Pianistically wrote:

What the letoff simulation does on a DP is to allow you to generate low velocities after positioning your fingers at the point where you feel the resistance . If you hit the keys from this point , you generate very low velocities ( I can manage 1 or 2 )

I'm a little confused because both Pianoteq (using the default velocity curve in conjunction with my Kawai VPC1) and my Roland V-Piano (with its built-in sound engine) will not generate any sound for velocity = 1 when playing as you describe.  I think I remember my piano teacher explaining that as the correct behavior years ago when I took lessons, and I have a model of a Renner action which seems to confirm that the hammer doesn't hit the string when you press softly starting from the point of resistance.

This has been frustrating at times because when trying to play very softly and/or slowly I would frequently end up with these silent notes.  At the same time, software like Piano Marvel would count them as played notes so its evaluation didn't match what I was hearing (or not hearing) with my ears.  I ended up changing the Pianoteq velocity curve so that I do get sound for velocity = 1, but maybe what I should do is use software like VelPro to transform all my velocity = 1 notes to velocity = 0 or something.

fascinating subject and most likely the part of action piano which is the most complex . I can confirm that in a well regulated acoustic grand , you can can play off the escapement as the hammer is still connected to the key when tou begin to feel the resistance . I play mostly acoustics day time and digital pianos at home . I have a MP11 ( GF 1 action ) a Roland FP30X and a VPC1 . The VPC1 is the only one able to reproduce this special touch from escapement point. It allow very specific pianissimo and also silent notes . On the FP30X and MP11 you cannot produce a sound from escapement point. In my opinion, a part the simulated feeling of the letoff , the only value of implementing such a simulation is the ability to make advantage of this effect , as tri- sensors take care of the ability to replay a note before it goes completely up . The more I play the VPC1 the more I find it is a fab keyboard .

Pianistically wrote:

actually I redid the test , with linear velocity , velocity 1  makes no sound , and by hitting keys with sufficient energy  from the beginning of key of point , you hear very light sounds velocity 2-5  which corresponds to acoustic piano behaviour.  It only works on acoustic with let off properly regulated . So pianoteq  works perfectly.

So just as I described, with velocity = 1 being silent. That means it's pretty easy to generate silent notes but pretty hard to play pianissimo using the letoff because you have to be able to be able to consistently play notes with velocity = 2 (or just slightly higher) without any of them being velocity = 1.

It also causes the discrepancy I described using software like Piano Marvel because if I play an exercise and play any of the notes with velocity = 1 I won't hear them but Piano Marvel considers them being played correctly.  Or if I play a correct note but accidentally brush lightly against an adjacent note it might not affect the sound at all but Piano Marvel counts that as playing an extraneous note.

yes indeed , there is no perfect solution  , being able to use the let off to make the piano whisper increases the risk of playing silent notes by mistakes. But in fact , the problematic is rather the opposite , in other words the probability to make a sound while attempting to type a note silent is much greater . I called my piano tuner earlier on as he is definitely very proficient on the subject . He confirmed that for a well prepared grand , you must be able to strike the strings with enough force from start of letoff position and hear a very soft tone but he explained  that If it is adjusted too far in one direction, the hammer will not let off at all but instead will just push against the string . That’s why many piano tuners technicians adjust it too far in the other direction so that the effect can’t be used .

actually I redid the test , with linear velocity , velocity 1  makes no sound , and by hitting keys with sufficient energy  from the beginning of key of point , you hear very light sounds velocity 2-5  which corresponds to acoustic piano behaviour.  It only works on acoustic with let off properly regulated . So pianoteq  works perfectly.

So just as I described, with velocity = 1 being silent. That means it's pretty easy to generate silent notes but pretty hard to play pianissimo using the letoff because you have to be able to be able to consistently play notes with velocity = 2 (or just slightly higher) without any of them being velocity = 1.

