Keep in mind that differend soundcards and even drivers can give varying latency. For example; the latency on my system is much worse on the stock ASIO or WDM (through Sonar) drivers than ASIO4ALL for some reason.

I have the volume close to max, but I think my Echo Indigo + HD580s are loud enough. Look after your ears!

(LOL) the pianos can get loud enough when I have the pianoteq volume +6-+8 with the echo indigo on max, but then the limiter has to be engaged. At that volume, though,  the limiter really kicks in and kills a lot of the dynamics and resonance.  I really like all of the pianos with the limiter completely off. But who knows, maybe 10+ years of ipod use is starting to catch up with me.

BTW, I'm using the the echo indigo djx (express card version).  I seem to remember that the original pcmcia version, which I used to have, was louder?

Haven't tried the AKG 701. I'm sure that is properly amped these are up there with the Senns. Once I get a headphone amp, I'll check to see if that improves the K240 MKII.

To my ears, the AKG just can't capture the timbre of the instruments with as much detail or realism.

Did you try the AKG K-701 ( more expensive indeed)?

I bought the AKG K240 MKII headphones, and after burning them in for a few days, I tried them with my setup.  The Echo Indigo doesn't drive them any louder than the Senn HD580! About the same volume.

So looks like it's headphone amp time. My choice:
http://headphonesamplifier.com/little-d...erpre-amp/

Getting a little off-topic here, but my subjective impression of the AKG K240 vs the Senn HD580:

The K240 sounds clear with good base extension.
But the HD580 is definitely in a different league: Warmer, more detailed, and more musical sound.  The C3 and M3 really sound authentic and beautiful on the Senns.  To my ears, the AKG just can't capture the timbre of the instruments with as much detail or realism.

IMO, the K1 suffers a little bit with the Senns for some reason.

It's possible to get enough volume, but I'm finding that the Limiter kicks in so much at +8db volume that the pianos sometimes sound kind of muted. So I'd recommend lower impedance phones using the Echo Indigo (eg AKG K240 MKII @55ohms) rather than the 300ohm impedance Senn 580/600, unless you add an additional headphone amp.

The sound from the Echo/Indigo + Senn 580 is amazing, though. Just need a little more power.

All the pianos sound better to me with the limiter turned off, especially the K1.

Still playing around with the power settings--I'm using 96khz with 128 sample buffer.  One thing new in Windows 7(to me) is the cpu throttling.  Default minimum CPU setting for the high performance mode is 5%--so the clock will throttle up and down, and so far I get the best performance with 50% minimum clock. I get a performance index of 36 with that setting.

I can verify the "48" index in pianoteq, when running the "high performance" power scheme.
Though playing standalone, you don't really need the "high performance" scheme, going easier on the battery, getting an index around 25.

P.S and I love the red finish :-)

-- Eran

For a live instrumental playing (with harp, guitar and voices) sometimes using very long sustained notes with heavy polyphony

Everything is stable and fine.

Using the Sound Recording Section, it's very hard to tweak the phase microphones  configuration : at first the result truly depends on your monitoring set quality (for me headphones are not the best to do this). The sound of your piano can radically change even with a subtle different mic placement changing. But this section is definitely amazing for those who like tweaking and testing the sound at millimeters.

Depending on soundcard settings / performance, the ability to support full polyphony play works from 128 to 256 simultaneous notes.

I think that things depend on:

- not just your processor computer performance
- but also the performance of your soundcard
- how you tweak the Design Section of PTQ : if you set a too longer impedance / string length / sympathetic resonance then your CPU will be dramatically in charge, particularly if you have a heavy foot pedal sustain use

Also be careful with battery cells time. Some HP computers are pretty powerful but have short battery life (1 hour, 3 hours). MacbookPro has 7 to 10 hours (in the new models).
Sometimes a little extra saves a lot of hassles.

True enough but I rarely use without power so not my top priority. Thanks anyway.

Cardbus slots, especially 54mm, seem to be becoming a thing of the past - HP have the best choice of models with those, some even with dedicated firewire.

So it's a balancing act as usual but many of the models with i5 CPUs may be a bit pricey.

On with the search...