What we need is someone with Pianoteq (which hears the new std) and a VAX (which sends it) and turn the feature off and on in Pianoteq randomly. If either the audience or the player can consistently hear/feel the difference then it's a valid spec. If not it's either not useful or there's a problem with either Pianoteq or the VAX.

I have Pianoteq--if someone will buy me a VAX, I'd be glad to perform the experiment.

I have Pianoteq and a VAX77, but am way too busy to analyze what is different.  Superficially, the sound seems richer and more responsive with the CC#88 update.  Maybe more later if I have time to look at the topic.

I supose it's not a bad idea introduce some very minnor random variation, in velocityt response, to pianoteq, as a function to enable or not.  But need to be very tinny random, cause a competitor (true piano or other like) had a ramdom variation that was a complete mess, too strong, disruptive...

Unless a crazy piano fanatic come here and request pianoteq to emulate the aerodynamic of hammer inside the piano, and how fast repetition influence the air drag in the hammer, to affect the velocityt response...

I have Pianoteq--if someone will buy me a VAX, I'd be glad to perform the experiment.

Anyway... Now I want to see if any smart sampler developer can realese a giant library that reach close to pianoteq 16000 velocities.   
Há há háaaa

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Hey Julien, you are a fast smart updater :-)
Tell me, ...   when pianoteq reach version 6, and you beging to add small variation, updates and fixs...  Would you skip from version 6,65 to V6.67  ?
:-)

:-)

I doubt anyone would notice change even with 128 velocities...

The main problem is the limited maximum strike velocity in many digital pianos. Like you plave hard and get already the maximum midi velocty, and if play harder than that get just the same, cause the first strike was already in the limit of sensor range.

Sensor rangeris a problem in the top of list, if compared with a 128 velocities limitation.

Sorry to bump an old topic, especially on my first post; but the VAX77 keyboard supports High Resolution Velocity CC#88. Given the expressive capabilities (and lack of sample-based velocity switching) of the Pianoteq instrument, would it be an advantage to implement this in a future update?

We have just released a v3.6.6 update to pianoteq that handles this high resolution velocity prefix, and the "extended precision" MIDI files of the international piano e-competition, via a "MIDI dialect" option, in the options/MIDI tab.

I still look forward to the Modartt Upright....
I have a nice tweaked. detuned excessive hammered version that works pretty well.
But these guys will eventually make the Chickering Upright or something great and then my virtual life should be complete.
At least until next year....

But I will see the VAX again this year at NAMM, and most likely anger my family by buying one instead of a new HDMI HD Big screen....
THe pain we musicians must suffer for our gear..

In most acoustic pianos, the fulcrum (or balance rail) is located about 10 cm beyond the visible part of the key.

In the VAX77, as well as in many controller keyboards, the keys are much shorter (overall length), and the pivot is located just "behind the scene". In this case, the vertical stroke at, say, the middle of a key is half the stroke at its front edge. IMHO, this cannot lead to a well balanced action, depending on the player's finger locations on white and black keys.

Your opinions?

An absolutely valid criticism. To get a closer look at the VAX77 mechanism, check out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18BsWKgy5mM

But as I said above, if you are looking to perfectly reproduce a piano action, there are keyboards that are designed to do exactly that. The VAX77 has a decent, but nowhere near perfect, piano action. But it also has polyphonic aftertouch, a modern MIDI/USB implementation, can also be used for synth/organ work, is very expressive and is extremely portable.

I played the VAX @ NAMM 2009 and it had too many cons vrs. pros, but in 2010 the 2 most annoying cons were addressed and the VAX is the controller to get IMO.
I cant wait to try one again at NAMM 2011. Maybe the 8va will be working.
Can you imagine if the VAX had the external RGB like the old Roland 700 series had...?

Jim-

I have to agree, when I tried the VAX at NAMM 2009 I was greatly disappointed- the action was just terrible and there were a lot of problems with software, fit and finish, etc.; To their great credit, Glenn and Van at Infinite Response listened to all the criticism (as well as took on Eddie Jobson as a consultant) and completely redesigned it in less than a year. At NAMM 2010 I was completely blown away by the improvements, and bought one as soon as I was able (see above).

The 8va footpedal is in the latest Firmware update that was released a couple of weeks ago- it works fantastically, you just touch and hold the pedal to jump up and grab that last octave- it is very seamless and with a little practice becomes second nature. It was very cool of IR to implement this suggestion so quickly- they are really open to feedback from customers.

(..) in 2010 the 2 most annoying cons were addressed and the VAX is the controller to get IMO.

In most acoustic pianos, the fulcrum (or balance rail) is located about 10 cm beyond the visible part of the key.

In the VAX77, as well as in many controller keyboards, the keys are much shorter (overall length), and the pivot is located just "behind the scene". In this case, the vertical stroke at, say, the middle of a key is half the stroke at its front edge. IMHO, this cannot lead to a well balanced action, depending on the player's finger locations on white and black keys.

Your opinions?

Another cool discovery- the VAX77 has an 8va button that allows you to get to the top octave that is missing in a 76 key controller.  I am going to try to convince IR to make the 8va function part of the footswitch options so that you can just touch a pedal to reach that last octave without missing a beat.

Quick update- I did talk with the people at Infinite Response, and they have incorporated the 8va function as a footswitchable option in the next firmware update coming out this month. So now you can play normally and instantly switch up an octave by touching a footswitch. Reports are that it works really well!