It also causes the discrepancy I described using software like Piano Marvel because if I play an exercise and play any of the notes with velocity = 1 I won't hear them but Piano Marvel considers them being played correctly.  Or if I play a correct note but accidentally brush lightly against an adjacent note it might not affect the sound at all but Piano Marvel counts that as playing an extraneous note.

kanefsky wrote:

Pianistically wrote:

No , I probably did'nt express myself in my previous post. Velocity 1 should trigger a sound, the lightest possible sound you can get in the midi range as allowed by the VST.

Have you tried this on Pianoteq with the default velocity curve?  Click on reset to make sure it's set to the default.  I get no sound from Pianoteq when velocity = 1.  It's the same with the built-in sound engine on my Roland V-Piano (a very high-end digital piano in its day).  Also, from what I understand this is how a real acoustic grand piano behaves.  If you start at the point of resistance and play softly then the hammer does not strike the string and no note is produced.

So while the technique you described could be used to make it easier to play pianissimo chords by adjusting the Pianoteq curve slightly so that it produces a note for velocity 1, it doesn't model the behavior of an actual grand piano if I understand correctly.  That could be a whole different topic of discussion.  Would you want a digital piano to behave differently than an acoustic piano if it made it easier to play or would you want it to mimic the behavior of an acoustic piano as closely as possible so that all your skills are transferrable?

Pianistically wrote:

With Pianoteq  it definitely works , you have a sound at velocity 1 and you can also generate silent notes.

How does that work?  What MIDI does your keyboard send to generate silent notes if velocity 1 is not silent?

a note off event. Sending a note on message with velocity of 0 takes advantage of the MIDI running status . No sound is produced , but the note off message will be sent , resetting dampers on the note is sustain pedal is up.

actually I redid the test , with linear velocity , velocity 1  makes no sound , and by hitting keys with sufficient energy  from the beginning of key of point , you hear very light sounds velocity 2-5  which corresponds to acoustic piano behaviour.  It only works on acoustic with let off properly regulated . So pianoteq  works perfectly. On Kontakt libraries , i cannot generate silent notes while I can reproduce the let off second keyboard effect .

Pianistically wrote:

No , I probably did'nt express myself in my previous post. Velocity 1 should trigger a sound, the lightest possible sound you can get in the midi range as allowed by the VST.

Have you tried this on Pianoteq with the default velocity curve?  Click on reset to make sure it's set to the default.  I get no sound from Pianoteq when velocity = 1.  It's the same with the built-in sound engine on my Roland V-Piano (a very high-end digital piano in its day).  Also, from what I understand this is how a real acoustic grand piano behaves.  If you start at the point of resistance and play softly then the hammer does not strike the string and no note is produced.

So while the technique you described could be used to make it easier to play pianissimo chords by adjusting the Pianoteq curve slightly so that it produces a note for velocity 1, it doesn't model the behavior of an actual grand piano if I understand correctly.  That could be a whole different topic of discussion.  Would you want a digital piano to behave differently than an acoustic piano if it made it easier to play or would you want it to mimic the behavior of an acoustic piano as closely as possible so that all your skills are transferrable?

Pianistically wrote:

With Pianoteq  it definitely works , you have a sound at velocity 1 and you can also generate silent notes.

How does that work?  What MIDI does your keyboard send to generate silent notes if velocity 1 is not silent?

a note off event. Sending a note on message with velocity of 0 takes advantage of the MIDI running status . No sound is produced , but the note off message will be sent , resetting dampers on the note is sustain pedal is up.

No , I probably did'nt express myself in my previous post. Velocity 1 should trigger a sound, the lightest possible sound you can get in the midi range as allowed by the VST.

Have you tried this on Pianoteq with the default velocity curve?  Click on reset to make sure it's set to the default.  I get no sound from Pianoteq when velocity = 1.  It's the same with the built-in sound engine on my Roland V-Piano (a very high-end digital piano in its day).  Also, from what I understand this is how a real acoustic grand piano behaves.  If you start at the point of resistance and play softly then the hammer does not strike the string and no note is produced.

