My Concern with PianoTeq

David Lai · 2024-10-03T13:46:50+00:00

Hi friends, This thread is mainly for, well, you guessed it. Under inspiration of Pete14's message on a thread about a sampled Steinway D: "Okay, let’s forget about who’s the best for a minute (Pianoteq), and pay attention to the bigger picture…" In his mind, there's none other than PianoTeq that has all he wants in a piano. It's a pitty the demo of PianoTeq has some non-working keys, otherwise, I would now throw in an audio file of recordings from a real Steinway, compared to Modern D, then PianoTeq. But since I can't, I'll do the next best thing. I discovered this video not long ago, and I thought I'd post it here. It's someone demoing PianoTeq's acoustic pianos in various musical styles. Here are my thoughts after listening to the video: From version 6 (pirated version I happen to try) to now with version 8 (as presented in this video), how far have we come? It seems like we've progressed little, if not at all. The nasal mids are still there, the synthetic high register is still there, the strange tones when played loudly is still there. The synthetic quality of this synthesizer remains unchanged. And no matter what type or kind of piano it attempts at, it fails because it has its own sound signature pasted on all of these pianos. So they are not models of Steinways, they are PianoTeq versions of Steinways at best, and I'm being polite in still giving it a name and place. That's why PianoTeq never won me over in the first place, even with its playability and phrasing. Of course, it's small on resources, too, but the main thing that makes me want to continue using the piano VST is its sound, and that, PianoTeq loses bigtime. Now with the Modern D, I could phrase like when I'm on VSL, or (heck) PianoTeq, but it won't give me a harsh metallic synth sound. What I hear is a warm, true-to-life sound that is just like the Steinways I've played at school, and the Steinways I hear on recordings. Which is the best? Clearly, a 100% sampled Modern D! As for PianoTeq, if we look at it realisticly, from a sound and aesthetic perspective, it pales in comparison. Now, some people might say, what about resonances? Well, an actual acoustic piano has resonances that blooms over time, and as new notes add to the resonance, the gradual fluctuation of the volume of the resonances is something magical. For the first time, Modern D captures this kind of life-like (living) resonance experience. However, while PianoTeq is best when it stays in the background offering modeled resonances, its resonances can be best be described as a wall. It never interacts with the sounding note, and thus, is dead, not life-like (living). Double hit for PianoTeq. That's all I have to say about it, and I'm very serious about it. No joke! For proof, just listen to the kind of sound PianoTeq produces, as that video as an example. OK, let me take a break from this topic for a bit. You guys, have fun.

OlivierW

I use only Pianoteq 8 (not pirated -i've full license) for Sampled library Sidechained and scripted in APPLE LOGIC 11 AU to produce Sympathetic Resonance (so sustain too that its just ALL Sympathetic Resonance off all keys, not a different fx), repedalling and damper fx for my N1X.

Example with new VI labs MODERN D + Pianoteq 8.3.1, together in LOGIC 11

modern-dpianoteq8-logic11-v104.zip

4MB

to the best of sampling and modeling. it's like an Ivory 3, but better 🙂 (with this incredible new VI labs Modern D)

Because sampled library have lot of problems to simulate SR resonance…. between pedal down and up transitions and repedalling.

Audio demo 🇪

mozart-modern-dpianoteqchromaverb-logic11.mp3

Regards,

Olivier F.

Pete14

[deleted]

😆

Pete14

[deleted] Iran and Israel are at war according to the news, no? You work almost 24 hours a day but you have time to immediately reply to anyone with your vast knowledge of VSTs.

This!

And yes, I agree with Mac, stop feeding this “Pianow” troll!

pianow

[deleted] Iran and Israel are at war according to the news, no?

no, if we were at war, i was in army right now like any other man in my country, but the actual thing is kind of a joke, Israel says that they wanna destroy our country because we're supporting Palestine (we don't let Israel terrorist to kill everyone they want so they hate us),
and we say : go f yourself

as i said don't let the social media bullshit you

next, I'm a chef, it's not like I'm working in a mine, so i can type a few replies at work and yeah my vst knowledge is quite a lot.

