I use a VPC1 with pianoteq (7.x) and multiple other vst-instruments.
Compared to keyboards I used before its just a different world!

I bought the vpc 2 years ago blindley after a lot of internet research and don´t regret it ever since.
Keybehavior sometimes may be too slow for some plugins (Drums). Need adjustment after recording. To play a virtual piano (or e-piano) I find it great!

Got a real piano too. Keys are "lighter" here - more easy to press which was confusing first times I played the vpc but got used to it.

I got no problems at all with velocity curves inside pianoteq.
I usualy do not adjust velocity curves for any vst I´m using nor generelly at my DAWs: FL Studio + StudioOne. (Normaly don´t use pianoteq in standalone.)

Only thing I miss is that the vpc got no pitch-wheel ;(
I got the "Touché" controller by "Expressive E" to put expression to instruments like Cello and other stuff from the SWAM-bundle (also great!).

Kind regards!
Manuel

Hi there,

I am a pre-newbie ! Still do not own a controller. And my questions for now still focus on buying one  and the reason why I am here is because I’ll certainly use pianoteq as it looks like a very good option for a realistic piano experience. Let me add that I am not the one concerned but I am acting on behalf of my teen daughter

She’s playing at an intermediate level mainly classical stuffs like Chopin’s Waltz, Bach’s well tempered clavier (only the 3 voice pieces for now), .. We already have an acoustic piano at home but she cannot play it as often as she wants for several reasons which are out of the scope of this post. So, what I want to get is a mean for her to play in her small bedroom, as silently as possible with a keyboard as close as possible to the action of a real acoustic so that she can efficiently practice. She really wants to improve her playing and also expressiveness (that’s very important to her ). After she had tried many digital pianos in our neighborhood, the only actions that she really likes are those with wooden keys (excepted yamaha’s NWX). And the ones she prefers by far are Kawai’s grand feel but also RM3 grand (on a used MP10). But we are budget-limited and then, I logically find Kawai’s VPC1 as being a good alternative. But as there is no way to try one out there and as I have a very poor experience in midi controllers, please allow me to ask few newbie questions.

First a silly question since it is written in the pianoteq’s homepage : can it be run standalone ? No need for a DAW ? More seriously, running standalone probably requires less computational power and so is more efficient, isn't it ?

As I guess that many of you are advanced (classical) players on this forum , do you think it is a silly idea to buy a VPC1+pianoteq in the context I described above ? If you have any feedback regarding this configuration, I’ll read yours with great attention.

What are the possible difficulties I will have when connecting the VPC1 to a computer + pianoteq? (In the beginning, she will play though good-quality headphones she already owns) For what I read quickly on this forum, pianoteq does not seem to require a lot of computational power, but the real requirements (not the minimal ones) in order to run it without to much latency and “forgotten notes”  are not clear to me. She sometimes plays very fast (not as fast as advanced player of course but fast especially when practicing scales, finger exercises …)  Due to our budget, the computer will probably be a desktop rather than a laptop.  Should I prefer using a soundcard or not as pianoteq ?

Thank you !

HI Raoulpetite.

It's not silly at all to consider VPC1+Pianoteq as a setup for classical piano playing. As you say, the VPC1 probably offers the finest action you can find (new) for that price and Pianoteq offers maybe the most flexible and nuanced sound source there is for a digital keyboard instrument and together they can give a very pleasant piano experience. However, it requires an optional computer and a stand to get it working and if you want to play without headphones you also need speakers so in the end it doesn't necessarily become cheaper than buying a digital piano.

