Oh, oh - I just tried comparing the sound between reverb on and reverb off, and I don't seem to detect much difference either.

Isn't that strange?  I'm puzzled too.

Perhaps the gurus can offer some explanation.

Glenn

Sebastian:

Try two mics, one above and one below the piano.

For a first try, use coordinates as follows:

Mic 1:  x = 0.660 , y = 0.880, z = +0.300, Delay = 0.000

Mic 2:  x = 0.840, y = 0.880, z = 1.440, Delay = 0.003

The amount of delay can be varied to suit.

To me, this configuration gives me the sound I hear when playing an acoustic piano - very close and immediate.

Glenn

Hi Glenn

I have been looking at your 2 mic setting and whilst doing so discovered a strange thing. I have the two mics placed precisely at your co-ordinates, default K1 Solo Rec, limiter off  and my own velocity curve. Other than that, nothing else adjusted. when I switch reverb on and off when reverb preset 'chamber-player is used, there is almost no change to the sound other than an extremely slight, almost negligable, reverb when reverb enabled. Even with the miniscule reverb when reverb is enabled, the character of the piano sound does not change at all, at least not to my hearing.
Why is this, i.e. that there is almost no difference in the reverb or no reverb with chamber-player preset?

puzzled,

Chris

hello,
I am trying hard to get a very close/direct sound with pianoteq, but so far it is still a bit 'distant'?! I moved the microphones setting very close/ no reverb,...but it is still sounding (to me) like there are some early reflections or so in.

I kind of do not notice it if I am playing Solo, but especially in a pop mix it does bother me.

Any advise?
Kind regards,
Sebastian

Hi Sebastian!

I've used this two presets in many ways.

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...ig0233.fxp

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.p...t_0701.fxp

The M3 is better for playing in accompany, I think.

Using PTQ in a mix I turn all the Rev. off and use not more than 17 db dynamic Range (which I love more than using a compressor). To get a typical compressed piano-sound I love to use EMI-Plugins for compression (TG Limiter). You also can try the "SPL transient designer" to push the piano-line in front of the scene. The rest does a high-quality EQ.

Greetings,
Heinke

Other than that, perhaps Modarrt just wanted us to hear a bit of warm distortion by default, because they felt that it sounded better?

I used to have a low quality hi-fi amp with appreciable background hiss, and I was always struggling to get a comfortable level without any clipping. I have a better amp now and it's so much easier.

Greg.

(..) I meant the Limiter - sounds much better with it OFF as you say.  In fact I'm puzzled as to why the default position is ON.

So am I

I'm a bit puzzled by this - did you mean to say "CPU overload protection" instead of "limiter"? If you really did mean "limiter", this has nothing whatsoever to do with throughput - it is a form of dynamic range compression.  If anything, the limiter would add a bit of CPU overhead, due to the extra processing. (but I imagine this would be tiny)

That said, I do prefer to have the limiter off, for a very clean sound. I have to reduce the output level so that I never get any clipping though.

Greg.

No, I meant the Limiter - sounds much better with it OFF as you say.  In fact I'm puzzled as to why the default position is ON.

Glenn

IMO, the limiter should always be turned off if one's computer can handle the throughput.

I'm a bit puzzled by this - did you mean to say "CPU overload protection" instead of "limiter"? If you really did mean "limiter", this has nothing whatsoever to do with throughput - it is a form of dynamic range compression.  If anything, the limiter would add a bit of CPU overhead, due to the extra processing. (but I imagine this would be tiny)

That said, I do prefer to have the limiter off, for a very clean sound. I have to reduce the output level so that I never get any clipping though.

Greg.

Note that the Limiter and Reverb are turned off.  IMO, the limiter should always be turned off if one's computer can handle the throughput.

It utilizes the two mics above and below the soundboard, plus an additional one away from the piano.

In addition, the Sympathetic Resonance has been upped to 1.5, and the Impedance lowered (non-linearly).

Glenn

hello,
I am trying hard to get a very close/direct sound with pianoteq, but so far it is still a bit 'distant'?! I moved the microphones setting very close/ no reverb,...but it is still sounding (to me) like there are some early reflections or so in.

I kind of do not notice it if I am playing Solo, but especially in a pop mix it does bother me.

Any advise?
Kind regards,
Sebastian

Hello Sebastian,

I notice this is your third post to the forum, so you are relatively new here.  Welcome!

Three months ago, this topic was addressed, and I came up with an idea to use four or even all five pickups, closely positioned, to capture the entire radiation pattern of the soundboard.  Here is an excerpt from that thread:

In particular, one might wish to use four or all five pickups, with the first one or two placed about 1/6th of the distance along the string away from the bass note strings' hitchpins, and place one or two others near where the dampers of the midrange strings would be, and the remaining one or two pickups in a way that captures all of the high notes -- this is to evenly capture the sound of all of the strings.  One can adjust the volume and panning (or lack of panning) of these closely spotted pickup points that captures all of the notes of the piano with equal intensity.

I would also agree with EvilDragon's assessment that Pianoteq's own reverb would be shut off, but with an additional detail that the signal gets fed through a third party electronic reverb unit, either hardware reverb unit or a virtual reverb unit, rather than an emulation of any particular room environment.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Joe  <jcfelice88keys>

Best, Seb

I also tried to get a clear and close sound, as if I was really in front of the piano.

You can find the fxp in the Files section. It uses some tips above. However, I put a small reverb but you can disable it.

I hope it matches your request. You may also use it as a basis to create your own sound.

Nikos