So while the technique you described could be used to make it easier to play pianissimo chords by adjusting the Pianoteq curve slightly so that it produces a note for velocity 1, it doesn't model the behavior of an actual grand piano if I understand correctly.  That could be a whole different topic of discussion.  Would you want a digital piano to behave differently than an acoustic piano if it made it easier to play or would you want it to mimic the behavior of an acoustic piano as closely as possible so that all your skills are transferrable?

How does that work?  What MIDI does your keyboard send to generate silent notes if velocity 1 is not silent?

Pianistically wrote:

After the point of resistance, if you hit the key too softly , then you end up having a silent note (which is the best way of doing it, when you want to  play silent notes to generate sympathetic resonance with other notes), but if press strong enough , the hammer will hit the keys, as the hammer is still connected to the key at the beginning of resistance.

So I was correct that velocity = 1 is supposed to be silent if I'm reading you correctly.  In that case my Roland's built-in sound and Pianoteq (with the default velocity curve) are performing correctly.

It's software like Piano Marvel which is arguably incorrect because it counts that as "playing" a note when it makes more sense to me that it would count as if you had never played the note.  That's why I was thinking about using VelPro to convert velocity 1 to velocity 0, or filtering out the event completely if that's possible.

The other thing is that if velocity = 1 is silent then it's not quite as fantastic of a feature for playing pianissimo chords at slow tempo as you described.  It's easy to use the resistance to get velocity = 1 pretty consistently but using the resistance to play chords where every note is velocity = 2 or slightly higher without any velocity = 1 notes is very hard to control (at least for me).  I'm not sure it's any easier than playing at low velocity the usual way, and the letoff resistance might just be getting in the way if anything.

No , I probably did'nt express myself in my previous post. Velocity 1 should trigger a sound, the lightest possible sound you can get in the midi range as allowed by the VST. Only velocity = 0 triggers no sound and is treated as a note-off event.  Obviously if you convert velocity input= 1 to Velocity output =0 , you  facilitate playing silent notes, but with a good VST , you shouldn't have too.  I have a few VST , I will make different tests today and let you know. With Pianoteq  it definitely works , you have a sound at velocity 1 and you can also generate silent notes. I can only play generate sounds  in a consistent  and repeatable way very light sounds at velocity =1 if  I use the let off technique discussed previously. Without let off feeling , it it obviously possible to do it with a right DP, but much more hasardeous and repeatible. There may be situations and for velocity in the 10-15 regions played at slow speed where the the let off can be a slight disadvantage, but the ability to triggers extremely low velocities is definitely a big plus when the VST allows to differentiate a maximum range of velocities.

After the point of resistance, if you hit the key too softly , then you end up having a silent note (which is the best way of doing it, when you want to  play silent notes to generate sympathetic resonance with other notes), but if press strong enough , the hammer will hit the keys, as the hammer is still connected to the key at the beginning of resistance.

So I was correct that velocity = 1 is supposed to be silent if I'm reading you correctly.  In that case my Roland's built-in sound and Pianoteq (with the default velocity curve) are performing correctly.

It's software like Piano Marvel which is arguably incorrect because it counts that as "playing" a note when it makes more sense to me that it would count as if you had never played the note.  That's why I was thinking about using VelPro to convert velocity 1 to velocity 0, or filtering out the event completely if that's possible.

The other thing is that if velocity = 1 is silent then it's not quite as fantastic of a feature for playing pianissimo chords at slow tempo as you described.  It's easy to use the resistance to get velocity = 1 pretty consistently but using the resistance to play chords where every note is velocity = 2 or slightly higher without any velocity = 1 notes is very hard to control (at least for me).  I'm not sure it's any easier than playing at low velocity the usual way, and the letoff resistance might just be getting in the way if anything.

