Some intervals on the Model B can be very harsh and almost out of tune.

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Between the typical stretch tuning of a piano to compensate for wire-wound bass strings and tightly tensioned treble strings (which decay a little flat), detuned unisons and the slightly out-of-tune nature of the equal-temperament tuning even when it is perfectly "in tune" for that tuning system, I suppose I began to develop a tolerance for and then a fondness for the complex interactions of frequencies produced by a "perfectly tuned" piano, some of the more complex mathematical and acoustic interrelationships of which are only present and possible in a modern equal tempered 12-tone scale, which itself made possible (at least according to my current understanding) many of the complex harmonies of romantic music such as much of the output of Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, the impressionists including Ravel and Debussy, and much of more modern music. Even the complex chromatic music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven relies upon "impure" tunings that alter natural perfect intervals of fifths and fourths.

I like the Model B, which seems to have a bright attack superimposed upon a rich, sonorous background, making it good for rapidly articulated and defined music passages as well as simpler or slower, sustained musical phrases or pieces.

Chopin prefers the Bluethner over the Model B

'must have been quite a séance!

but seriously, if you haven't already then I'd suggest you give something like Op 48/1 a try on the 1835 Pleyel with some sort of non-equal temperament, if only for "amusement"... 'would be curious to hear your impressions on using one of the "funny old pianos".

And they stay there!

Kudos,

Lanny

EvilDragon wrote:

Yes, you can do that with Standard, but not with Stage.

Then I would love to try out some fxp's with the suggested organic note-per-note refinements and overtones

You can try these Model B Prelude based FXPs I made for another Pianteq forum member. They "clean up" the sound near C5 and above (but most strongly around C5) by reducing duplex scale resonance for these notes (see pic below). The effect is stronger in the second fxp. I myself don't use these custom presets as I'm quite happy with the model B as is, but if you are finding the higher notes (from A4 up) too dissonant, colourful, harsh or "dirty", they should help tame that:

* Model B Prelude Yuri X0.fxp
* Model B Prelude Yuri X1.fxp

Personally, I believe there is more variation in the strength of one's own fingers than in any fine-quality acoustic grand piano that has just been tuned and regulated by a competent technician.

Well as someone said on the Sax forum from which I was booted off during the Busch Age for posting, "It's too bad there's no one in the Whitehouse that could appreciate your playing," or something to that effect, "It's the Indian, not the arrows." But  I do have to say Modartt makes some pretty "true" arrows.  I consider Pianoteq to be a 21st Century piano created for the digital age.  Cheaper, more adaptable, more versatile, equally musical, and perhaps more pleasurable to have in the home because it offers so much more for so much less, and as every one knows, in the world of art, "less is more."

So adjusting PT settings was a necessity after moving and is a joy in terms of getting to know how each instrument ticks. It is important, when making "permanent" changes to an instrument, to leave the preset for a while.  Your ears need to get over the novelty and the room acoustics will keep changing subtly due to changes in humidity.  It takes a while.

The Model B is wonderful, but I am putting up with the D an octave above middle C sounding slightly 'cracked' when playing live through the small monitors.  Transferring a recording to another room with different speakers and acoustics the sound is fine.  Pro may enable me to reduce the difference/compromise.  (I am trying to capture some recordings before the arthritis gets too much)

The more I use Pianoteq, the more I love it. Pianoteq is so easy to customize and configure, and as you mention (regarding the cents readout (% sharp or flat with respect to the adjacent equal-tempered tones/frequencies, if I'm correct) very rich (complete) and helpful.

For those using the Standard version of Pianoteq who would like to try some of the randomization mentioned in this discussion thread, the Model B instrument presets already have quite a lot of minor variation in some of the instrument's parameters, and a few not so minor individual note variations (for the sake of realism, I assume), along with some graduated variations mostly in the treble or bass ranges. I think that might be one reason the Model B sounds so good to begin with, even with no modification.

Hello Stephen,

I agree with you, completely, regarding slight variations in hammer hardness, strike point, etc, especially as they pertain to being built into various Model B presets.  (Please note:  some of these slight variations are "built-in" even when hammer hardness 'appears' to be uniform from key-to-key in the Pro version.)  If you wish to hear an extreme example of what an "inorganic" piano sounds like (with essentially zero difference between notes), you only need to try an entry-level (less than $79 USD) 49-note "toy electronic piano" from Casio or Yamaha found in any big box department store.

Personally, I believe there is more variation in the strength of one's own fingers than in any fine-quality acoustic grand piano that has just been tuned and regulated by a competent technician.

Cheers,

Joe

Yes it is, but unless you change manually the position of this slider, it remains a static and fixed parameter. I would like to see an automated function of this kind.

I see. I would personally not wish for such a feature to be automated, unless specifically chosen and turned on by the user in the Pianoteq preferences (and I'm guessing that's what you meant). I like the piano sounding as though a piano tuner has visited it every day.

However, I do like the fact that minor, random differences can be made on a note-by-note basis in the hardness of the felt hammers, volume of the notes and other factors that would not be entirely uniform on even an ideally tuned and serviced instrument.

But each person will have his or her own preferences.

But isn't that basically what the condition slider does, from "Mint" to "Worn" conditions, or something similar to that process?

Yes it is, but unless you change manually the position of this slider, it remains a static and fixed parameter. I would like to see an automated function of this kind.

If I remember well, I was the first to mention the idea that it would be interesting to have a continuous "auto detune" function that could alter the tuning and the setting of the main sound of Pianoteq in an unpredictable way, but so slowly that you can only hear it after some weeks or months, as it goes with a piano. This could be an idea to find a little more liveliness with no need to tweak the piano, just let it detune naturally and when you hear it wrong, go back to the initial state with one click.

Well, I for one would certainly not want that feature to be automatic (perhaps configurable by on/off checkbox in the preferences). But isn't that basically what the condition slider does, from "Mint" to "Worn" conditions, or something similar to that process?