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There was a very old thread in the past where I recorded the Chopin Prelude in Em with various VST-s and I also posted the MIDI file for people to compare.

I didn't have time to look for it again and I prefer always playing the pianos live to have the aural feedback than use a MIDI file, so created a quick comparison today with N1X vs Garritan CFX Full and Pianoteq 6.5 (released yesterday).

I was in a hurry and couldn't show my best, and also my daughter went in the middle of recording the last one (Bechstein DG) and I was barely able to hear how I will finish it but anyway

Yamaha N1X binaural

Garritan CFX Full

Pianoteq 6.5 - Steinway D ("Prelude" preset)

Pianoteq 6.5 - Bechstein DG ("Prelude" preset)

All are WAV files. In Pianoteq when exporting I selected high quality and normalization. For the Garritan and the N1X I normalized the wav files in Oceanaudio on my Mac to -1dB. No other changes are done.

P.S. Pianoteq is a trial version, so a few black keys at the end are silent

you know the drill...garritan and pianoteq sound both good, and yamaha sounds like a piano toy from 1980.

I think the last chord says it all: N1X is simply a set of notes piled up together. Pianoteq manages to keep it all together yet simultaneously also go in all directions; like a quantum particle entangled with an unknown and spooky parallel universe simply waiting to be discovered.
Garritan is okay.

See my forum signature. You have just been memorialized!

The new version of Pianoteq is a big improvement. The binaural recording of the CFX reminds me of sitting in a small studio with a big piano -as it should, I suppose. I like it.

Thanks for posting the Wave files to Dropbox CyberGene. I have to say Pianoteq is getting there. I'm glad I brought it several years ago. I still have to buy one of the more recent add-on instrument packs.

The Steinway D is a nasty affair which is obvious in the repeating chords but I can admit the Bechstein DG is a really good patch. Maybe I can still detect the typical modeling sound I don’t like but it’s the best from Pianoteq I’ve heard so far

After hearing these recordings several times, I've reached the following conclusions:

1. Yamaha N1X binaural - In the first round it was my least favourit piano sound, because it feels too dry. But in the third round this impression was inverted and the N1X seems to me to have the best overall sound. I think I can play with this sound for hours without becoming tired but I can't say I love these piano sound.

2. Garritan CFX Full - The best in the first round but in the other rounds the reverberation feells annoying.

3. Pianoteq 6.5 - Steinway D - The high and low notes seemed ok but the chords in the left hand don't sound to me like a Steinway D. If feels like it was another person playing these chords in another piano.

4. Pianoteq 6.5 - Bechstein DG - Ok but not great.

Thank you for these experience!

C. Bechstein DG is my current favorite from Pianoteq. I've been using it as my go to for my FP30. It's the one I used for this ABF recital submission of a few days ago.

Still gaaaarbage, though? You didn't say. Which was unusual...

Thanks for the update heads up, btw. Downloaded and being evaluated as we speak, to see just how much better it is than an N1X.

Is it because we all know Steinway sound very well? Bluethner, Grotrian, Petrof, Bechstein: All of them are more pleasant to my ear...

This... this is beautiful

Nice playing CyberGene. And thank you for taking the time to put these recordings together for a quick "shootout".

The N1X sound is quite impressive.

The Garrian CFX sometimes exhibits a cohesiveness. Alas, the ambient room & the noise floor probably contribute to that cohesiveness and get slightly irritating. I turn down the ambient mics and that helps a bit.

The PianoTeq is improving but still has some non-natural sounds to my ears, although I prefer the Bechstein over the Steinway.

I suppose the player's live "experience" is not really captured by the wav files, which is most relevant for some of us. Do you feel the playing experience (ignoring sound quality) is significantly better on one of the platforms?

LOL It is nice that Pianoteq is keeps improving and does give an alternative to sampled pianos. I think Pianoteq is wonderful myself. YMMV

I went through the files now with my headphones and while I like the N1X best, I can also understand why people may not be impressed. It shows nothing about its playability that puts it miles ahead of the other three. Maybe that can also be achieved with a note by note editing in Pianoteq but as of now the N1X expectedly is the only one which feels like a real piano, and an excellent one at that, when played. The others have slight discrepancies, would need voicing here and there, maybe brightening some notes, darkening others, changing velocity not just globally but in regions or even per key, etc.

P.S. That Steinway is such a shame... It epitomizes everything I used to hate about Pianoteq. But the Bechstein makes up for it and is a promising step towards the hope modeled pianos can actually compete with sampled ones. Not a giant leap, but not a small step either

Hi CyberGene,

Nice playing!

What would be cool would be an acoustic recording of the same by your hand. Do you have a spare CFX grand? 😉

Interesting, although I think that the Pianoteq needs more bass in the EQ or maybe just the mids seem too loud. Liked the Garritans most though.

Kind regards

Doug

Just listened to a few other Pianoteq renditions and they are all similar in sound. Seems that bell like aftertaste is too prominent.

Thank you very much, CyberGene! It's a comparison that I wanted to listen to.

Of that four I'd surely prefer Garritan, it has most rich, resonant sound in my opinion. I was negatively suprised by choppy chords on both Pianoteq plugins, it almost destroyed the prelude. N1X seems to lack resonance.

Hi guys,

This is a recording of the Rd2000 of the same piece: sound patch 0003 mellow concert.