Pianistically wrote:

What the letoff simulation does on a DP is to allow you to generate low velocities after positioning your fingers at the point where you feel the resistance . If you hit the keys from this point , you generate very low velocities ( I can manage 1 or 2 )

I'm a little confused because both Pianoteq (using the default velocity curve in conjunction with my Kawai VPC1) and my Roland V-Piano (with its built-in sound engine) will not generate any sound for velocity = 1 when playing as you describe.  I think I remember my piano teacher explaining that as the correct behavior years ago when I took lessons, and I have a model of a Renner action which seems to confirm that the hammer doesn't hit the string when you press softly starting from the point of resistance.

This has been frustrating at times because when trying to play very softly and/or slowly I would frequently end up with these silent notes.  At the same time, software like Piano Marvel would count them as played notes so its evaluation didn't match what I was hearing (or not hearing) with my ears.  I ended up changing the Pianoteq velocity curve so that I do get sound for velocity = 1, but maybe what I should do is use software like VelPro to transform all my velocity = 1 notes to velocity = 0 or something.

It really does I would be happy to make a small video to demonstrate it if you want. I  cannot speak for the Roland, but it definitely works with the VPC1. After the point of resistance, if you hit the key too softly , then you end up having a silent note (which is the best way of doing it, when you want to  play silent notes to generate sympathetic resonance with other notes), but if press strong enough , the hammer will hit the keys, as the hammer is still connected to the key at the beginning of resistance. Again , make sure you halt your fingers at soon as you feel resistance and press the key with sufficient force so that the 3rd sensor detects enough speed. Best is to use  linear velocity curve in pianoteq and also on the  VPC1  ( select 'normal curve' in VPC1 editor)  to experiment the effect.  When you get the desired effect, then you can start tuning your velocity curve, making sure you preserve the effect while improving playability for other velocities. If you use a software like velpro, best if to use an S Shape for the upper register and keep linear resister in the low section of the keyboard.
You need to get a sound for velocity 1 , this is the minimum velocity that triggers a sound. Velocity = 0 is not interpreted as a''note on' event in midi protocol but  as a 'note off' event and will not  generate any sound.

What the letoff simulation does on a DP is to allow you to generate low velocities after positioning your fingers at the point where you feel the resistance . If you hit the keys from this point , you generate very low velocities ( I can manage 1 or 2 )

I'm a little confused because both Pianoteq (using the default velocity curve in conjunction with my Kawai VPC1) and my Roland V-Piano (with its built-in sound engine) will not generate any sound for velocity = 1 when playing as you describe.  I think I remember my piano teacher explaining that as the correct behavior years ago when I took lessons, and I have a model of a Renner action which seems to confirm that the hammer doesn't hit the string when you press softly starting from the point of resistance.

This has been frustrating at times because when trying to play very softly and/or slowly I would frequently end up with these silent notes.  At the same time, software like Piano Marvel would count them as played notes so its evaluation didn't match what I was hearing (or not hearing) with my ears.  I ended up changing the Pianoteq velocity curve so that I do get sound for velocity = 1, but maybe what I should do is use software like VelPro to transform all my velocity = 1 notes to velocity = 0 or something.

As an accomplished pianist, I use Pianoteq daily for my practicing on my Roland LX-17. Currently, my Vogel 177 T sits there idle due to living arrangements. I keep it tuned and play it when no one is home, but it's silent most of the time.

Is it something that others can do, sure, but would they? Are these people going to invest in a setup that not only feels good but sounds good? Many people involved in the arts are not computer savvy. I know because I supported them for decades. It's mostly, with exceptions, an either, or situation. For them, a turn-key solution would need to be developed so that there is little pain. The presets need to be easily accessible, nothing too esoteric or technical, otherwise the system becomes an expensive paperweight. Given the lifespan of digital pianos, the computer system needs to be upgradable to go along with the piano and be capable of running the latest software to match. Because most working musicians won't be playing the tech race and will be focusing on their music, a company developing a turn-key solution will be required to offer lengthy support on obsolete equipment. Getting parts for older keyboards, and sometimes computers, becomes quite difficult. I know from experience from dealing with much older equipment during my tech days.