I kinda like I'm feeding the troll again, is that the case here?

pianow

David Lai what is this new account doing here? Frankly

guess😂 it's not obvious at all

CyberGene

Indeed, even according to our (Western) news, Israel and Iran are not at war yet. I hope that there won’t be further escalation and there will be peace.

pianow

CyberGene

thanks cg, i hope that as well🤍

Pete14

pianow next, I'm a chef, it's not like I'm working in a mine, so i can type a few replies at work and yeah my vst knowledge is quite a lot.

I wanna know what restaurant this “guy” works at, so I can give it ONE star!

It is unacceptable to be typing whilst cooking , and only god knows how many steaks this “guy” has dropped on the floor; only to pick them right up and over-cook them!

Would any of you eat a meal cooked with one hand whilst the other hand is busy typing about Modern D?

QuasiUnaFantasia

Pete14 Would any of you eat a meal cooked with one hand whilst the other hand is busy typing about Modern D?

Is a meal cooked with one hand worse than a piano concerto played with one hand?

Pete14

QuasiUnaFantasia Is a meal cooked with one hand worse than a piano concerto played with one hand?

Yes!

I’ve seen some one-handed pianists playing the hell out of Ravel’s “For Lefties Only!”

QuasiUnaFantasia

Pete14 I’ve seen some one-handed pianists playing the hell out of Ravel’s “For Lefties Only!”

Now imagine they were cooks instead of pianists.

Pete14

QuasiUnaFantasia Now imagine they were cooks instead of pianists.

Okay, I see your point.

But keep in mind that Ravel’s “Piano Concerto in D For Lefties” (the actual title) was written for people lacking a right arm, but as far as I’m concerned this so-called Pianow has two perfectly fine arms/hands, and I’m sure his boss isn’t paying him to cook with one whilst he types with the other…..

David Lai

Pete14 “Piano Concerto in D For Lefties”

The name was "Piano Concerto in D for the Left Hand," not "Lefties."

David Lai

Pete14 And Ravel wrote this for someone who lost their right arm during WWI, that's true.

David Lai

Pete14 It is unacceptable to be typing whilst cooking

Unless you've been living under a rock, Microsoft has their speech recognition feature for sometime, and you can also dictate on a smartphone. I've used speech recognition when my hands are busy.

QuasiUnaFantasia

I'm frequently online while cooking meals; it does not seem to be a problem for me. Even if I am so helpless as to use both hands for preparing food.

David Lai

QuasiUnaFantasia And smart speakers could let you go hands free while cooking. There are lots of ways to make Internet and cooking work!

pianow

QuasiUnaFantasia
the point is I'm not doing both at the same time😂
we're literally 60 people in here and it's not like I'm doing everything just by myself, so there's time to text and call other people.

David Lai

pianow Good point. 🙂

Pete14

David Lai And smart speakers could let you go hands free while cooking. There are lots of ways to make Internet and cooking work!

But that’s my point; it’s not whether you could do it, but rather whether you should.

Yes, you can go hands free to type your thoughts whilst your hands sauté some onions, but in the end something’s gotta give, and you either end up burning down the onions, or screwing up your “message to the world.”

Well, I have a message for you people, I come from a time whence people did one thing at a time, but boy, did they do it well, but now, I order a well-done steak, yet still they give me rare (code for raw), why? because they’re effing busy doing other things whilst they cook my steak!

Do you think Einstein would’ve cracked the theory of relativity if he’d been on the phone with his mistress whilst he worked on the advanced mathematics? NO! and that’s why he locked himself up for weeks at a time to concentrate on one and only one thing!

And then we wonder why we don’t have people like Einstein anymore…….newsflash: you can’t figure out “The theory of everything” if you’re trying to do every single thing at the same time!

BTW, why do you think “modern” Steinways suck compared to “vintage” Steinways? Well, that’s because the guy working on your modern M (acoustic) is also busy ranting on this here forum……at the same time!

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