I think it is interesting that, up to now, 253 users have viewed this thread and only 3 or 4 have made any comment at all.

Correct me if I am wrong but this makes me believe that most users are, in fact, not using Pianoteq as a single piano sound for their playing pleasure.

I believe this is true because I suggested that this is true in my case and was wondering if anyone is actually using it in this manner.   I would think that users who love the sound and use it as their piano sound would come to the defense of it, but I do not see it happening.

I like Pianoteq for a lot of reasons and I am not sorry I purchased it, but I do not find it quite ready for a stand-alone piano sound.

I started this thread to see if I was alone with this position.

It appears not.

Hi !

I usually dont post much on forums but rather read and follow interesting threads, maybe this applies too many of the people?

I use pianoteq for both practice and for recording, but I have a tendency not to talk to much about it  - you see when I make recordings I usually dont want people to know that I made the recording in my computer,

It is my belief that the end-listener usually thinks (and wants to think) that a classical recording is made on a grand piano in a nice concert hall or church rather then In my smalll studio on a computer eating chocolates and drinking coffe.

Because of this: I never talk much about my setup, and I try to stay a bit anonymous here on the forum, not posting my music and soforth. Perhaps more users here are like me ?

I

I like the jazz stylings of Doug Mackenzie whose midis are available at:  http://www.bushgrafts.com/jazz/midi.htm

.

So maybe you'd be interested in the post I'm just making in the "Using Pianoteq with Orchestral Libraries" thread. Could help analyse those stylings', put them right in your own hands, pretty effortlessly.

ADDED: and to reply within this thread, after about a year of havering, I've sprung for a Kawai ES7. It hasn't got aftertouch, hasn't got Kawai's latest action, its repetition is probably a gesture (it's mentioned mildly as 'improved', while if it WAS improved the brochure would shout about it). What's it got? 256 polyphony.

And paramountly, portability.

For the rest of the setup, got a pair Sennheiser HD 600s, an FiiO amp to drive them, and an FiiO E17 DAC which docks in  it, to bypass my laptop's soundcard.

Throw in a book of Chopin nocturnes and I can expect plenty frustrations, and some success by my measure, this summer. Bit of Brahms too.

But the item at the heart of the show will be Pianoteq no question. Chief of all.

I think it is interesting that, up to now, 253 users have viewed this thread and only 3 or 4 have made any comment at all.

Correct me if I am wrong but this makes me believe that most users are, in fact, not using Pianoteq as a single piano sound for their playing pleasure.

I believe this is true because I suggested that this is true in my case and was wondering if anyone is actually using it in this manner.   I would think that users who love the sound and use it as their piano sound would come to the defense of it, but I do not see it happening.

I like Pianoteq for a lot of reasons and I am not sorry I purchased it, but I do not find it quite ready for a stand-alone piano sound.

I started this thread to see if I was alone with this position.

It appears not.

Don:

Maybe we're just lazy.

My piano is a Roland digital and approaching seven years in age (I think).  I never particularly liked the sound - it sounds like a Roland.

When I play (which is becoming less frequent), I always use PT, and of course am using the latest full featured version.

Mostly I render classical piano midis (Beethoven, Chopin) using PT for recording onto CDs which I use frequently while driving.  My adult daughter is a Chopin fan, so I've rendered about a half dozen CDs for her.

Sometimes I even render some of my recorded midis for the same purpose, but I prefer listening to the music of others because I know what I sound like and I like others' sounds better.

I like the jazz stylings of Doug Mackenzie whose midis are available at:  http://www.bushgrafts.com/jazz/midi.htm

If I played in public for financial reasons, I'd likely use a keyboard and PT - simply because it's waaay better than virtually any public piano and waaay better than any onboard digital piano sound.

Glenn

However, even if it is 125 new viewers, or 100, that still leaves considerable viewers with very few stepping up to say they use Pianoteq as their software piano sound of choice.   

It is my feeling that those that do feel that way (like yourself) would inject some sort of comment indicating that they do love the sound of Pianoteq as a stand-alone sound and use if regularly for that purpose.

