general. I still have v6.x.x installed, and this plays just how I like - so it's not my ears!

I'm not a sound engineer, I don't understand how to tweak Pianoteq sufficiently to get rid of the characteristics I'm coming up against - I'm a pianist and I just want it to sound like it did before...

Skip the "little metal". Give me some "heavy metal". And I don't mean lead.

I've played around some more, and I can make it better-ish. A little more hardness on the hammers, a little less string resonance, and a brighter EQ. But the problem is now the Steinway D sounds like something I recorded outside the room and tried to fix it in post.

I do think they've made the Bechstein even better however; feels more vibrant.