I'm really very much impressed by this upgrade; they took something that was good and made it great. I'm quite sure the usual chorus of "it sounds artificial" will ensue, but hey, who cares? Use whatever works for you. If you plan on demoing it, though, I'd suggest the following to give it a fair shot:
- use weighted keys. I can't emphasize this enough. Pianoteq utilizes velocity information to its fullest extent (not like sampled pianos).
- Play around with the mic placement and the secondary characteristics like hammer noise. I find that I usually like to dial in a bit more extraneous noise than the factory presets provide. I also like to place a mic right where the pianist is sitting to fully capture those Keith Jarrett snorts and snuffles, ha ha).
- Some good monitors always help.