There are also a lot of caveats here which need to be thought about.

The action of most digital pianos is gross. No matter how far they've come in emulating the feel of a real piano, it's still not quite there. The action is fatiguing to play on. A real piano has a resiliency and a bounce to it when played while the digital piano, name any brand, is stiff and rigid including those that have a "real piano action in them". It's this rigid part that's the biggest problem for me because after many hours of practice, my hands and arms ache and I never felt that on my grand or any other acoustic instrument. I also find my technique is different on the digital compared to the acoustic instrument and I have actually overrun the digital piano and caused big skips in the output when switching due to pedaling differences and overall different piano technique.

There is no need for the escapement or double escapement in a digital piano unless these serve the same purpose it does on a real piano. Digital instrument manufacturers that have this "feature" are selling BS. The escapement allows the hammer to remain ready to play a second time without returning completely to home position like a harpsichord or clavichord. Cristifori discovered early on that the simple-escapement mechanism was necessary to get the hammer ready quickly and he worked that into his early action because having the hammer drop completely down to home position made playing extremely difficult. Playing repeated notes still required lifting the finger completely off the key to allow the hammer to return to the bottom, otherwise the note wouldn't sound the second time or reliably multiple times.

The double escapement developed and invented by Sebastien Erard in 1821 was a game changer because it allowed repeated notes to be played quickly on the grand pianos by catching the hammer before the hammer returns home. This is the click sound and clunk we feel and hear when playing quietly and softly on a grand piano. Interestingly, this is non-existent on most upright and spinet pianos and only exists on grands, so practicing on uprights has the advantage of creating a clear and crisp technique because there is no way to play otherwise.

The sound can be awesome on a digital instrument. With Pianotec, we have access to a multitude of the most expensive pianos in the world all within the confines of our computers and digital pianos. There's nothing like feeling like it's a "Steinway D day", or being in the mood for a Petroff Mistral. The ability to tweak these subtly to suit our ears and moods, and adjust the audio so we can hear them tenderly is the best world we can be in.

But there's a catch...

The sound output is only as good as the speakers or headphones we're using in addition to the room acoustics and everything else that makes up the sound we hear. In my opinion, no matter how great the sound is on a digital instrument, it sound detached from the piano as if it's coming from a CD-ROM this is regardless of whether there is added ambient effects, room-setup, or other things done to tweak the sound. The issue is, also my thoughts, is in addition to the sound reverberating everything else in the room, the piano case too is adding to the sound along with the plate and soundboard. We can sort of get that effect by playing with the parameters in Pianoteq, and some digital piano manufacturers such as Roland include that in their setup features, but it's not the same. The piano is lost.

Playing locally on the digital piano is not an option if we want real piano sounds. Roland for example, uses an okay sound. It suffices but it's really very plain. Using the piano as a MIDI controller works better with the Pianoteq sounds but there are some technical issues here that have to be dealt with such as the usual OS "fixes", power management, background tasks, etc. I went through great lengths to get my system working properly thanks to Dell and Microsoft running all kinds of background services and utilities that are totally unnecessary for everyday use. The biggest culprits I found were Dell's Support Assistant, and some other things from Microsoft which would interrupt the processing and cause big glitches while playing.

For someone to sell a turn-key solution to musicians, it needs to be 100% easy to use, nothing that will require fiddling and faffing around to get it to work. The matching MIDI controller or digital piano has to feel right and be 100% reliable, and the sound has to be just as good as a real piano. All in all, I think we've come close but still too far to sell a package that works as such and isn't too costly at the same time to not only produce but also purchase.