I've tried Garritan Authorized Steinway, Pianoteq, TruePianos and Ivory (and a couple of others that were so below average that I won't even mention them). Pianoteq is far and away my favorite one (whether or not that's what you mean by 'software piano sound of choice' I'm not sure). Now, this isn't purely because of the sound because I can't judge any software piano simply by the sound. I can't even judge real pianos simply by their sound. And even when I do listen to someone play a first class instrument (like, for instance, Barenboim playing a Beethoven sonata on a 9 foot concert grand) I can't even really say that I like or love the sound of that piano. I never listen for just sounds, I listen for the music. I'm not sure if I even hear the sheer physical sound quality of the instrument. What I mean by this is I never say things like "wow, that piano sounds incredible!".

So I can't evaluate Pianoteq simply on its sound or say that I do or don't love its sound. But I can tell you this: I love what Pianoteq does for me when I need to play a software instrument rather than a real one: it acts more like a real piano for me than any of the others I listed above.

Pianoteq sounds better to me than the Samick upright that I had before getting Pianoteq. It does not sound as good as the Boston 5 foot baby grand that I got after getting rid of the Samick. Pianoteq sounds better than some real instruments and not as good as others. But even though my Boston baby grand doesn't sound as good as the 6 foot Steinway I may get in the future, it doesn't mean I don't love the Boston because I do. And I also love Pianoteq.

I won't have access to my Boston for the next couple of years as I am overseas. When I want to play my keyboard that I will have over here, I will fire up Pianoteq first about 90% of the time. I'll play the Garritan and the Ivory for variety but not nearly as much as Pianoteq.

Caveat: I've never tried blending different virtual pianos before or combining a software virtual piano with a digital piano that has speakers. It may be possible for me to use my DAW and blend Pianoteq and Ivory or whatever. If I do that and I like it better than Pianoteq alone, I will let you know.

I have a Korg SP250 for playing out. I don't like the nuisance of bringing along the laptop and interface, so wouldn't use pianoteq unless the sound was really important. The sound on the SP250 is just adequate.

When I'm just practising, I do so on my old upright.

I must say that I am one of those who like the the general idea of PTQ - it's a brave project from which you can learn a lot about piano sound, physics and resonance. For that I am greatful. Having had PTQ for years and constantly following its development I have learned a lot about piano.
     Still at the moment PTQ isn't my first choise, if I play digital piano at home and certainly not on the gigs I do. For my playing style and to my preferences it's just too digital sounding, lacking some warmth and also punchy clear attack which I want to have. Still Pianoteq has developed a lot since its last version. But I must say that it's competitors (especially sampled and hybrid approaches) have developed maybe even more. When years ago I downloaded my first PTQ (demo) it sounded so realistic, but at that moment I was comparing it to my Roland RD500. Now when I evaluate it, I compare it to my Nord Piano which have well sampled Steinway, Yamaha and Bosendorfer and it also has some resonance modeling. To my preferences Nord (and especially its yamaha grand) is more usable and playable - I play mostly jazz and popular music which emphasizes rhythmical playing. Compared to my Nord, PTQ has longer and more natural decay but this isn't so important in my style compared to the attack part of the sound. And attack isn't the best part of PTQ in my opinion. Also all those resonance features are nice of course, but secondary to the very basic sound.

All this been said PTQ is my first and only software piano I use. It complements nicely my other pianos (acoustic Kawai and Nords) and give me nice alternative to them when I wanna different perspective to jamming or whatever.

Note that this counter very likely doesn't count unique IP visits, but just counts how many times the thread has been viewed. So likely it's not been 250 people but less.

EDIT: Yes, it's exactly like that. It's been way less than 250 users. Every time anyone opens the thread (even several times in a row) counts as one thread view.

Absolutely, I totally understand.

However, even if it is 125 new viewers, or 100, that still leaves considerable viewers with very few stepping up to say they use Pianoteq as their software piano sound of choice.   

It is my feeling that those that do feel that way (like yourself) would inject some sort of comment indicating that they do love the sound of Pianoteq as a stand-alone sound and use if regularly for that purpose.

Now, understand ... I am not surprised by this.   It is my position, also.   

I do like Pianoteq as a product for the concept but the sound is not quite to my liking as of yet.

