The first thing I would ask is, does this problem also happen when you monitor with a pair of good headphones?

You don’t mention an audio interface, which makes me suspect you are using the audio out jacks on the laptop. Without delving into the details of that specific model, built-in audio is usually insufficient for serious musical use.

i use a nektar midi controller on my desk, and have a Yamaha p515 next to it. i use both to play pianoteq at different times for different purposes while recording (sometimes swapping immediately between the two). The nektar does not affect the sound produced by pianoteq in any way described by the OP.

audio interface and also your speaker are likely to be (a large part of) the problem as suggested by Coises

Hello,

I am a rock rhythm pianist, new to computer music.  I get a good sound with Pianoteq on single notes and single chords, but the sound quality degrades as I bounce on chords and is even worse now that I've added a sustain pedal.  Can this be fixed?  Here's my setup

Dell Optiplex 9010
Intel i7 quad core 3.4 GHz
3 GB RAM
Nektar GX61 keyboard
Single Roland Boss MA-12 speaker

Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you

The first thing I would ask is, does this problem also happen when you monitor with a pair of good headphones?

Is the volume meter in Pianoteq pushing into the yellow or red with every strike? Try reducing the volume slider in Pianoteq (possibly compensating by raising the volume of your speakers or headphones) and see if that changes the result.

You don’t mention an audio interface, which makes me suspect you are using the audio out jacks on the laptop. Without delving into the details of that specific model, built-in audio is usually insufficient for serious musical use. If you or a friend have a decent USB audio interface meant for musicians, try using that.

If none of those exposes a weak spot, I’d say the next thing would be to create a sample (as short as possible) that shows the single notes sounding good and the chords sounding bad. Save it as MIDI, then render to FLAC. Play back the FLAC. If the FLAC sounds OK, but it didn’t sound OK while you were playing, we have to look at computer utilization problems (I can’t immediately guess what those might turn out to be). If the FLAC shows the problem, too, then try to share the MIDI and FLAC (along with what preset you used and any setting changes you made) with us and/or with Modartt support.

My thoughts:
1. Output volume - if the VU's going yellow or red you might be running into distortion territory.
2. Check the 'Perf' section in Options. You may need to alter the sample rate and/or buffer size.

828jm828 wrote:

Thank you so much, Key Fumbler, for your response.  Could this really be my problem, when I can get an acceptable sound on the GX61 with just one key or one chord?  I had suspected insufficient RAM

You may want to post an example somewhere showing what you mean by “degrades”. Also check stuff like velocity response, dynamics and the limiter

Pianoteq doesn't really use much RAM as it doesn't use samples. Even so you could probably improve the performance of your old PC by adding an identical sized memory module in the place of the one gigabyte stick.
Dual channel mode is a little bit more snappy in performance and a single two gigabyte stick of matching DDR3 or whatever it is in there. That should be quite cheap second-hand.
I wouldn't throw a lot of money at it but you might be able to get a couple of four gigabyte sticks for next to nothing instead.

The latter will be useful if you are on a 64 bit system only.

Question is how is the sound degrading?
As per Dikrek's suggestion.

Thank you so much, Key Fumbler, for your response.  Could this really be my problem, when I can get an acceptable sound on the GX61 with just one key or one chord?  I had suspected insufficient RAM

You may want to post an example somewhere showing what you mean by “degrades”. Also check stuff like velocity response, dynamics and the limiter

Hello,

I am a rock rhythm pianist, new to computer music.  I get a good sound with Pianoteq on single notes and single chords, but the sound quality degrades as I bounce on chords and is even worse now that I've added a sustain pedal.  Can this be fixed?  Here's my setup

Dell Optiplex 9010
Intel i7 quad core 3.4 GHz
3 GB RAM
Nektar GX61 keyboard
Single Roland Boss MA-12 speaker

Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you

This is your problem:
https://nektartech.com/impact-gx49-61/

This would make a fine secondary keyboard for additional sounds - say for instance playing an electric piano sound whilst also playing a grand piano sound on a main hammer action keyboard.
This is not a good keyboard for piano sounds, it's got the wrong action. You should really get yourself a graded hammer action keyboard.
At the affordable end look at entry level Casio, Kawai and Yamaha second hand or new.

I am a rock rhythm pianist, new to computer music.  I get a good sound with Pianoteq on single notes and single chords, but the sound quality degrades as I bounce on chords and is even worse now that I've added a sustain pedal.  Can this be fixed?  Here's my setup

Dell Optiplex 9010
Intel i7 quad core 3.4 GHz
3 GB RAM
Nektar GX61 keyboard
Single Roland Boss MA-12 speaker

Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you