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Pianoteq
by Modartt
29 members are watching Pianoteq for news
Product Pianoteq
Developer Modartt
Primary Type Piano / Keys
Price (MSRP) €249
Plug-in Formats
Instrument(s)VSTAudio Unit
Operating System Availability
Operating
System		 Latest
Version		 Download Is it
Available?
Windows 2.3 Demo / TrialReleased
Mac OS XMac OS X Universal Binary 2.3 Demo / TrialReleased
Miscellaneous Information
Copy Protection Key File
Average User Rating Average rating - 9.312
Fully Compatible
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Artist Master Class - Marcus Miller
Pianoteq

Pianoteq is a modelled piano plug-in.

Being a truly modelled piano, the sound is created in real time from scratch through a sophisticated mathematical model, simulating an acoustic piano. It is responding to how the pianist is striking each key and how strings are interacting, just like a real piano does, resulting in an expressive and vivid instrument.

The first generation of pianos began with Cristofori's pianoforte in 1698 which came to maturity at the end of the 19 century with the acoustic grand pianos. It was followed in the 20 century by the second generation electro-acoustic pianos and the third generation sampled pianos where each note is a recording of how it sounded during a specific moment in time, not taking into account the complexity of the instrument.

According to Modartt, Pianoteq is the first and only piano belonging to the fourth generation, developed in order to go beyond the limitations of the third generation and to become a versatile and innovating tool.

  • Simulating acoustic pianos: Everything that characterizes an acoustic piano is there: the mechanic noises (optional), the complexity of pedals and strings in interaction, the percussion impact on staccato play, and the beauty of the piano sound.
  • New possibilities: The unique adjustable parameters result in great realism and even allow going beyond the material constraints of an acoustic piano, thus being able to create new instruments and sounds.
  • System friendly: Pianoteq adapts dynamically its CPU consumption to the resources available on your computer.

Feature Highlights:

  • Responds in real time to pianist's interpretation.
  • Sounds and behaves just like a real piano.
  • Offers playability and expressiveness.
  • Advanced parameters for tuning, voicing and soundboard adjustment.
  • Small (7 MB) and fast.

User Reviews by KVR Members for Pianoteq.

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By Jake Jackson
On 15th August 2007
Version: 2.1

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Jake Jackson

4 of 5 people found
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PianoTeq is astonishingly good, but you must be willing to spend time learning to understand it. If you know nothing about the various elements that contribute to the sound of a piano, you may find the many parameters overwhelming. Often, since each parameter is added to the effect of another, one must edit several of them in small increments to achieve the sound you want--increasing the hammer noise, for example, you may also want to decrease the hardness of the hammer.

The interface is in many ways excellent: you can see almost every parameter easily. However, for a new user, the layout may discourage an understanding of the ways in which the parameters interact: often, you may want to make changes in several windows to gain a specific sound. To increase the length of the sustain, for example, a single edit in one box will almost certainly require edits in another.

And a suggestion from the Pianoteq users' forum: Try setting Dynamics to somewhere between 30-40, instead of the default 60. The result will be louder soft velocities that retain the harmonics of soft hits. Then experiment with various other edits. You will be better able to hear the changes, and be able to hear how velocity affects each parameter.
 
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By pethu
On 21st September 2006
Version: 2.1

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pethu

16 of 17 people found
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(August, 2007: The review has now been substantially revised to be relevant to version 2 of Pianoteq.)

PIANO SOUND

First off, all those looking for the Pianoteq to jump out of the box emulating their favorite piano will be disappointed. The company clearly states that instead of trying to nail a particular make of piano, they tried to integrate a bit of the best of everything into the sound. I would say they more or less succeeded (and it probably was a smart move, too, considering the amount of flak anyone claiming to perfectly replicate a Steinway Model B in code would take!) As of version 2, there now are two "modern classical" piano models -- C1 and C2 -- with C2 being the one in active development. Each 2.x version has brought something new to Pianoteq's sonic arsenal, primarily on display through the C2 presets.

You can alter almost each and every aspect of the sound to your liking. You can change everything from the tuning to the size of the piano to the stiffness of its hammers and soundboard. In one small 10MB application, you have access to an almost infinite variety of piano-like instruments. Try that with modern day samplesets, and you wouldn't be close even after packing a couple of harddrives full of samples.

