My pianos *DEBUNKED*

fishker not only Sofia_MZ, but Luciphercode

I noticed this since the very beginning and found it a bit odd. Besides, if I remember correctly, she's a schoolgirl (because she mentioned doing her homework), yet she's allowed to go sample various pianos around the country. And also, wasn't one of these pianos belonging to the nobility, some deceased baroness or the likes? Unless Sofia is the really talented daughter of an Italian aristocratic family who is allowed to do that project, it all smells fishy.

CyberGene

To be exact, "psychology student, 22 y.o.":

https://luciphercode.wixsite.com/sofia-mz/faq

Do you know the idiom "развесистая клюква"?

CeDur Concerning details about Sofia's recording technique, have a look at the FAQ section of her website.
https://luciphercode.wixsite.com/sofia-mz/faq

CeDur I think the matter here is not whether one likes Pianoteq or not, but rather whether it's an original sampled piano or a rip-off.

I consider that too difficult to answer for the average participant; that is why I think it would be interesting to see whether there is a correlation between liking Pianoteq, and liking Sofia's piano's. These are questions that any participant would be likely to answer with ease.

Average participant would be biased by that "Sofia" persona and sentiments towards Pianoteq when voting in a non-blind poll. Also people who got cheated tend to have difficulties admitting it happened - there's a lot literature about 'denial' in psychology.

Once some of the skeptical comments began appearing I recalled her interest in Linux. She has posted some details about the process, noise floor, etc on the linuxmusicians forum. It raises more questions than it provides answers. For you fellow sleuthers, page 2 has the details:

https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?t=26314

Also, correct me if I'm wrong since I am myself a non-native English speaker (and excuse me for what is probably a stereotype of the typical Italian) but isn't her English way too perfect (and British?) for an Italian?

CyberGene

I don't think Sofia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_(robot) would have any issue speaking pefect English 😉

Trying to separate the chaff from the wheat (Matthew 3:12) and assuming that every cloud has a silver lining, I can see some use of this libraries (maybe even by their father, Q#1 in FAQ) with something like this:

https://zynthian.org/

It corresponds well with all that "philosophy behind".

CyberGene Also, correct me if I'm wrong since I am myself a non-native English speaker (and excuse me for what is probably a stereotype of the typical Italian) but isn't her English way too perfect (and British?) for an Italian?

We could also ask: Isn't your English too perfect? 🙂

I hope it's not the case, but I have to admit that my suspicions have also been raised that these are, in fact, doctored Pianoteq samples. I had noticed from early on that some of the samples had an oddly synthetic twang to them (particularly the Bechstein) but it's easy to dismiss these types of concerns when your frame of reference is with other free amateur pianos where the general quality level is, frankly, pretty low.

In any case, what always struck me as most exceptional about these instruments was their consistency, low noise floor, and playability, which are extremely atypical for free amateur pianos. However, if they are simply recycled Pianoteq, it would go a long way to explaining this, as these are all areas where Pianoteq excels.

Anyway, I'm sure the truth will come out eventually, and I'm curious to see where it all goes.

Can't wait to analyze myself. Truth for me is I haven't played them much myself. I have 12 hours on a plane soon, maybe that'll free up some time.

jdg78 the fact is the matter is that the playability is very good which is not so common .
If it turns out that the conspiracy theory is valid and that is is indeed based on pianoteq sounds , then the Beichstein will have gone through a very unusual journey as Moddart modelled not the acoustic piano but the sampled Beichstein Digital Grand which is a sampled piano recorded in the famous Teldex studio. So the journey would be as follows :
(1) acoustic -> (2) DG Sampled -> (3) PTQ model based on DG sampled sound -> (4) Sampled from the modelled PTQ !!

fishker

May I ask if you come from a Russian speaking country? I'm not judging by the idiom you've mentioned btw., but you've used ")" instead of ": )" which most people that speak that language do (at least those that I know).

Also, out of curiosity, could you share with us how you found out about that forum? I've noticed you've registered the account just after I've posted my suspicion about 'Sofia pianos' and your first post here was mentioning "Virtual Piano Prank of the Year".

Maybe you could also share your view on the motivation of 'Sofia' for 'sampling' Pianoteq, creating the whole website and writing that whole story about young Italian student, if it turns out to be the case. Of course only if you have any thoughts on the matter 🙂

Joannchr If it turns out that the conspiracy theory is valid and that is is indeed based on pianoteq sounds , then the Beichstein will have gone through a very unusual journey as Moddart modelled not the acoustic piano but the sampled Beichstein Digital Grand which is a sampled piano recorded in the famous Teldex studio. So the journey would be as follows :
(1) acoustic -> (2) DG Sampled -> (3) PTQ model based on DG sampled sound -> (4) Sampled from the modelled PTQ !!

Yes, that is certainly an odd journey... 😂

Anyway, as it seems almost certain now that this is an elaborate hoax, I'm curious what the point of it all was other than proving the ability of our minds to be deceived by a clever story and our expectations to influence our perceptions.

jdg78 Anyway, as it seems almost certain now that this is an elaborate hoax, I'm curious what the point of it all was

Easy answer. That's a PT fan who was annoyed by the PT critics and decided to teach them a lesson 😉 I guess unsuccessfully, judging by the early uncovering of the hoax.

jdg78

My take on this is 'attention'. Do not belittle the importance of receiving attention by some human beings, especially online.

How you say, “you’ve been had” in Italiano?🤣

jdg78 Anyway, as it seems almost certain now that this is an elaborate hoax, I'm curious what the point of it all was other than proving the ability of our minds to be deceived by a clever story and our expectations to influence our perceptions.

Here's a quote from Sofia's piano's home page (my emphasis):

I’m 22 years old, Italian, psychology student

QuasiUnaFantasia Here's a quote from Sofia's piano's home page (my emphasis):

I’m 22 years old, Italian, psychology student

You beat me to it, QuasiUnaFantasia 🙂.

I was just thinking that this could make for a very interesting psychological experiment…