Pianoteq Stage; Settings

Hey peterws,

I think a lot of people may think similarly, and in some ways, may inherently desire more complexity but then the reality of getting to grips with a lot of audio engineering concepts and the depths of all the powerful tools might be off-putting. It is just normal IMO, some love it, others don't want it but I think of Standard as perfect for a good cross-section of both these groups. It can load FXPs made by others in Pro - and playback with this finesse. That's the territory perhaps where I wonder your choice might best lay?

I see other products with simplified tools (one button 'softer' that kind of thing) and I can say, that kind of thing seems like it may be a good direction for maybe a future version of Standard? (but that's not up to us - but an idea worth promulgating). I feel Stage is OK without bells/whistles and Standard has the same tools as Pro, just fewer and without note-per note level etc.. but.. as it stands currently I think Standard is hands down the best value if you don't wish to get deep into the tool set, with some hopefully good reasons outlined below, hoping it helps you decide what will work best for you.

Should say, I'm sure that many of the finest pianists in the universe may prefer just one piano at home, compared to swapping presets and tweaking like some others - nothing is deficient about either individual leaning, artistic integrity, professional necessity etc. and personally I take my hat off first to someone with pianistic skills more so than the more run-of-the-mill audio tech skills.

It's good how Pianoteq is offered in Stage, Standard and Pro - gives a fine granularity of choice. We will each have our range of expectations and this includes expectations based upon the amount of time we each wish to spend achieving something worthwhile from all the tools available, if deciding on upgrading at any time.

Those with reason to get under the hood however may be long-time audio users, professionals etc. To these people more so, these tools are not only understandable in terms of audio engineering methodology but also truly aligned to real world physical phenomena to do with the way pianos emit sound - it can be a wonderful years long learning curve - or a bonus to just have 'in case' one day we are inspired to alter some reverb based on something we read about, for example, a certain concert hall and so on.

Can't help but wonder if this is my best thought on your considerations above..

Upgrading to Standard will allow you to fully load the user made presets available on the Pianoteq FXP Corner page.

That alone makes sense because, with Stage, you neither have the deep tool-set, nor the ability to hear all the intricacies in those user built presets. A really nice place to be, Standard, if tweaking things yourself is not an ideal expenditure of time. With Pianoteq Standard you benefit from everyone else's tweaking

BTW - You are so right - Pianoteq caters, like you mention to both worlds wonderfully.

A: "player perspective" like sitting at a real piano in the room (various implementations of this from headphones, regular speakers, extra speakers, transducers inside cabinets like real piano bodies and so on), and also

B: "recorded piano" like you hear out of 2 speakers on the radio in productions of all kinds. I find Pianoteq the most flexible piano to record with bar none.

Sometimes, it's helpful to understand when someone may be talking about A and may not be aware of what someone from the perspective of B is even banging on about and vice versa

Per-note velocity (also detune) are available in standard. You might first though try using a fast velocity curve instead of normal or slow. Click on velocity curve and there are five choices. The fast curve will make the sound far less bright and might rid you of loud uneven sounds. Also check your keyboard is sending out correct midi readings in the Pianoteq midi events window.