As with all physical modelling, giving the user control over every little parameter would be both overwhelming and probably not musically useful: In addition to the parameters available for tweaking through the user interface, there are also underlying, hidden parameters that define the basic characteristics of the piano (whatever they are) that can't be tweaked by the user. These are defined in "models" -- some of which are built into the main program, and some which are freely downloadable from the Modartt website. So when designing your own presets, you should take some time to choose the most suitable model to base your new sound on.

SOUND DESIGN

There is a vast difference between the sound of version 2 and the original. Whereas version 1 only sounded acoustically credible if you got your head around thinking of your monitor speakers and surroundings as part of the piano casing(!), version 2 sports an all-new soundboard model that brings the wooden box into the sound. This gives the sound a true "recorded in a room" air, making it more familiar to those used to ambience-recorded sample sets. I'd even go so far as to say they might have overdone it a bit: Depending on you personal preferences, you may just think it sounds a bit woolly now. Still, heaps better then the "ears right up against the strings in an anechoic chamber" feel of the original, and nothing a bit of proper, room-adapted EQing doesn't fix in most cases. (A multi-node graphic EQ is included in the price of admission, by the way, as is a functional, but not top notch, reverb.)

PLAYABILITY AND "SPECIAL EFFECTS"

This is where all the competition can pretty much pack up and go home. The last crop of sample players, like K2 with its scripting and convolution abilities, are only just beginning to nibble at the edges of the features already tightly integrated in the Pianoteq: The way each repeated note changes in timbre depending on its state when it is re-struck, the way you can pedal-catch notes, and half-pedal etc. (given a progressive sustain pedal and -capable controller). Not to mention that there is no such thing as velocity-dependent samples involved - everything is smoothly gradual, all the way from note velocity 1 to 127! Still no sign of slackening lead here: While you still struggle to find even a half-decent progressive sustain implementation in the competition, these guys are tweaking away at things like half-pedalling sympathetic resonance. Kudos.

The actual mechanical noises representing the piano action may not be to everyones liking, however - but all can be switched off or at least very much attenuated.

STAND-ALONE APPLICATION

While version 1 was only available as a plug-in, version 2 can run as a stand-alone application, which is very convenient for this type of solo instrument. An extra bonus is the 1-track MIDI recording/playback sequencer. (When you get tired of doing all the work yourself, just load one of the thousands of piano-roll MIDI files available on the net, sit back and enjoy!)


FINAL CONCLUSION

To sum up, let's put it this way: I may well use sampled piano sounds in final studio productions in the future (although the need is radically less than it was with version 1) but I can hardly see me going back to samples when practising piano playing, or even when recording piano parts. And that's from someone who is perhaps an experienced, but not even a good piano player. Only good enough to feel the difference between a living, breathing instrument and something just trying to be.
 
Last edited by pethu on 15th August 2007    Report
Latest 2 reviews from a total of 2

Reviews, articles, interviews, etc. for Pianoteq.

MODARTT Pianoteq
By Jim Aikin | June 2007 | Audition

You’re not going to believe it until you hear it. I didn’t believe it either, until the day I first downloaded the demo. We’ve all played multisampled grand pianos. Some are superb, others merely adequate, some less than adequate. Pianoteq is something entirely different and new — a true, physically modeled grand piano. You’ll never hear a trace of velocity cross-switching between samples, because there aren’t any samples!We can view Pianoteq from the tweaky technological angle, or as a playable musical instrument. Since a discussion of the finer points of Pianoteq’s sound relies on some understanding of the technology, I’ll do both in this review. [READ MORE...]

Related plug-ins: Pianoteq

Products by Modartt

Pianoteq
Product: Pianoteq
Developer: Modartt
Type: Piano / Keys
Price: €249
OS&Formats: WindowsMac OS XUniversal BinaryVSTAudio Unit
Pianoteq is a modelled piano plug-in. Being a truly modelled piano, the sound is created in real time from scratch through a sophisticated mathematical model, simulating an acoustic piano. It is responding to how the pianist is striking each key and how strings are interacting, just like a real piano does, resulting in an expressive and vivid instrument. The first generation of pianos began with Cristofori's pianoforte in 1698 which came to maturity at the end of the 19 century with the acoustic grand pianos. It was followed in the 20 century by the second generation electro-acoustic pianos... [more]

 
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