I can chime in with some stuff that I have learned along the way:

• Studying my own playing and other people's performances, it seems that most people play slightly earlier with their melody hand when playing with both hands at the same time, so i.e. with chords, usually the right hand is more prominent, thus played slightly earlier, in the 1/16th or 1/32th magnitude; introducing micro-variations at the start of the midi notes reduces that "unison" timing.

• Macro-tempo variance is a huge thing in my humble opinion, which is quite contradictory to playing perfectly in-sync with a metronome. Analyze most live performances and you'll clearly hear that barely anyone plays on perfect tempo.

• I wasn't aware of how powerful the pedals were on Pianoteq before doing these little projects. Myself coming from sampled pianos, you usually only have either half-pedal or fully pressed pedal, which is quite limited compared to Pianoteq's, so use that to your full advantage.

• And I guess lastly, but more importantly I would say, just try to imagine you're playing it, close your eyes and listen; add more velocity to notes you feel are more important, slow down some notes to accentuate them, etc.

My goal editing this files is so that when you close your eyes you are no longer able to tell it's a midi file being played, when in reality no one is playing it.

These are profound tips.
Thanks Shikopaleta.

• Studying my own playing and other people's performances, it seems that most people play slightly earlier with their melody hand when playing with both hands at the same time, so i.e. with chords, usually the right hand is more prominent, thus played slightly earlier, in the 1/16th or 1/32th magnitude; introducing micro-variations at the start of the midi notes reduces that "unison" timing.

• Macro-tempo variance is a huge thing in my humble opinion, which is quite contradictory to playing perfectly in-sync with a metronome. Analyze most live performances and you'll clearly hear that barely anyone plays on perfect tempo.

• I wasn't aware of how powerful the pedals were on Pianoteq before doing these little projects. Myself coming from sampled pianos, you usually only have either half-pedal or fully pressed pedal, which is quite limited compared to Pianoteq's, so use that to your full advantage.

• And I guess lastly, but more importantly I would say, just try to imagine you're playing it, close your eyes and listen; add more velocity to notes you feel are more important, slow down some notes to accentuate them, etc.

My goal editing this files is so that when you close your eyes you are no longer able to tell it's a midi file being played, when in reality no one is playing it.

Check out Shikopaleta's recordings (in the Recordings section) - they were derived from standard 'robotic' quantized midi files, heavily edited to make them sound like realistic performances.

Thanks dazric.

I can use these recordings as references.

Based on my untrained listening ears,
this sounds like a human played it.

You must have expended
so much time and effort
to MIDI edit this production
and customize the piano sound.

I'm more than ever convinced
that a DAW can MIDI play
like a real human concert pianist.

Thanks for sharing...

https://youtu.be/xxzWRSpIWB0

I couldn't begin to play such a piece with my own fingers.  Especially since two virtual Steinway "D" Grand Pianos are playing simultaneously.  Thanks to MIDI, and some clever work with a couple of Sequencer Programs... it all becomes possible!

Do continue to explore ALL of the possibilities!

Anyone here producing
solo piano music master recording
just using a DAW MIDI playback?

I'm not a good piano player
and have resorted to just letting
my DAW play my MIDI compositions
using Pianoteq's Steinway D
and producing it as master recording.

I'd like a discussion about this.

Thanks...