I do feel that an accomplished pianist, like yourself, can probably get a nicer sound for a piece of music simply because the overall musicality of the piece overrides the physical sound in that instance and this might explain your position.

I remain hopeful that future versions will overcome this (in my opinion) shortcoming because everything else is top shelf.

EDIT: Yes, it's exactly like that. It's been way less than 250 users. Every time anyone opens the thread (even several times in a row) counts as one thread view.

I think it is interesting that, up to now, 253 users have viewed this thread and only 3 or 4 have made any comment at all.

Correct me if I am wrong but this makes me believe that most users are, in fact, not using Pianoteq as a single piano sound for their playing pleasure.

I believe this is true because I suggested that this is true in my case and was wondering if anyone is actually using it in this manner.   I would think that users who love the sound and use it as their piano sound would come to the defense of it, but I do not see it happening.

I like Pianoteq for a lot of reasons and I am not sorry I purchased it, but I do not find it quite ready for a stand-alone piano sound.

I started this thread to see if I was alone with this position.

It appears not.

Hello Don,

I am not here to represent the 250 people who viewed this thread to date and chose not to reply.  Rather, I speak to you as one person who is a fairly accomplished pianist who practices at home on Pianoteq through a good set of headphones, and enjoys playing on Pianoteq when guests are present.

I sincerely believe that Pianoteq is an instrument for my musical expression ... rather than an end in itself.  Maybe another way of putting it is this:  When a painter creates his artwork on canvas, the oil-based paint as it sits in a tube, is not the final product in itself.  The "raw" paint is only a somewhat wet medium which (in this example) that sits in a tube; it only exists as a potential medium for creating a work of fine art.  Once the oil paint has been applied to the canvas and is allowed to dry, exists as a finished work of visual art ... represents the expression of the artist.   Relatively few viewers of the finished work of art would think about the raw paint, itself.   Returning to Pianoteq, it sounds and behaves enough like a real piano to me, both in its musicality and final sound, that I am able to forget that I am playing a virtual piano, and concentrate on making a musical expression.  To my way of thinking, that is one of the finest compliments I am able to bestow on any virtual piano.

Cheers,

Joe

Further - the point of 253 viewers and 4 commenters is probably the same sort of average you get when someone is mugged in a busy street..
people tend to watch and go other places...
Welcome to the age of 'zapping'
cheers
Hans

Correct me if I am wrong but this makes me believe that most users are, in fact, not using Pianoteq as a single piano sound for their playing pleasure.

I believe this is true because I suggested that this is true in my case and was wondering if anyone is actually using it in this manner.   I would think that users who love the sound and use it as their piano sound would come to the defense of it, but I do not see it happening.

I like Pianoteq for a lot of reasons and I am not sorry I purchased it, but I do not find it quite ready for a stand-alone piano sound.

I started this thread to see if I was alone with this position.

It appears not.

As followup to the posting made directly before this one, I overlaid the audio outputs from two performances of Ravel's Alborada -- one made live by Yours Truly on the Steinway M mentioned above, and a second live performance of the same music, by the same crazy pianist, using Pianoteq PRO Version 4.
...

Interesting experiment, Joe...We can hear how close the tone of D4 is from a real Steinway. We can also hear how hard it is even for an experienced tuner like you, to maintain the the very accurate and permanent tuning of D4 (the live instrument is at fault of course, not the tuner...)

Although there is some left-right panning of the two performances, I wonder if you could also post a complete separate channels one (D4 mono left and Steinway M right for example) to better hear the differences. And also to better isolate the nose hair whistling that I can't hear very well...

I understand the mixed sound is fine for keeping the stereo image complete and blending the different acoustics, but as the piece gets very out of sync, they interfere a bit too much with each other.

This is only if it's easy to do of course, the point is aptly made with the present demo...

Do you enjoy Pianoteq simply as a musical instrument to play and listen to .... or do you select some other option when you wish to do that ?

I enjoy it as an instrument in its own right. Not only when I need piano sounds, but when I need weird sounds, too. The Random button is a stroke of genius, the effects are really high quality, and per-note adjustments in Pro really make finetuning your own sounds a breeze. No other VST does what Pianoteq do, and so well. That's why it's an instrument in its own right.