While I agree with most of your comments , I disagree with your view on double escapement simulation on digital pianos .
This may well be less understood feature in a DP because of lack of clear explanation of how you can exploit it .
Of course , it’s purpose it not to emulate the double escapement main feature which is the ability to re-strike a key before it goes completely up as on a DP this is is achieved with triple sensor .  What the letoff simulation does on a DP is to allow you to generate low velocities after positioning your fingers at the point where you feel the resistance . If you hit the keys from this point , you generate very low velocities ( I can manage 1 or 2 ) in a consistent and repeatable manner , so when you have sequence of pianissimo chords played at slow tempo ( largo or so) this a fantastic feature . This technique is called ‘playing off the jack’ not be be confused with ‘playing above the escapement’ . The knuckle resistance  is a colleteral effect of the Erard invention but pianists realised they could take advantage of this unwanted feature and come up with the ‘off the jack ‘ technique . This is sometimes refer as playing on the ‘second keyboard’  and because of the small impact , it produces a very subtle sound which in some VST is wonderful .  It is kind of feature that once discovered and mastered , you can’t live without , similarly to Una corda sound color effects . There is a video on YouTube that confused many people because it explains how to play ‘above the escapement’ . The video explains how to play ondine . In fact this technique is only exploiting the possibility to hit a sound without the need to hit the bottom of the keybed , and to let you fingers operate in that region . In this technique you don’t even feel the let off point of resistance as you are playing slightly above it , and you beneficiate from the ability to restrike a key in the same region thanks to the triple sensors . But definitely not to be confused with ‘playing off the jack . Hope it clarifies

jcitron wrote:

The action of most digital pianos is gross. No matter how far they've come in emulating the feel of a real piano, it's still not quite there. The action is fatiguing to play on.

In my personal opinion the situation changed with the Kawai NV10s. It now just has to get less expensive;-)
I played one recently and it's really close enough to a real grad action for serious practice, I wish I could afford it already...

Interesting! I must check that out but like you it'll be well beyond my budget.

This is actually very common nowadays.  Most people probably have devices that are little Linux PCs inside without even knowing it, such as wifi routers, TVs, fitness watches, digital cameras, refrigerators, thermostats, etc.

There's a pretty good chance that the few available piano modules on the market today are actually Linux computers inside and could just as easily (if not more easily) have been based on Pianoteq, such as the V3 Sound and Dexibell modules.

I don't think it would be necessary to provide for the ability to upgrade the computer hardware for the same reasons that none of the products I mentioned above provide that ability.  If the product does the job then there's no need to upgrade the hardware, and if there are major advances you want to take advantage of that require new hardware you simply buy a new one and trade-in or sell the old one.

Now that Pianoteq for iOS is available, another option would be to have some kind of docking station that worked in
conjunction with a user-supplied iOS device and would provide an audio interface, USB port for the keyboard, and power input without the complexity and clutter of using various dongles, stands and cables to do the same thing yourself.  The problem with this solution is that it's not turnkey and also Apple tends to change things and make your hardware obsolete.  A quick search found products from Alesis, Focusrite, and Behringer that could almost fit the bill which are all discontinued because Apple keeps changing the docking connectors and form factors.

The action of most digital pianos is gross. No matter how far they've come in emulating the feel of a real piano, it's still not quite there. The action is fatiguing to play on.

In my personal opinion the situation changed with the Kawai NV10s. It now just has to get less expensive;-)
I played one recently and it's really close enough to a real grad action for serious practice, I wish I could afford it already...

Is it something that others can do, sure, but would they? Are these people going to invest in a setup that not only feels good but sounds good? Many people involved in the arts are not computer savvy. I know because I supported them for decades. It's mostly, with exceptions, an either, or situation. For them, a turn-key solution would need to be developed so that there is little pain. The presets need to be easily accessible, nothing too esoteric or technical, otherwise the system becomes an expensive paperweight. Given the lifespan of digital pianos, the computer system needs to be upgradable to go along with the piano and be capable of running the latest software to match. Because most working musicians won't be playing the tech race and will be focusing on their music, a company developing a turn-key solution will be required to offer lengthy support on obsolete equipment. Getting parts for older keyboards, and sometimes computers, becomes quite difficult. I know from experience from dealing with much older equipment during my tech days.

