Modartt updates Pianoteq to v7.4 - Adds twelve Felt pianos

Modartt has added Felt presets to all contemporary pianos in Pianoteq. These Felt presets are based on an improved continuous Celeste pedal, which lets you adjust the felt thickness ― a unique feature offered only by Pianoteq.

Advantage of adding felt

Inserting felt between strings and hammers in a piano can bring out exciting effects to the sound. The felting adds a dark, intimate, cozy blanket of foggy delight, bringing a soft and delicate felt piano sound similar to that heard in various movie soundtracks.

Continuous Celeste pedal

The Celeste pedal consists in a felt strip that is interposed between the hammers and the strings and makes the sound softer. Placing material between hammers and strings goes back to the 18th century as can be seen in some Viennese-made instruments. Mainly used today on upright pianos for reducing the loudness during practice, it can be found also on some grand pianos, as for example by Steingraeber.

The Celeste pedal in Pianoteq has been improved. In contrast to real pianos, Pianoteq benefits from the physical modelling by making the Celeste pedal continuous and by letting you adjust its felt thickness. This pedal is conveniently at your disposal for all Pianoteq acoustic instruments (string instruments and chromatic percussions).

New Felt presets included in Pianoteq

New Felt presets, based on the Celeste pedal, are added to all twelve contemporary pianos in Pianoteq, thus providing twelve different kinds of Felt pianos. By combining layering, morphing, and other powerful features in Pianoteq, there is really no limit on what can be achieved.

Improved UI accessibility

Pianoteq now supports VoiceOver on macOS and Narrator on Windows 10. Thus, blind users can more easily navigate using specific shortcuts and text-to-speech.

The Felt pianos, the improved Celeste pedal and the improved UI accessibility are available in the latest version 7.4 of Pianoteq. The upgrade is free for registered Pianoteq 7 users. The felt presets can be used in full mode for free in all registered contemporary pianos. There is also a free trial version for your evaluation. Further details with audio samples are available on the Modartt website.

Changes in Pianoteq 7.4.0:

• Celeste pedal improved for acoustic instruments (string instruments and chromatic percussions).
• 'Felt' presets added to each contemporary grand piano.
• New 'Concert Hall' reverb preset.
• New option for reversing the celeste pedal and adjusting the felt thickness.
• Added a unison width humanization option.
• NY Steinway D revoicing (timbre and dynamics).
• Better keyboard navigability of the interface (using tab / shitf-tab, or C-J), new option to highlight the interface element having keyboard focus.
• Accessibility for blind users: VoiceOver (macOS) and Narrator (Windows 10) support added.