Pianoteq - Hands On: NY Steinway D

navindra Is it fair to say an acoustic grand piano can be fatiguing as well? I personally believe so. I visited a piano shop a few days ago for less than hour. By the time I was done, I was pretty fatigued.

As a person who owned two grand pianos and one upright (for only short overlapping periods), I experienced that and I carefully studied what and why it happened and it was two reasons:

1. sheer volume: the acoustic pianos can be pretty loud, however the player may think he/she is playing softly -- and there is no issue -- besides feeling fatigued later
2. voicing: most Yamaha pianos, and several of other brands (especially when old) are too bright. Some pianists like that (also because it's an intentional voicing to ease the piano "go over" and be heard well when played with a classical orchestra or a modern band), but I don't. So I asked my tuner to "voice" my pianos "dark", and that had the side effect to reduce dramatically the fatigue.

YMMV

RIP Great analysis. If we were to keep things simple, the same learnings could be applied to Pianoteq .

1) Adjust the volume settings (including anything that would impact the perception of volume).
2) Touch up the hammers.

Anecdotally, I've found both to be incredibly effective. The ability to touch up the hammers is an especially impressive feature.

YMMV also applies here.

navindra the fatigue with acoustic pianos is physical, it comes from a sound that overwhelms in sheer volume and you can’t turn it down. The Pianoteq fatigue is mental and is not related to any physical discomfort. I’d describe it best as boredom and sameness for the mind. When I’m fatigued by a real piano I need to rest. When I’m fatigued by Pianoteq I need to switch to a sampled piano and it’s a relief. Those are two very different types of fatigue.

CyberGene navindra the fatigue with acoustic pianos is physical, it comes from a sound that overwhelms in sheer volume and you can’t turn it down. The Pianoteq fatigue is mental and is not related to any physical discomfort. I’d describe it best as boredom and sameness for the mind. When I’m fatigued by a real piano I need to rest. When I’m fatigued by Pianoteq I need to switch to a sampled piano and it’s a relief. Those are two very different types of fatigue.

That is very interesting. I've not used either sampled or modeled instruments for long enough period of times (since I've always played them only as "back up" for the acoustic being used by another family member, or by need to use low volumes not to disturb another family member). So I cannot give you my "authoritative" experience, but in my small thing, I've experienced the "sameness" with anything: from the internal sound of digital pianos (worse offender especially the old ones), to all the virtual instruments I tried, without exception so far. In my case, the "fatigue" results in any digital piano sound feeling "unacceptably bad", not being able to distinguish one piano sound from another and having to stop practicing (but could keep playing "for fun" if I am in the mood). When I could switch to the acoustic right at this point, I always surprised to learn that it sounded "perfect" (even when it was the old, too-bright upright). I'm looking forward to having Mybrid completed and try more to see what happens with more regular sessions!

It's also interesting to note that some players, have the same complain you have with PTQ (sounding boredom with sameness of sound) for the sampled instruments, and they find relief in PTQ which they claim sound "different" even when played "almost but not exactly" the same. Most vocal with this claim is obviously Phil Best.

To me the difference between people are most probably psychoacoustic. And I dare to say IMO in some (small?) number of people it's a self-suggestion based on expectations rather than actual feelings.

I’m sure that after driving a Ferrari for a few hours a sense of “sameness” will set in at some point, so why do we think it different for anything else, including VSTs?

A Ferrari is supposedly a mark of uniqueness and never-ending fun, yet just like a lame Toyota, eventually, that sameness will creep in. It might take a little longer for the Ferrari, but sooner or later you’ll be like, “so, what else do you have?”

Sameness is built into the fabric of everything, the only variant is that it manifests sooner with some things (Toyota) and later with others (Ferrari).

Now, this forum is so alive & vibrant that I’ve yet to notice that ‘sameness’ creep in. Let us keep up the fun; however, when that inevitable sameness starts to creep in, don’t be sad; au contraire, let it be, that sameness, and sooner than you’d think, Yamaha announces the N2X, and we’re back in business.

CyberGene Interestingly, to me, this should be an easier thing to address, with the condition slider and enabling all the humanization options.

I often encounter repeated passages in sheet music and also feel like it is boring to repeat something exactly the same as before, and agree it is mentally fatiguing. A better musician than me finds ways to make the repeated phrases different.

CyberGene QuasiUnaFantasia Then again, why do some people happily play Pianoteq for hours feeling no discomfort at all?

That’s the great mystery.

For my ears, it is not a mystery. If I turn off Pianoteq internal reverb, I can play happily for hours and hours.

Osho

oshogg Interesting! I had not given the reverb much thought with respect to the fatigue. Note to self: must try this!

oshogg If I turn off Pianoteq internal reverb, I can play happily for hours and hours.

Interesting. Just to make sure I understand, you mean the reverb from the effect menu, correct?

RIP Interesting. Just to make sure I understand, you mean the reverb from the effect menu, correct?

I think the answer is "yes". I don't turn mine off, but, nearly tune it out of existence by setting the "Mix" slider all the way down to _42.7db, which is about as close to being "Off" as possible. The piano sounds much better this way.

RIP Interesting. Just to make sure I understand, you mean the reverb from the effect menu, correct?

Sorry for my delay in follow up - too busy with work and life. But, the answer is yes.

oshogg Del Vento Interesting. Just to make sure I understand, you mean the reverb from the effect menu, correct?

Sorry for my delay in follow up - too busy with work and life. But, the answer is yes.

No worries, there's no rush. Thanks a lot for confirming. Do you use any other reverb via a DAW instead, or just keep the sound "dry"?

RIP No worries, there's no rush. Thanks a lot for confirming. Do you use any other reverb via a DAW instead, or just keep the sound "dry"?

I used to use external reverb - but lately I have been playing through speakers. In that case, I just prefer to keep the sound dry and let the room's natural reverb give a little bit of 'ambience'.

Osho