Topic by user321

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Topic: Poor sound with default settings

I recently tried Pianoteq 9 with my Kawai ES60 keyboard and found the sound quality to be very disappointing. It felt dull, muffled, lifeless, and unrealistic. After experimenting with the settings, I discovered that the sound is highly dependent on the velocity curve. Switching it to “moderately slow keyboard” improves the sound significantly, but still not enough. Some presets start to sound acceptable, though most do not. Only when I set the velocity curve to “slow keyboard” do all presets begin to sound good and resemble a real piano (although they can sometimes be a bit bright and harsh).
I’ve watched many YouTube videos of people playing Pianoteq, and almost none of them adjust the velocity curve. Pianoteq sounds good for them with the default settings, and when someone does change the velocity curve, they usually adjust it in the opposite direction from what I did. This makes me wonder whether there is something wrong with my keyboard, my playing style (I’m a beginner), or something else entirely. I find it hard to believe that my keyboard is so unusual that it requires such drastic velocity curve adjustments to produce a good sound.

Reply by hebele

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Re: Poor sound with default settings

user321 wrote:

I recently tried Pianoteq 9 with my Kawai ES60 keyboard and found the sound quality to be very disappointing. It felt dull, muffled, lifeless, and unrealistic. After experimenting with the settings, I discovered that the sound is highly dependent on the velocity curve. Switching it to “moderately slow keyboard” improves the sound significantly, but still not enough. Some presets start to sound acceptable, though most do not. Only when I set the velocity curve to “slow keyboard” do all presets begin to sound good and resemble a real piano (although they can sometimes be a bit bright and harsh).
I’ve watched many YouTube videos of people playing Pianoteq, and almost none of them adjust the velocity curve. Pianoteq sounds good for them with the default settings, and when someone does change the velocity curve, they usually adjust it in the opposite direction from what I did. This makes me wonder whether there is something wrong with my keyboard, my playing style (I’m a beginner), or something else entirely. I find it hard to believe that my keyboard is so unusual that it requires such drastic velocity curve adjustments to produce a good sound.

Velocity curve is probably most important setting. It will depend on keyboard/piano also some extend to the player.

Almost all DPs have their own internal velocity settings, usually with options like light/medium/hard. There is also separate apps/plugins to change velocity curves. So those people you saw might be setting their curves outside of Pianoteq.

I believe my Roland has an internal setting of 0 to 100 scale. I set it somewhere near 40 and do not bother with Pianoteq curve. Because even though internal setting is less flexible, it is global.

Reply by Coises

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Re: Poor sound with default settings

user321 wrote:

I recently tried Pianoteq 9 with my Kawai ES60 keyboard and found the sound quality to be very disappointing. It felt dull, muffled, lifeless, and unrealistic. After experimenting with the settings, I discovered that the sound is highly dependent on the velocity curve. Switching it to “moderately slow keyboard” improves the sound significantly, but still not enough. Some presets start to sound acceptable, though most do not. Only when I set the velocity curve to “slow keyboard” do all presets begin to sound good and resemble a real piano (although they can sometimes be a bit bright and harsh).
I’ve watched many YouTube videos of people playing Pianoteq, and almost none of them adjust the velocity curve. Pianoteq sounds good for them with the default settings, and when someone does change the velocity curve, they usually adjust it in the opposite direction from what I did. This makes me wonder whether there is something wrong with my keyboard, my playing style (I’m a beginner), or something else entirely. I find it hard to believe that my keyboard is so unusual that it requires such drastic velocity curve adjustments to produce a good sound.

Try changing the touch curve for the keyboard, as described in the operation guide. It might help.

Also, be sure the volume at which you are listening is reasonable, matching what you expect to hear for how hard you are striking the keys. Volume too high or too low will confuse your ears into thinking the touch and/or the brightness/hardness is off.