About the head tracking, I was just thinking that the sensor could be mounted on the headphones, then I remember vaguely that I saw something like this and looked it up. There's a plugin (waves nx virtual mix room) that sells a package with a head tracker, or with a pair of Audeze Mobius 3d which apparently have a built-in headtracker and do their own processing as well and you can use a webcam to track head movement.
And apparently the headphones themselves have "built-in Waves Nx technology for 3D audio on headphones, complete with integrated high-precision head tracking", so I suppose they should work in stand-alone mode ("Integrated head tracking that tracks the tiniest movements of your head 1000 times a second", "Mobius integrates Waves Nx technology for real-time 3D processing in hardware").
Also, the plugin seems to work on its own, using a webcam for headtracking.

I'm not sure how something like this would work with Pianoteq and how low-latency it actually is, but it would certainly be interesting to try. They seem to be running a sale currently on the package and an extra 30% discount on an anniversary sale. I have quite limited time currently, but if I will find some time, I'll try getting the demo and see how it does with the webcam.

For anyone interested (and with more time on their hands) here's the sources to the info above:
https://www.waves.com/hardware/nx-virtu...ad-tracker
https://www.waves.com/hardware/audeze-m...tech-specs
https://www.audeze.com/products/mobius-...-headphone

Guacamole of a certain heightened level of religiosity, that would be cool xinaes!

BTW re OP, lo134, I really hope your performance went well and you didn't keep stopping to look for a mouse/interface/slider

Thank you Qexl. The performance did go well and I am very relieved...but during the performance, as I was caught offguard by one "imperfection / idiosyncrasy" after another of that piano, the thought that "sigh...this could have gone so much better with Pianoteq..." continued to linger in my head...

Pianoteq, paired with a high quality keyboard, is consistent and predictable in its behaviour. This is a key aspect in performance -- the performer already has enough things to worry about during a performance, and does not need any more distractions from the piano itself. It can really throw you off your concentration. With Pianoteq I can just concentrate on the performance aspect and lose myself in a state of musical bliss.

We need a squeaky pedal facility to complete the experience . . . . .

Reminds me of my old upright!

BTW re OP, lo134, I really hope your performance went well and you didn't keep stopping to look for a mouse/interface/slider

Very interesting points about gyro xinaes. I'd ponder programming assumptions about position, given speed of changes to orientation data. In a way, build a sub-virtual model inside the virtual model based on tangential data relating to an original fixed position - makes sense I hope Really would love to keep up with your experiments.

Yeah, but it's super inaccurate doing that I'm pretty sure.  Maybe I'll make a video with some experiments for the vid competition (although, that'd probably be something different to what I talk about here... the thing with controlling listener via tracker I really don't expect to have good results for various reasons).  Cheers

David, IIRC your tuner fixed this in a few minutes (my squeak is still on the to-do list egad).

Joe, that's rather disappointing but highlights well how easy it is for us to make alterations to suit our very mood at a whim with Pianoteq.

Maybe, since a particularly squeaky pedal happens quite often IRL, it can be added to the ideas pile, for another debatable addition to Pianoteq

Very interesting points about gyro xinaes. I'd ponder programming assumptions about position, given speed of changes to orientation data. In a way, build a sub-virtual model inside the virtual model based on tangential data relating to an original fixed position - makes sense I hope Really would love to keep up with your experiments.

I just returned from the first of this season's lunch-time recitals at the Royal Opera and was struck by the condition of the Steinway B being used, and similarly found myself pining for our Pianoteq stable.  The "character flaws" of the instrument in this instance (most notably the shabby condition of the dampers and the "pinching" effect of the note-cutoff they produced) were more distracting than not and I found myself wishing I had a slider control with which to dial its age condition back some...!    .....

Hallelujah!  I recall a very similar concert experience while watching pianist Stephen Kovacevich playing music of Beethoven and Schubert on a Steinway Model D in Symphony Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.  Seated in second row center, my listening position was essentially hearing the piano's sound emanate from the bottom of the instrument.  This particular piano had a horribly loud mechanical squeak when the Una Corda pedal was depressed and released.

During the intermission, as Mr. Kovacevich's piano technician adjusted the tuning on stage, I relayed to the technician just how loudly the Una Corda pedal was squeaking.  He shrugged his shoulders, indicating there was nothing he could do before the second half of the concert.  I asked if a different piano might be brought onstage; the answer was an adamant 'No!'

Needless to say, the rest of Mr. Kovacevich's piano concert was not enjoyed, as this annoying pedal squeak seemed to ruin the experience for me.

Reeling from this concert with an inferior Steinway D, I have never attended another live piano concert from this disadvantaged listening position.  Oh, if there had only been a slider to reduce the mechanical squeak in this acoustic Model D!

Cheers,

Joe

The problem with a phone would be that it could only get orientation from gyro - not position.  Also, having it in shirt pocket would rather miss the point compared to having it tracking head (especially without position tracking).

Either way, it'd be pretty easy & cheap to experiment with, not expecting much from the results, but could be fun.

Ideally, I'd want to be able to feel like I was really moving around right inside the piano (or inside a 20' piano)... but I suspect that would really require the model to be quite different.

Really, this is a job for SuperCollider, not PianoTeq...

xinaes, the idea of positioning is pretty cool - result might not need to be super-great, for it to help with further suspension of disbelief. As a 'wearable' maybe a VR rig might be a put-off - that's probably just me though - the wild man in the dystopia aforementioned by _DJ_ but a mobile phone in front shirt pocket (app using gyro sensor maybe?) I might be able to live with that. Some movement, even if limited could at very least be a novel experiment with maybe some unexpectedly good results and if it's easy, cheap etc. could be big bang for buck. We move when playing, so absolutely we experience all the sound waves from changing angles. Really, would love to know if you decided to test something along those lines.

I know people who think nothing of an untuned old upright - character etc. And I do love playing some creaking old pianos too - nothing wrong with it but it's like magic to be able to tune any way you want instantly, for sure.

A fine quality acoustic grand, especially if it's in a room with excellent acoustics, is a joy to play, there's no doubt about that. But how many of us are fortunate enough to have access to that sort of luxury on a regular basis? Pianoteq allows us to get very close to that experience for a tiny fraction of the cost. You would have to be a mega multi-millionaire to own real-world equivalents of all the instruments available in Pianoteq, and suitable rooms to keep them in, and maintain them, etc, etc...

Just keeping them tuned a couple times a year will indeed cost more than everything Pianoteq has for us... we are very fortunate indeed.