I did some tests with a small Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p, a refurbished i5 4gen, with ubuntu studio.
With a 48khz sampling and 256 polyphonic voices it has no problems and it cost less than the raspberries are today.

The final choice was for the Raspberry because the user is my daughter and the system must be reliable, with Raspbian it is very simple to make a system with the read-only filesystem crash-proof.
Using the system without a desktop makes it impossible to display a music sheet on the screen, it can display nothing but the pianoteq interface.
For a normal user I would recommend a inexpensive Refurbished i5 mini PC if you want to use pianoteq in standalone mode and display music sheet.

Not sure why you're getting such different CPU overload results (although the performance index is about the same).  I'm using pretty much the same config and performance optimizations.  I guess it could be differences in the pi4 vs the 400, even though I'm overclocked to within 100Mhz of what you were running at which I think would make any difference negligible.

In any case I don't like the large form factor of the 400 and the MeLE still handily outperforms it so I'm happy with that.

I have always suspected my PreSonus Studio 24c has something to do with it, but I don't have an understanding of how that fits into the performance equation.

Yes, the MeLE looks good to me.

In any case I don't like the large form factor of the 400 and the MeLE still handily outperforms it so I'm happy with that.

I just ran a quick test playing the built-in MIDI demo in Pianoteq 7 on both machines:

MeLE Quieter3C:

Raspberry Pi4:

Yes, I've run these tests before with no overloading on the Raspberry Pi 400.

Here's an example:
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...30#p973230

I think I've done this at 48 kHz as well:
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...33#p973233

I use this literally every day with no problem.

MeLE Quieter3C:

Raspberry Pi4:

I'm pretty sure I do 48kHz and 64 on the Pi 400.

I can select them on my pi4 but it's very easy to overload the CPU with those settings.  On the MeLE I can pound away on all the keys all day and it doesn't come anywhere near overloading the CPU.

I get a performance index in the mid 50's in Pianoteq (without overclocking), versus upper 20's if I recall on an overclocked Pi4.  I can also run at 48kHz internal sample rate and with a buffer size of 64.  I think I was limited to 24kHz internal sample rate on the Pi4 and had to use a larger buffer.

I'm pretty sure I do 48kHz and 64 on the Pi 400.

So I always have my eye open for a more powerful fanless solution... and the Raspberry Pi 500 is officially not coming next year.

Yeah I saw that.  They're having enough trouble just making Pi4's with the chip shortages.  Normally a Pi4 would be much cheaper than the Quieter3C but with the prices a lot of places are charging for Pi4's they're not that much difference in price.

I get a performance index in the mid 50's in Pianoteq (without overclocking), versus upper 20's if I recall on an overclocked Pi4.  I can also run at 48kHz internal sample rate and with a buffer size of 64.  I think I was limited to 24kHz internal sample rate on the Pi4 and had to use a larger buffer.

I've found the MeLE Quieter3C to be a nice alternative to the Raspberry Pi for running Pianoteq.  It's much faster than a Raspberry Pi4 and you don't have to worry about what parts to order or how to assemble them.  It comes preassembled in a tiny fanless case.  It even comes with Windows preloaded and it's Intel based so if you wanted you could just run Pianoteq for Windows and plug in a tiny touchscreen monitor.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B765VF84

Wow, thanks a ton for sharing this! I may have bookmarked this one already, in fact.

Although the Raspberry Pi 400 has never failed me in my day to day use, the new Classical Guitar 12 Strings preset is basically unusable at the moment. I haven't tried to optimize for it.

So I always have my eye open for a more powerful fanless solution... and the Raspberry Pi 500 is officially not coming next year. Fanless and tiny are the truly key factors for me, so it's really awesome to hear the MeLE is much faster!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B765VF84

I'm running Ubuntu Mate on it, which is a Linux distribution a lot like Raspberry Pi OS but which can run on a wide variety of hardware.  I updated the pianoteq-pi script so that it works with Ubuntu Mate and also fixed some problems the script had with the latest versions of Raspberry Pi OS, and made some other improvements.  That means you can set everything up without any knowledge of Linux at all, although it's nice to know your way around a little bit in case anything goes wrong.  After running the script all you need to do is turn the thing on and Pianoteq starts running automatically.

You can access the UI using VNC on an iPad or on any other Windows/Mac/Linux computer on your network.  You can also use any kind of device that sends MIDI to control most features in Pianoteq, and there are some different web-based remote control apps for Pianoteq available as well (one modification I made to the pianoteq-pi script is to enable the option in Pianoteq to handle those web-based UI commands).  That said, if you really fiddle with the Pianoteq UI all the time the best thing is just to plug in a touch screen monitor (or a regular monitor and a mouse or trackpad).  Personally I tend to pick one good piano sound and never touch the Pianoteq UI after that so I don't need any kind of monitor or remote control at all under normal circumstances.

Here's a picture where I have the Pianoteq computer and a small headphone amp velcro-ed to the back of my keyboard.

Hi,

Is it possible to install Pianoteq on a Raspberri and use a touchscreen as an interface?

David

Hi,
the answer to this question is yes, I am using a raspberry Pi400 with a touchscreen and it works well.

Cheers.
Alain

I wonder though whether an iPad would be powerful enough to seamlessly run pianoteq with no polyphony restraints..

The processing power in even the basic iPad is greater than that in many if not most sub $1k Windows laptops, and multiple times greater than what's in a Raspberry Pi.  Same goes for iPhones, very fast, way more than enough power for Pianoteq.  And the M1 iPads are essentially equivalent to the M1 Macs, which are way overkill for merely running Pianoteq. 

I still have an iPad Pro from 2017, which is way faster than my much newer Raspberry Pi 4, would have no problem with Pianoteq.

Remember that Pianoteq will at some point be coming out for iOS, presumably for both iPad and iPhones.  They have said before that it will be "soon".  Who knows what that means, but I suspect that would be ideal solution for you, maybe you want to wait a bit longer for it.

That would cut it for me, a single gadget where I could have Pianoteq+Scores+Youtube etc and also no physical keyboard/mouse needed hmmm am I dreaming?

I wonder though whether an iPad would be powerful enough to seamlessly run pianoteq with no polyphony restraints..

. . .
OTOH what I'm considering as an alternative, is a simple NUC (Celeron processors would work well?) + touchscreen that I can leave stationed on the piano, I'd dispense with the external sound interface too (ASIO4ALL in the NUC).

The Zynthian solution is very cool too, but summed up all needed componenets and turned out very similiar to the NUC I'm intending to buy.. not sure it's worth it the investment, but definetely a cool concept.

You're right, Zynthian solution is probably not for you.  It is a Linux distribution, and definitely helps if you're willing to get your hands a little dirty.

Remember that Pianoteq will at some point be coming out for iOS, presumably for both iPad and iPhones.  They have said before that it will be "soon".  Who knows what that means, but I suspect that would be ideal solution for you, maybe you want to wait a bit longer for it.

Just one point - an Ipad can be a bit small for displaying music pdf's.

Yeah that's why I was rather thinking of a touchscreen monitor that could be an A4 size at least.

I didn't know you could use the ipad as a screen for the MAC mini, very cool idea indeed.

Actually I'm also considering the Surface Pro as an all in all solution but it's a bit pricey for what it is..

Ideally I'd have something with as less cables as possible and with not much rig around, but also I don't want to trade off power and customizaition ability, I'd like to have the whole interface on the screen since I tend to separate some Pianoteq modules outside the interface which normally fills out the whole screen I currently have..

Argggg I'm getting anxious lol