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

I believe you have to choose upfront. The quickest answer to your quick question would be for you to max out your playtime with the generous free trial. What you see is what you get, pretty much.

I like your primary choices above. The new NY Steinway D is worth a spin. I also very much like the U4 for an upright sound.

Thanks for the info. Funny thing is that my favorite piece right now (Schumann op 15 no 1), THE piece that made me want a more resonant piano with more control (ie pianoteq) , has a beautiful low F#..... and that's one of the notes missing in the demo pianos!

Regarding upright:
I briefly considered the U4. However, given that at this point 95% of my piano goals are classical, I want to stick with the grands, and if I want a less resonant sound, my onboard sounds can work pretty well. I do like it, and if I start to branch into jazz or pop I may get it.... it's just not the sound I'm looking for now.....

> low F#..... and that's one of the notes missing in the demo pianos!

Try installing the demo on another computer - all keys work for a while.

I just tried this and I think its come a long way since when I tried it a few years ago. I thought it had a very metallic, twangy sound before, and I'm not hearing it now.

There are silent notes though in the trial version for me, how are you getting none silent notes?

Id be interested in this but its just too expensive. I can understand a professional license costing that amount but not for a home hobby user.

Thanks, but I have now installed the full version anyway!

Perhaps yo


You were right, all chosen up front. I finally downloaded last night: Steingraeber, Petroff, Steinway D, and Bechstein. Bought Bluthner separately.

Just to clear things up, should somebody get to this message and think they are different downloads: the installer (60MB download from the top of my head, ~270MB installed) contains most Pianoteq models (other than some free instruments downloads).

When you activate your license, it enables those that have been purchased, either those chosen with the version (Steingraeber etc. in your case) or those that you bought separately.

Exactly.

4 years ago, I bought Pianoteq on a whim after testing it for only a few days, in a 30% off sale (or was it 50%? I don't remember). The reason for buying it was the ability to run the historical instruments from the KIVIR project. Even the small harpsichords in that project are loads better than anything provided by any digital piano manufacturer.

During that same sale I also bought the Ruckers harpsichord (because its much bigger than the two KIVIR harpsichords) and the Kremsegg 1 and 2 collections. I used version 5.x on the MP7 back then, before I had the LX-17, and had lots of fun playing old Irish airs and folk music from the 1400-1600's with it. (If one has seen some movies or played video games in the Fantasy genre that are situated in a Middle Ages type Fantasy world, you'll know how it will sound.)

Now I upgraded to version 7.x for less than half the price of a meal at a fine restaurant (which I can't have because of the COVID problems).

Thus I have (finally) reinstated the Blanchett and Grimaldi harpsichords from KIVIR, the Ruckers harpsichord, and the 8 historical piano's from the Kremsegg Collection 1 and 2, in preparation of the arrival of a new piano. (Although they do work with the LX-17, obviously; but the connections are not pretty because the connectors are on the front.) All of those instruments sound massively different than any VST that tries to be a Steinway, or a CFX, or whatever. There isn't even something such as "right" or "wrong", because you CAN'T go and play 300 year old harpsichord or piano.

I don't WANT another normal current-day piano, be it VST or modeled... the one in the LX-17 is good enough, and the one in the NV-10 is going to be better (because I like the base sound better). I want something different; thus my version of Pianoteq is decked out with historical stuff.

The harpsichords sound like harpsichords.
The historical piano's sound a lot different than any piano we have now.

You either like the sound, or you don't. It is LOADS better than the attempts of Roland to include some anemically sampled harpsichord sounds and a few pianoforte's in the LX-17.

Compared to many VST's where you often get one instrument (or one instrument in several variations), Pianoteq Stage is almost free. The Stage version costs €129, and you get two instrument packs of your choice, which would cost €49 a piece. So you pay €31 for Pianoteq itself. If you get instrument packs such as the Kremsegg 1 and Kremsegg 2 collection (and the KIVIR instruments), you'll end up with something like 20 different historical instruments for €129. I don't know about you, but having an instrument for the price of a bag of fries with a snack and a coke sounds pretty good to me. (And at some point, I may also buy the historical Karsten's collection.)

For me, it provides a great source of piano(like) historical instruments that sound good (to me), of which it is impossible to tell how accurate they are... some of the models are made off of the single surviving instrument in a museum, or even off of a replica built from original drawings... so there are instruments available to play that don't even EXIST anymore in an original form.

So Pianoteq may not be perfect, but it certainly has its place... especially if you are not expecting to acquire Hamburg Steinway for €129 that blows the €129.000 instrument to pieces.

Falsch you summed up my feeling about Pianoteq. Is it perfect. Heck no but the historical instruments sure are a blast to play. Also I brought the electric pianos too and I'm glad I did.

And then there’s morphing. And note-per-note editing in Pro. Create your own piano.

But some critics say Pianoteq doesn't sound like a piano at all.

I only started to play with the morphing feature. I'm glad I brought the software and upgraded to the pro version at the sale price. For my needs the software is a winner.

Peace

In my case, it actually doesn't, most of the time... because I bought it for the harpsichords and historical piano's.

I play piano pieces on the harpsichords.
Sometimes that causes me to use the harpsichord's extended keyboard range.
Sometimes, I use the sustain, una corda and even sostenuto on the harpsichords.
I un-reversed the pedal on the Cimbalom, so it now has "dampers", (which it normally wouldn't have).

Yes, I know...
I abuse historical instruments.
When I had an MP7, I... uhm... ok. I'll admit it. I put the church organs through the rotary speaker.
When I had the C2D, I played Bach on the Hammond and soul on the church organ.

I'm not a real piano player. Not even a real Hammond or even organ player.... I just play digital keyboard instruments in some sort of fashion. The point is, I'm having fun with this. But, I can actually practice a new piece seriously if I want to; and I do. However, after I know the piece, I'm going to play it on what-eeeeeeever (digital) keyboard instrument that catches my fancy at some point.

I brought it because of the modeled approach and the lite load on my PC. I only started to delve more into the program. Before I just used it to practice on my Casio PX5S slab at night-time.

I am having a blast with the Electric pianos add-on packs. If I had a super computer I would love to get one of the Giga size piano libraries. But for my needs Pianoteq has been wonderful. YMMV

I'm not fond at all of the electric pianos of Pianoteq, I found them death and sterile. I much prefer sampled Rhodes and Wurlys in my DP

But I like pianoteq for its pianos, harpsichords and others

I have some from IK-Multimedia and sometimes I like them and other times the Pianoteq versions.
Have no idea why I do but it is nice to have a variety to choose from.

Can one make decent music with Pianoteq? I didn't believe it, but apparently it's true:



(I was kidding about not believing it)

Wait ‘till you’ve got the entire Studio Bundle.

@redfish1901, how do you know Kassia is using Pianoteq 7 in the Liebestraum video? I can't find any information about the source of her piano sound on her YouTube channel.

When I compare Kassia's performance, which is an amazing performance of the Lizst classic, to Arthur Rubinsteins version assumably played on a grand, the piano sound is more hollow in the former so it could well be Pianoteq Kassia is using.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBflOHufrQY

@TheodoreN, I'm one of those people who are sensitive to how different Pianoteq sounds from the real thing. It took only a few seconds of listening to recognize her "Piano".

OK I understand, and I know many members hera are good at recognizing the various piano VSTs in blind tests, but I'm horrible at it.

When I think of it, the Kassia piano has that hollow sound, so just that could indicate it's Pianoteq. Not that I doubt your conclusion, on the contrary I'm saying you're probably right.