PianoToLife 9.0.2

OlivierW · 2026-10-02T19:51:53+00:00

PianoToLife 9.0.2 — SympResHost has a new name (free, macOS / Windows, AU / VST3 / Standalone) Hi everyone, Some of you know SympResHost, the free host that adds a physically modelled sympathetic resonance around your favourite piano plug-in. Thanks to your feedback, it has grown a lot over the last weeks, and the name no longer said what it does. So from version 9.0.2, it is called PianoToLife. Why a new name? It started as a sympathetic resonance engine. Today it handles the whole life of the strings around your piano: Sympathetic resonance and sustain as one engine: a held key frees one string, the pedal frees them all, exactly like the dampers of a real grand. Real half-pedalling, with damping that follows your foot continuously. Pedal catch when you re-pedal just after releasing the keys, and now a natural bloom when you press the pedal on notes you are still holding (syncopated pedalling), with its own Held control. A natural string release, a wooden key and pedal action, Damper Noise, Ambience… All of it driven by the real sound of the piano you host, and calibrated for each instrument. "PianoToLife" simply says what it is for: bringing your virtual piano to life. Nothing changes for you Same plug-in identity: your sessions and presets open exactly as before. The installers replace the old SympResHost files automatically. It is still free. What's new in 9.0.2 Pedal on held notes: the resonance now blooms in about a second, a little less the later the pedal comes, richer on chords. Half pedal, re-pedalling and pedal catch fine-tuned against a modelled concert grand. Repeated notes under the pedal (Host Sustain): a restruck note replaces its previous strike, so repeats and diminuendos follow what you play. Upright key noise, interface themes, better defaults, smoother CPU. Download https://github.com/owfrappier/PianoToLife/releases/latest macOS 14+ (Apple Silicon, signed and notarized) · Windows 10/11 x64 (installer or zip) A big thank you to everyone who tested, reported bugs and shared their ears on the previous threads. Your feedback shaped most of what is in this version. Comments, questions and audio examples are very welcome here. Olivier

OlivierW

Thank you all, these messages mean a lot to me.

jdg78 Captures of all your VSL pianos, the Korg SGX2 and several Kontakt pianos, all working flawlessly: that's the best test report I could hope for. And yes, the updates come fast. Your feedback here goes straight into the next version. 😄

pianow That message made my day. Bringing your favourite piano back to life is exactly why I started this project.

A word about VSL, though: I really love their pianos. The Synchron recordings are among the most beautiful and detailed sampled pianos available, and that's why they respond so well in PianoToLife. The richer the samples, the more natural the resonance it can build from them. Every sampled piano has the same limit: it switches between pedal-up and pedal-down recordings, with nothing in between. PianoToLife just adds that missing link, from the way you actually use the pedal.

If anyone at VSL ever reads this: I'd be glad to share what I've learned along the way. PianoToLife shows some of the tricks that can bring out the full potential of your instruments, and I'm at your disposal.

Thanks again to all of you. This kind of feedback is what keeps me going.

Olivier

johanibraaten

Today I found some time to try out your program @OlivierW and I’m impressed with your work. I tried it with VSL CFX and it seems to work quite well. It particularly solves one issue compared to VSL:s resonance and that’s the resonance effect you get when playing some notes and hold the keys while pressing the pedal afterwards. That effect is lacking in’s VSL Synchron pianos. I have one question- is it possible to re-map the midi message for silent key press? My controller (Yamaha N1) I from before that was a thing in standard midi and it sends the Disklavier XP (damper position 127) for silent key press which is translated to ”Aftertouch 127” in standard midi. Currently, the only plugin I know of that I can get silent key press to work properly is in Pianoteq.

Great work Oliwer and thank you for sharing it for free for us other to enjoy.

jdg78

@OlivierW I'm still really loving your plugin. And since you are incorporating feedback, I had an idea for an additional feature that I wanted to run by you.

As you know, many piano VSTs lack a dedicated set of una corda samples. While some offer a simulated effect achieved via programing, others have absolutely no built in soft pedal functionality, which limits their usefulness.

For VSTs such as this, I wonder if there is a way your plugin could be programed to create a convincing una corda pedal simulation based on the actual samples, similar to how it uses the existing samples to create a simulated resonance effect.

In the past, I've tried programming something similar for Kontakt via the scripting panel, but to be honest the capabilities of Kontakt are pretty limited, and the results are not all that convincing. And of course this solution only works for Kontakt pianos, so instruments on other platforms are out of luck.

However, if this effect could be programmed into a universal hosting plugin such as yours, it could be applied to any piano that requires it.

Of course this feature would need be optional, so that if the piano already comes with its own set of dedicated una corda samples, the simulated versions could be bypassed in favor of the real ones.

Although I lack the necessary engineering skills to do it myself, it seems to me that this could (in theory) be achievable via your plugin - what do you think?

OlivierW

johanibraaten thank you so much, I'm really glad it works well with the CFX! The held-keys-then-pedal resonance was one of the things I worked hardest on, so it's great to hear you noticed it.
About silent key presses on the N1: yes, this can be done. PianoToLife already treats Note On velocity 1 as a silent key. It's muted everywhere (the hosted piano never receives it), but the damper is lifted, so the string rings sympathetically with the harmonics you play. So I'd just need to translate the N1's poly aftertouch 127 into that silent key. It won't clash with the N1X / P-525 mode, which reads aftertouch values around 20–33.
To get it exactly right, could you send me a short MIDI recording from your N1 (plain MIDI, as received by your DAW) with:
1. a silent key press, held a few seconds, then released,
2. the same, but played while holding the sustain pedal and then releasing the pedal,
3. a normal soft note, released slowly,
4. a note re-pressed before it has fully come back up (the "aftertouch 32" case).
The main thing I need to see is what the N1 sends when a silent key is released (a Note Off, or aftertouch going back down). You can post it here or open an issue on GitHub. Thanks again for the kind words!

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