There are also a lot of caveats here which need to be thought about.

The action of most digital pianos is gross. No matter how far they've come in emulating the feel of a real piano, it's still not quite there. The action is fatiguing to play on. A real piano has a resiliency and a bounce to it when played while the digital piano, name any brand, is stiff and rigid including those that have a "real piano action in them". It's this rigid part that's the biggest problem for me because after many hours of practice, my hands and arms ache and I never felt that on my grand or any other acoustic instrument. I also find my technique is different on the digital compared to the acoustic instrument and I have actually overrun the digital piano and caused big skips in the output when switching due to pedaling differences and overall different piano technique.

There is no need for the escapement or double escapement in a digital piano unless these serve the same purpose it does on a real piano. Digital instrument manufacturers that have this "feature" are selling BS. The escapement allows the hammer to remain ready to play a second time without returning completely to home position like a harpsichord or clavichord. Cristifori discovered early on that the simple-escapement mechanism was necessary to get the hammer ready quickly and he worked that into his early action because having the hammer drop completely down to home position made playing extremely difficult. Playing repeated notes still required lifting the finger completely off the key to allow the hammer to return to the bottom, otherwise the note wouldn't sound the second time or reliably multiple times.

The double escapement developed and invented by Sebastien Erard in 1821 was a game changer because it allowed repeated notes to be played quickly on the grand pianos by catching the hammer before the hammer returns home. This is the click sound and clunk we feel and hear when playing quietly and softly on a grand piano. Interestingly, this is non-existent on most upright and spinet pianos and only exists on grands, so practicing on uprights has the advantage of creating a clear and crisp technique because there is no way to play otherwise.

The sound can be awesome on a digital instrument. With Pianotec, we have access to a multitude of the most expensive pianos in the world all within the confines of our computers and digital pianos. There's nothing like feeling like it's a "Steinway D day", or being in the mood for a Petroff Mistral. The ability to tweak these subtly to suit our ears and moods, and adjust the audio so we can hear them tenderly is the best world we can be in.

But there's a catch...

The sound output is only as good as the speakers or headphones we're using in addition to the room acoustics and everything else that makes up the sound we hear. In my opinion, no matter how great the sound is on a digital instrument, it sound detached from the piano as if it's coming from a CD-ROM this is regardless of whether there is added ambient effects, room-setup, or other things done to tweak the sound. The issue is, also my thoughts, is in addition to the sound reverberating everything else in the room, the piano case too is adding to the sound along with the plate and soundboard. We can sort of get that effect by playing with the parameters in Pianoteq, and some digital piano manufacturers such as Roland include that in their setup features, but it's not the same. The piano is lost.

Playing locally on the digital piano is not an option if we want real piano sounds. Roland for example, uses an okay sound. It suffices but it's really very plain. Using the piano as a MIDI controller works better with the Pianoteq sounds but there are some technical issues here that have to be dealt with such as the usual OS "fixes", power management, background tasks, etc. I went through great lengths to get my system working properly thanks to Dell and Microsoft running all kinds of background services and utilities that are totally unnecessary for everyday use. The biggest culprits I found were Dell's Support Assistant, and some other things from Microsoft which would interrupt the processing and cause big glitches while playing.

For someone to sell a turn-key solution to musicians, it needs to be 100% easy to use, nothing that will require fiddling and faffing around to get it to work. The matching MIDI controller or digital piano has to feel right and be 100% reliable, and the sound has to be just as good as a real piano. All in all, I think we've come close but still too far to sell a package that works as such and isn't too costly at the same time to not only produce but also purchase.