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

what i am wondering is if the new version has notable differences in sound quality also for the virtual fortepianos and harpsichords? does anybody know?

Does anybody know if I can download the trial version of 7 without it changing anything to my 6 that I already have? I would like to hear if the difference could be worth it, or not.

It's a separate installation. So no worries.

As Tyr said. I have both, 6 and 7 installed side by side in my two laptops.

Thank you! It works fine. I did a blind test and seem to slightly prefer the sound of Pianoteq 6.

I purchased the PTQ7 Steinway D this past week because I sometimes I had to practice on my VPC-1 in my office. Figuring I've spent a couple grand on this set-up I've never found a satisfying VST that made we want to practice this instrument. Up to that point the Ravenscroft was my best sounding VST but it really is not that playable and not able to catch the nuances of a real acoustic piano at least on my set-up with notable latency. I'd have to say after purchasing the Steinway D NY it was a sonic revelation. It is really good sounding IMHO better than Ravenscroft and playing with the usual Pianoteq realism. Unlike the PTQ pianos from 6 the soundstage of these pianos are more 3 dimensional and the accuracy and sonority especially in the bass registers (which for whatever reason in most VSTS is always lacking or very inaccurate sounding more like a guitar bass) is finally there. Though not a perfect incarnation of the Steinway D I think this version captures the essence of a Steinway as good as I've ever heard through a VST. It's not surprising that they officially endorsed it. Some of the PTQ "twanginess" inherit in their piano models is still there but at least in the Steinway D it was far less noticeable. If you're going to be obsessed by minute details you are going to miss why this piano is good especially for a live practice instrument. Overall the piano plays and sounds very much like a real acoustic grand that it is a good substitute to practice on but I still would pick a real grand 10/10 times. My favorite set-up so far is close mic set to sound recording. I don't practice through my earphones much anymore but use my sound system through a 130 watt amp and powered 8 inch 200 watt powered subwoofer with NHT mini-monitor speakers. I think with a better system this piano would sound pretty amazing for a digital.

I just wanted to add, that maybe for some this wouldn't be their go to piano for critical recording but for live playing and practicing through speakers this is very good. I think this is the first time I could honestly say I had musically somewhat satisfying experience playing a digital piano.

I was wondering the same. It is worth it, but Standard is far better thab stage. The note by note volume editor alone is worth it but you also get another piano added for the cost of the upgrade.

I never use the P515 voices now.

Yes, you can download trial version of 7 and it won't affect version 6 in any way. Both are completely independent programs.

Osho

Glad to know you are enjoying Pianoteq 7.

Here are a few things you can try that may help to get rid of the "twanginess". My favorite setup is also a close mic set.

• Start with NY Steinway D Player Close setting. Change the mic types to perfect-omni or other omni mics. I found that in my speaker+room system, they sounded better to my ears. I like to keep the Move the mics closer to each other or far away and see what you like.
• Try turning off reverb or reducing it.
• Play with velocity curve if you are finding the south too metallic or too harsh. Often what you think is normal, will be translated more towards forte if the velocity curve is not right. And, that could result in sound feeling metallic or harsh. You can keep the velocity curve linear and push it leftwards to compensate for it. This isn't really a short-coming of Pianoteq modeling. It is more like finding a right match between what the midi values your keyboard sends and what Pianoteq's model expects for different dynamics.
• What may sound best with headphones may not sound best with speakers and vice-a-versa. So, experiment for both independently.

You can use the A/B buttons to compare the 2 sound settings as you are experimenting until you dial down the one that you like.

It took me <1 hour of experiments to find the settings that I like. And after that, I haven't felt the need to change it in weeks. So, it is not a constant tweaking process. Once you get something you like, set it and forget it.

Osho

Great! I will give it a try. Thanks!

I just changed my practice preset to use perfect-omni instead of the default and it's soooooo good!

Thanks a ton for this hint!

Would you use the player perspective for a recording as well?

Can you post that improved patch somewhere to try it? I tried the default presets but they weren’t good. I’m not sure why they never put some well made presets and people have to tinker to improve upon the sound.

