My pianos *DEBUNKED*

It took my about 30 minutes to start hearing the fakeness on Sophia pianos. I admit, I was fooled for a while in that department. But, what was immediately clear for me is thay the pivot length on these so called pianos was just not there. As a result, the samples could never come from the longer pivoted real pianos. I mean, come on guys. It was wuite obvious!

The rumours I wrote Sophia asking for a foursome with her, the countess and Pete14 on top of the bluthner are being spread only tarnish my legacy as a pianist while I work on my reinterpretation of some Mozart and Beethoven pieces that in my opinion are lacking.

@Frédéric L "L#p25074 the sound is not provided directly by Modartt)"

They are claiming otherwise in their license agreement, contrary to the laws of physics.

Pete14 I have to say it again, this “teenager” is a prodigy,

Perhaps not a prodigy, but certainly bright. And articulated. I do believe he’s 16, if only ‘cause I spend a lot of time with teenagers and see how resourceful they can be. And I agree the whole stunt was hilarious, and I hope this thread is made sticky.

I find that laughing, especially at ourselves, is a healthy habit, and thank Sofia’s creator for the opportunity.

Have to admit this topic finally got me to sign up here. My first comment when these were dropped on Pianoworld was asking how people who are usually such brutal critics of major piano libraries were loving these so much. Seemed to me part of the allure was that they were free which some did acknowledge could be a factor.

While it is indeed entertaining to watch some of the folks who gushed over these libraries now claiming to have been suspicious from the start, I don’t take near the delight in it that some others here seem to. While I didn’t get into these samples libraries myself (just didn’t have the time), I often wonder how much influence backstory and GUI aesthethics influence my purchasing decisions, especially with effects.

I’ve fallen prey to buying numerous tape emulations for example as I just can’t resist the history behind the different reel to reel machines or studios some claim to be modeled from. Tape delays and vintage reverbs have been another drain on the wallet. Speaking of which, I need to grab the Arturia FX collection before this season’s sale is over…🙃

[deleted] Whenever we buy something without having tried it before, the back story takes on an importance much larger than if we are able to try-before-we-buy. Nonetheless, this particular debacle reveals that even in the latter case (which pertained here) the back story may have swaying power (especially if the con man appears to be giving the goods away for free. But it also has to be admitted that the back story was very well done).

For the record:

The reason I find it so hilarious is that many of the people gushing over these samples hate Pianoteq, and if that’s not hilarious, then what is?

For you see, it was Pianoteq all along! Yes, the same Pianoteq many find “synthetic,” yet when Sofia presented the same wine in a different bottle, suddenly perspectives changed: “such warmth in these samples; I even detect a hint of oak, and the aroma, oh, the aroma is just exquisite!”😆

Pete14 I even detect a hint of oak, and the aroma, oh, the aroma is just exquisite!”😆

Hmm, for me it was more Hickory scent 😉

Who were those PT haters that suddenly started praising these pianos, I’m asking again? I’ve seen mostly unknown and newly registered users. I guess it’s only MacMacMac who said rather positive words. And they were positive in the context of free libraries:

I must say that I am blown away. I've never heard amateur pianos sound this good.

As I said, the story was carefully chosen to elicit amazement. Made by an amateur, a young girl 😉 Of course Pianoteq sounds fantastic for an amateur. But is it fantastic for a professional product in version 8 after close to 20 years of continuous development? Nope. The context makes difference here. Imagine if the Italian girl was also deaf! It would have been divine and out of this world for her to produce that sound, right? 😉

Pete14 The reason I find it so hilarious is that many of the people gushing over these samples hate Pianoteq, and if that’s not hilarious, then what is?

Where did this happen?

CyberGene As I said, the story was carefully chosen to elicit amazement. Made by an amateur, a young girl 😉 Of course Pianoteq sounds fantastic for an amateur. But is it fantastic for a professional product in version 8 after close to 20 years of continuous development? Nope. The context makes difference here.

100%. What drew the most attention and praise to these from the very beginning was the fact that they claimed to be produced by an amateur as a personal project. Within that context, they were indeed remarkable, as the vast majority of amateur pianos out there exhibit nothing close to the level of polish these had.

People saw what they perceived to be a very gifted amateur sharing their project with other piano enthusiasts and they in turn offered praise and encouragement. The fact that they were free only added to the favorability factor.

If an art student came up to me having just painted a lovely portrait and asked my opinion, I wouldn't say "I guess it's okay, but compared to Leonardo da Vinci, you really suck." Frankly, only a complete a-hole would act like that.

jdg78 If an art student came up to me having just painted a lovely portrait and asked my opinion, I wouldn't say "I guess it's okay, but compared to Leonardo da Vinci, you really suck." Frankly, only a complete a-hole would act like that.

With all due respect, I’d tell that student “you really suck,” if only to make him dig deeper to find the true artist in him!

https://youtu.be/Q-aXOrAp_zA?si=yjl_xTmnY3SDysvg

Pete14 With all due respect, I’d tell that student “you really suck,” if only to make him dig deeper to find the true artist in him!

LOL.. Well, I guess you must have attended the Bobby Knight school of art instruction. 😅

Too bad that things move this fast and neither I nor @CyberGene had time to try the instruments.

I did not miss the fact that our own CG lives in a city called Sofia, and that @Sofia_MZ spoke a slightly too good English (and with the right British accent which the very rare native-Italian good-English speakers have, which I often exploit for embarrassing them when I speak about my pants, having them misunderstanding those for underpants, but I digress....)
She also spoke great Roman slang, even if it had slight grammatical mispells (it's "sdrumata" not "sdrumada" as she wrote), but all of them were reasonable mistakes that some real native speakers make.
So in the end, I definitely fell in the trap, despite my thought of "holy crap, what a pedigree of instruments can she access and sample!" -- also the names of the instruments, their locations, everything very credible even for somebody who lived (or visited relatives) in many of those places! Congratulations!!!

Everything seems very carefully done, including preventing archive.org from crawling https://luciphercode.wixsite.com/sofia-mz so that now https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/https://luciphercode.wixsite.com/sofia-mz is a 404 and the website is really gone for real.

Very interesting to watch this unfold (in accelerated motion since I typically don't have time follow the forum on business days).

@CyberGene can you rename the thread? The title respects only the first message or perhaps two, and everything else should be instead titled "Debunked!" -- I think it's okay to leave the thread as is (no need to split, IMHO) but do change the title please?

RIP I did not miss the fact that our own CG lives in a city called Sofia, and that @Sofia_MZ spoke a slightly too good English…..

Hmm, interesting……🤔

Sure, Pete.
And CyberGene is the walrus. 😀

Hey, it was Del Vento who made the ‘observation’!

I also think there is some personal touch here with the Italian thing, since I’ve posted on multiple occasions about how much I love Italy and the Italian culture and products 🙂

….and the plot thickens….🧐

I think it was CyberGene all along! 🤣

I feel so…. violated!

I could have tainted myself with Pianoteq!