As your daughter seems to be fond of Kawai wooden actions I would recommend to also take look at Kawai CA-49. It's the company's cheapest console piano with a wooden action. This piano has an action called Grand Feel Compact (GFC) and it's really not too different from the Grand Feel action, and IMO not inferior at all to the RM3 action. With a piano like this you'll get a great action, built in speakers, a furniture/stand and great built in sounds for a decent price. And my experience (I'm a piano teacher) is that to be able to just turn the piano on and sit down and play sometimes makes you practice more, and that is worth more for the pianistic and musical development than any fancy action or sound in the world. And the the CA-49 has of course MIDI so it works perfectly as a controller for Pianoteq if you prefer that. Another benefit you'll get with a console piano is a note stand at a proper height that'll make your seating position more "accurate" and more in line with how you sit at a grand piano.

As for the required hardware you don't need a very expensive computer to run Pianoteq, you can run Pianoteq on a raspberry pie.  And if the computer has decent built in sound card you don't need a dedicated audio interface just for playing. You might have to install so called ASIO drivers to reduce latency, especially if your platform is Windows or Linux. That's not necessary on a Mac since Mac OS has good midi/audio drivers built in.

I hope you'll find a great solution for your daughter and that she'll enjoy playing music for years to come.

This one which looks more limited, but widely available:
https://beatbars.com/en/expression-to-midi.html

I currently use this one together with a Roland FP10, and it works great. The first one they've sent me was defective, but I got a replacement within a few days.

Key Fumbler wrote:

BarbaraRB wrote:

I don't believe the FP10 can be upgraded to three pedals.

You can add extra pedals to any MIDI controller when you work with virtual instruments such as Pianoteq:
https://youtu.be/2DDwtEGpdqE

That's amazing!

Another maufacturer offering similar USB adaptor:
https://www.doremidi.cn/h-pd-48.html

This one which looks more limited, but widely available:
https://beatbars.com/en/expression-to-midi.html

BarbaraRB wrote:

I don't believe the FP10 can be upgraded to three pedals.

You can add extra pedals to any MIDI controller when you work with virtual instruments such as Pianoteq:
https://youtu.be/2DDwtEGpdqE

That's amazing!

I don't believe the FP10 can be upgraded to three pedals.

You can add extra pedals to any MIDI controller when you work with virtual instruments such as Pianoteq:
https://youtu.be/2DDwtEGpdqE

EDIT: It supports half pedalling with a separate upgrade pedal:
"PHA-4 Standard keyboard delivers the responsive feel of a fine acoustic piano, with every nuance whether you play hard or soft captured by Roland’s touch-detection technology. With high-resolution sensing and escapement for fast key repetition, the PHA-4 keyboard faithfully translates into sound the subtlest differences in dynamics and tone. The attention to detail continues as you notice a heavier hammer-weight in the low registers and a lighter one in the highs. Touch the white keys and you’ll be convinced by a revolutionary moisture-absorbing material that recreates the natural texture and tactile feel of real ivory – and for expressive pedaling techniques such as half-pedaling, simply connect the optional DP-10 pedal."

Aha, good to know!

Key Fumbler wrote:

dazric wrote:

My understanding is that the FP-10 doesn't support continous pedalling, but the FP-30 definitely does. However, my info comes from reading a post about the FP-10 some time ago, so maybe Roland have updated it since then?

Aha, I should've Googled FP-10.
EDIT: It supports half pedalling with a separate upgrade pedal:
"PHA-4 Standard keyboard delivers the responsive feel of a fine acoustic piano, with every nuance whether you play hard or soft captured by Roland’s touch-detection technology. With high-resolution sensing and escapement for fast key repetition, the PHA-4 keyboard faithfully translates into sound the subtlest differences in dynamics and tone. The attention to detail continues as you notice a heavier hammer-weight in the low registers and a lighter one in the highs. Touch the white keys and you’ll be convinced by a revolutionary moisture-absorbing material that recreates the natural texture and tactile feel of real ivory – and for expressive pedaling techniques such as half-pedaling, simply connect the optional DP-10 pedal."
https://www.roland.com/uk/products/dp-10/
That's only the single pedal though so upgrading to 3-4 pedals is going to get expensive.

I don't believe the FP10 can be upgraded to three pedals.

