Shigeru Kawai SK-EX - Pianoteq 8 and KAWAI Legend

Pianoteqenthusiast wrote:

liquidbird wrote:

an improv with Pianoteq 8 SK-EX and KAWAI Legend. It's fun to feel the difference.

https://youtu.be/IBDLNrcns68

Thank you Liquidbird for this comparison. Very well done and interesting to listen to. I had to listen again and again……and to my ears I found a differens which I try to describe, my language is Swedish so I probably don’t have the correct words but I think you understand what i mean.

I think Pianoteq has a clearer, cleaner, more pure tone, and Legend sounds as if the sound is behind a curtain, a little hidden dark sound compared to Pianoteq, and feels as if it has more reverb in some places. Sounding as sampled, 30 Giga.

Some people like sampled and some like physically modelled.
Modartt is working all the time, since 2006, and much has been done and the sound is better and better. And it is not going to come closer to a sampled sound, it is going to come closer and closer to a real Grand.

Both sound excellent in this comparison, but I love physically modelling. There is the ”curtain”, dark sound in this sampling……

Well, just my personal opinion. And I have to say I listened more than 10 times.

Thank you Liquidbird.

Best wishes,

Stig

Thank you so much for listening with such genuine interest and for leaving such a thoughtful comment! I’d like to share a few brief thoughts of my own about physical modeling instruments—both software and hardware—and sample based libraries.

The consistent tone and virtually limitless, continuous expressiveness of physical modeling are remarkable. This will serve as the foundation for modeling based virtual instruments to assume an even more prominent role, now and in the future.
Sample libraries, by contrast, each come with their own shortcomings and uneven spots; their expressive range varies, and they don’t offer the same freedom that modeling does.

On the other hand, the more three-dimensional sense — where each note seems to have its own “grain”(or particle) of life — is still a strong point of large sample libraries. Modeled sounds can still feel somewhat flatter and more sterile.

If samplled libraries from various companies are like photographs in various sizes and qualities, modeling is like an extremely precise drawing, IMO.

I’ve been using Pianoteq since 2007, and it’s been a pleasure to see its weaknesses steadily diminish with every new release.
Version 8-especially with the SK-EX- feels like a huge leap forward: the artificial character of the early versions is now largely gone (especially in the highest and lowest registers).
As you noted, Pianoteq isn’t so much becoming similar to other sample libraries as it is steadily eliminating its own flaws. In doing so, it naturally moves ever closer to the sound of a real piano.

Here’s a performance I recorded with Pianoteq back in 2009—just to show how much progress has been made since then!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXcwKeoTxhs

Thanks again!