+1 on the addition of presets.

Every time I tinker with the mics I mess things up.

Do they expect us all to be sound engineers? What the heck do I know about “perfect-omni” or slightly-crooked omega. I’m a musician, for god’s sake; is that not enough? Do I need a degree in engineering gibberish, too?


Disclaimer: I still like Pianoteq!

I decided to still give it a try once again, I have some time today.

Well, the very first impression once again with the NY Steinway D is I don't like it and everything I hate is there but nevertheless I decided to analyze what's wrong. Two things were immediate:

- It overreacts in velocities and makes it easy to produce loud-notes in a non-linear fashion. It reminds me my struggles with Kawai digital pianos. Apparently needs touch curve adjustments
- The highest octaves are loud. I've had the same problem with the Cybrid initially which can be explained by the fact I measure velocity only. On a real piano it's the *energy* of the hammer that matters and energy is "mass x velocity^2" and because hammers progressively become lighter, in the Cybrid controller code I had to introduce gradual correction to the produced MIDI velocity the upper I go, so that the response feels linear.

So, I first attempted to correct touch response with the Calibration procedure in Pianoteq. I followed the instructions closely, played quietly, louder, etc. Well, it ended up massively WRONG! It started behaving almost like a harpsichord. Not sure what's currently wrong with the calibration procedure and if anyone has managed to produce something, but I find it totally useless.

Then I tried to manually change the curve (BTW are there predefined curves like "heavy", "light", etc? I couldn't fine such, I could only draw/drag points on the screen). So, I got a relatively better response if I use a straight line that won't end in the upper right corner but will end slightly below. However the timbre dynamics suffered. It was a Kawai Déjà vu - you can tame the loudness but the timbre suffers. I'm sure note per note editing may help here but I didn't know how to do that in the demo version.

Then I tried using the "NY Player clean" (there's no "close", do you mean "clean", Osho?) and changed the mics to perfect-omni. Didn't make huge difference TBH, but I was on headphones anyway.

At that point I decided there's potential but was a bit exhausted in tinkering. Might continue some other time. Then I switched to the binaural CFX and was relieved. And then to Garritan CFX and was WOW!

------

Bottom line: I think Modartt might need to invest some time in creating customized settings for various digital pianos and controllers. Is there anyone with a N1X who have made all these detailed note per note modifications to tame the touch response without screwing up the timbre changes, as well as compensating the high octave loudness? It seems this will be a lot of manual customization that may well take a full day. But there's potential.

Well, I still find the bass unconvincing and rubbery and the entire tone across all keys twangy.

Once again, Modartt should work towards customizations for various DP-s and controllers, or otherwise the default state of Pianoteq and the presets is rather appalling which certainly contributes to my disappointment with it. Take for example Garritan CFX - I don't customize it at all, it just plays perfectly with the default settings. Maybe hire professional pianists to prepare touch curves and detailed settings?

I agree : I expect a product to sound good with a minimum of tweaking. (And I can’t apply many tweak with Pianoteq Stage)

@CG: Yes, there are predefined velocity curves for heavy, very heavy, light, etc. If memory serves, you right click on the velocity curve window.

Also, Modarrt has a forum for exchanging velocity curves. There is a thread with a suggestion for N1X:

N1/N1X velocity curves

Pianoteq's velocity curve presets are labeled for slow-to-fast keyboards (which actually makes more sense than light-to-heavy). For Roland's PHA4 and PHA50, I find the "Slow Keyboard" preset works nicely.

Cybergene - it would be interesting to see which velocity curve preset works better with your Cybrid piano action.

Here's the Pianoteq menu (right-click on the velocity curve)

Seems like the note edit screen is not working on my MacBook Air M1:



I can drag this yellow triangle up and down but that's about it. Apparently there must be some graph there or something but it's not rendered...

Never mind, after a restart it's OK.

There's something really wrong with the higher octaves. Even if I touch the keys very very lightly (observing that the MIDI velocity is in the single digits) Pianoteq generates some notes that sound just like normal attacks but quieter. It's very weird and disconnected. I'll post an example and comparison soon.