Directly no. However Pianoteq (or any other piano plugin) doesn't need that. You can combine MIDI controllers to achieve this on a computer.
USB Midi foot pedal adapters can take different types of pedals - calibrate them in firmware too.

https://www.audiofront.net/MIDIExpression.php

dazric wrote:

My understanding is that the FP-10 doesn't support continous pedalling, but the FP-30 definitely does. However, my info comes from reading a post about the FP-10 some time ago, so maybe Roland have updated it since then?

Aha, I should've Googled FP-10.
EDIT: It supports half pedalling with a separate upgrade pedal:
"PHA-4 Standard keyboard delivers the responsive feel of a fine acoustic piano, with every nuance whether you play hard or soft captured by Roland’s touch-detection technology. With high-resolution sensing and escapement for fast key repetition, the PHA-4 keyboard faithfully translates into sound the subtlest differences in dynamics and tone. The attention to detail continues as you notice a heavier hammer-weight in the low registers and a lighter one in the highs. Touch the white keys and you’ll be convinced by a revolutionary moisture-absorbing material that recreates the natural texture and tactile feel of real ivory – and for expressive pedaling techniques such as half-pedaling, simply connect the optional DP-10 pedal."
https://www.roland.com/uk/products/dp-10/
That's only the single pedal though so upgrading to 3-4 pedals is going to get expensive.

I don't believe the FP10 can be upgraded to three pedals.

Latency is very low, not noticeable. For me it's perfect for practicing and beyond!
You'd have to spend a lot more to get a better action/solution in my experience, sometimes I see used MP11s for sale around here, which would be the only alternative for me in this price range. For classical / jazz the only other option for me would be a NV10S or a yamaha N1X, but I can't afford them at the moment.

The oner thing that's really bad with the VPC1 is the included pedal. It's garbage and will break after a lot of use.
The first time I broke mine, I opened it and fixed it mechanically. Then it broke again...
I'm now using a Roland Pedal with a little box that translates the pedal info to midi via usb. This works just fine, the Roland is much better built than the Kawai-Pedal. As I understand, Kawai fixed the pedal issue on the MP11SE. which comes with a much better pedal.

EDIT: It supports half pedalling with a separate upgrade pedal:
"PHA-4 Standard keyboard delivers the responsive feel of a fine acoustic piano, with every nuance whether you play hard or soft captured by Roland’s touch-detection technology. With high-resolution sensing and escapement for fast key repetition, the PHA-4 keyboard faithfully translates into sound the subtlest differences in dynamics and tone. The attention to detail continues as you notice a heavier hammer-weight in the low registers and a lighter one in the highs. Touch the white keys and you’ll be convinced by a revolutionary moisture-absorbing material that recreates the natural texture and tactile feel of real ivory – and for expressive pedaling techniques such as half-pedaling, simply connect the optional DP-10 pedal."

Aha, good to know!

My understanding is that the FP-10 doesn't support continous pedalling, but the FP-30 definitely does. However, my info comes from reading a post about the FP-10 some time ago, so maybe Roland have updated it since then?

Aha, I should've Googled FP-10.
EDIT: It supports half pedalling with a separate upgrade pedal:
"PHA-4 Standard keyboard delivers the responsive feel of a fine acoustic piano, with every nuance whether you play hard or soft captured by Roland’s touch-detection technology. With high-resolution sensing and escapement for fast key repetition, the PHA-4 keyboard faithfully translates into sound the subtlest differences in dynamics and tone. The attention to detail continues as you notice a heavier hammer-weight in the low registers and a lighter one in the highs. Touch the white keys and you’ll be convinced by a revolutionary moisture-absorbing material that recreates the natural texture and tactile feel of real ivory – and for expressive pedaling techniques such as half-pedaling, simply connect the optional DP-10 pedal."
https://www.roland.com/uk/products/dp-10/
That's only the single pedal though so upgrading to 3-4 pedals is going to get expensive.