Question concerning the soft pedal

Hi Alejandro55,

it's maybe not your hearing but could be more expectation? I have played a lot of physical pianos with very different soft pedals. They can be set very high or low.

Pianoteq seems to be at a tasteful point - but I do increase it a little myself.

What happens when you increase the "Soft pedal" slider on the main interface? That should make the softening way more noticeable at maximum. You shouldn't miss it on any gear (esp. if you see the software key bed moving).

Hope that's a help. If that doesn't make a difference, I'd be surprised - let us know if that doesn't improve what you hear.

If you'd like to save your higher pedal setting across all pianos/presets you can freeze that parameter (the button with the tick), or you could save your own version of any preset as you go. I save altered presets to their own folders with their own names.

Ah, my apologies to you Alejandro55, you are right, that slider is not available in the Stage version. I really should have checked (I am often reading threads from my own vantage point with the Studio package).

On the interface, if you can see the pedal is up, or down then you know with certainty that your pedal is firing correctly (and thus not a hardware issue) then it really boils down to your personal desire for a higher level of damping effect for which you will require Standard or above for this and more levels of control over the parameters.

I would say, from my experience, maybe your headphones/speakers are also maybe not fully covering the range of frequencies (low and/or high cut) - and therefore you are not experiencing an adequate difference when pressing the pedal because of that.

You will improve this by seeking better gear of course. I added this as an alternative you may prefer! esp. if you don't desire further tools in Pianoteq (in other words, just may be better bang-for-buck in your specific case).

I highly recommend Pianoteq upgrades if you feel a desire for changing aspects of the presets - and Standard gives a good range of parameters you may find also useful, while Pro (or the Studio package) gives you the maximum of course.

Coming from using MIDI/electronics over decades, a lot of software pianos have horribly over-done the una corda compared to real pianos - and I can understand a lot of people arriving from that musical background to Pianoteq may want "moaar pedalllll!" I was surprised when I first experienced a real life top grand piano - so much was not as I was trained to imagine, via recordings/cheap pianos and electronics/synths etc. Then more and more I was to understand that real pianos, even a lot of cheap ones, have not so much "muffle" than "back of throat" instead with una corda.

The Steingraeber has "Mozart Rail" - which is like "extra una corda" in a basic sense - maybe if you try this, you will have a better pedal experience on your equipment? A worthy piano - one of my favourites.

Any discriminating pianist will want changes to the instrument when possible and in this case an upgrade is recommended, as you will also find further tools to help further refine your experience.

Thank you Qxel:

I wouldn´t mind having the standard version, but an upgrade results a bit expensive for me at present time and considering that in my country they recently began to make us pay and additional 21 % VAT for anything being bought abroad using a credit card, that would make it a bit expensier. Maybe sometime in some future I will upgrade, the idea crossed mi mind several times.
On the other hand, although I was not thinking of spending money just now, and was and am happy with the Steinway B I acquired when first buying pianoteq, when I played and heard the sound and felt the response of the C. Bechstain I could not resist the temptation of buying it. I like all pianoteq pianos but the Bechstain seemed to suit me perfectly (it feels and sounds to me perfect for what I play and how I play it) or I just subjectively became to love it, so I did invest in this one - and an instrument costs less than an upgrade.

My goal concerning pianos is just mainly to play piano and the Stage version of Pianoteq already has enough tools so as to allows me to model a bit the sound if I would like to do so (although they already sound great as they are) and to play around with more than enough controls. And I don´t really mind for the time being if I can not edit the parameter for the soft pedal, I am just a lousy piano player apprentice who has never yet made good use of it. Maybe I will in some future.

I imagined that most software pianos have horribly over-done the una corda in comparison to real pianos. Even more, I already presumed before writing my post that what they have done is to merely have the soft pedal lower the volume, whilst the una corda is supposed (as Jcfelice88keys explains) to affect the mood of the sound. I mainly come from using midi electronics (digital piano / midi keyboard connected to sound modules and/or to a PC and virtual instruments) as you (Qxel) put it, and in spite of the fact that while taking piano lessons in the past I have played some uprights and a small grand, I did not use the soft pedal with any of those either, so I get your point (the one made by you Qxel).

And thank you Jcfelice88keys,

Your explanation has indeed been very helpful for me. Thanks again.

Alejandro55, you have the option of replacing the soft pedal with the celeste pedal. The celeste, although it does not use the same principle of the soft pedal, it has a similar proposal but more defined and intense. For a long time I have used and liked it, maybe you will also like it.

To make this replacement, you just need to right-click on the left pedal icon of the pianoteq interface and choose the "celeste pedal" option.

Hello
I tried your recommendation also but the Celeste pedal alters the sound too much on the Steinway D and Grotian.  When I play the soft pedal I cannot hear any noticeable difference in timbre or volume nowhere on the piano. All of the other pedal options I can hear a difference.  How can I adjust the soft pedal depth?