KVR Audio

Captain · Post by **Captain** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 1:56 pm

I have demoed Pianoteq several times during the years, and always when I compared it to my sampled pianos, I noticed there is _something_ in the sound that kind of puts me off... hard to describe exactly, but it was some kind of muddiness, plastic-ness or 2D-ness that I just didn't like. Now with the release of v6 and the new piano model, I demoed it again, and this time I came to the conclusion that whatever differences there might be (vs sampled pianos), it's not really any more about being "realistic" or not, it's more about taste, preference, and finding the exact modeled piano & settings that work in a specific situation. So I finally got Pianoteq, been playing with it now for some days, and really love it!

Generally, I always prefer modeled anything vs sampled anything, just because the sound is potentially more alive and tweakable, assuming the basic modeling tech is good enough. And with Pianoteq, I feel it's definitely good enough. Another thing that really sold it to me is all the non-piano and piano-like instruments... some of them sound really fantastic, and the ability to tweak all the dozens of parameters and gradually change the sound to something else is just a sound designer's dream!

fisherKing · Post by **fisherKing** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 3:06 pm

+1

(have felt the same way, and, with the current version... feel the same way)!

dickiefunk · Post by **dickiefunk** » Mon Jun 18, 2018 4:43 pm

+1 Yep with v6 of Pianoteq it is now a very serious piano VST! I never liked the previous versions but v6 really stepped up the realism and overall tone quality! Before v6 I only used sample libraries (NI Definitive Piano Collection) which I like very much and prefer it to nearly all of the piano libraries available. However after upgrading to Pianoteq 6 Pro (now 6.2) I am using the NI pianos a lot less! If Pianoteq keeps improving like it has with its past few releases I can see myself not using any piano sample libraries anymore!

Fleer · Post by **Fleer** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:27 am

Pianoteq V6.2.1 is out.
And with the Pro version I can adjust every single note to taste, even when a certain preset simply needs a little tweaking. But some of the Steingraeber presets are made in heaven.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:30 am

dickiefunk wrote:+1 Yep with v6 of Pianoteq it is now a very serious piano VST! I never liked the previous versions but v6 really stepped up the realism and overall tone quality! Before v6 I only used sample libraries (NI Definitive Piano Collection) which I like very much and prefer it to nearly all of the piano libraries available. However after upgrading to Pianoteq 6 Pro (now 6.2) I am using the NI pianos a lot less! If Pianoteq keeps improving like it has with its past few releases I can see myself not using any piano sample libraries anymore!

I have Pianoteq 5. Do you really think 6 is that much better? I haven't really done any side by side testing but I can't imagine that it's gone from what it was, as you say, didn't like it to stepped up realism and tone quality. That's a chasm apart and I always thought 5 was fine.

Fleer · Post by **Fleer** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:32 am

Try the Steingraeber (or the Blüthner) with a version 6.2.1 demo. You’ll be amazed.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:46 am

Fleer wrote:Try the Steingraeber (or the Blüthner) with a version 6.2.1 demo. You’ll be amazed.

Okay, I listened to the side by side demos. For $39, it was worth the upgrade. There is enough of a difference to justify it. 6 seems to be less muddy. It's clearer and it seems to bite a little more. I was actually impressed by the demos.

I'm assuming 5 will still remain on my drive or else all those old projects won't work anymore.

In The Mix · Post by **In The Mix** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:59 am

I am sooooooo tempted in buying PianoTeq. I've NEVER tested it myself though. I'll download the trial version and see how it is.

Edit:
Just visited their site.

" Restrictions in trial versions:

8 notes are disabled (silent): F#1, G#1, A#1, C#5, D#5, F#5, G#5 and A#5.
Must be restarted after 20 minutes."

Damn! Restart after 20 minutes? fair enough. But all those key disabled notes?

glokraw · Post by **glokraw** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 2:48 am

In The Mix wrote: 8 notes are disabled (silent): F#1, G#1, A#1, C#5, D#5, F#5, G#5 and A#5.

Damn! Restart after 20 minutes? fair enough. But all those key disabled notes?

You should be able to hear the difference
just playing all the F-flats, rather than F-sharps,
remember, it's the sound, not your favorite music,
that you'll be testing.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:35 am

$59 for the Steingraeber?

That's more than my upgrade cost. LOL.

Brother Charles · Post by **Brother Charles** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 4:21 am

EvilDragon wrote:Indeed. GGaudio Blue3 is even better in most cases.

Really? You think so? I find Blue3 wayyy too shrill. It has an annoying 2k bump when the Rotary is fast. It lacks vibe and warmth, to my ears.

AcousticSamples’ B5-V2 rocks. As a matter of fact, the sound of NI’s Vintage organs is very good — if you use a 3rd party Leslie emu with it. I have IKM’s new Leslie (Amplitube), but UVI’s rotary plugin is very, very good too.

I really like VB3, but the upper mids are scooped a little and the bottom end is too woofy. DB-33 is really nice, but it’s a little too Lite on low end. Arturia’s B3-V isn’t bad, again processed through a 3rd party Leslie emulation.

Btw, I really appreciate all you did/do for Steve & Hollow Sun. His “Definitive CP70” is prolly still my favourite Electric Grand VSTi.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:20 am

Yeah, really, I think so. VB3 still has the best rock Hammond sound, but Blue3 is great for everything else to me. B5v2 is good too but it loads much slower than the rest and has some other issues due to using Falcon/UVI Workstation (mainly GUI sluggishness in certain cases). DB-33 never sounded good to me, even the old B4-II sounds much better than it (and I didn't quite like B4-II either)...

We're off-topicing tho.

BlackWinny · Post by **BlackWinny** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 10:18 am

wagtunes wrote:
Fleer wrote:Try the Steingraeber (or the Blüthner) with a version 6.2.1 demo. You’ll be amazed.
Okay, I listened to the side by side demos. For $39, it was worth the upgrade. There is enough of a difference to justify it. 6 seems to be less muddy. It's clearer and it seems to bite a little more. I was actually impressed by the demos.

I'm assuming 5 will still remain on my drive or else all those old projects won't work anymore.

Hello !

All my projects which were made with the version 5 work perfect also on the version 6 (and with a yet better sound). So, no problem at all.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 10:32 am

BlackWinny wrote:
wagtunes wrote:
Fleer wrote:Try the Steingraeber (or the Blüthner) with a version 6.2.1 demo. You’ll be amazed.
Okay, I listened to the side by side demos. For $39, it was worth the upgrade. There is enough of a difference to justify it. 6 seems to be less muddy. It's clearer and it seems to bite a little more. I was actually impressed by the demos.

I'm assuming 5 will still remain on my drive or else all those old projects won't work anymore.
Hello !

All my projects which were made with the version 5 work perfect also on the version 6 (and with a yet better sound). So, no problem at all.

Thanks. After the install I noticed that version 5 is still there. I don't know if I'm going to go through the hassle of replacing all the instances of 5 with 6 (I write a lot of music) but if I have to redo a track for some reason I'll consider it.

Anyway, loving the sound of 6. Yes, much to my surprise, it is an improvement that is quite noticeable.

Best Piano - PIANOTEQ