Philippe Guillaume wrote:daniel_r328 wrote:My guess is going to be that they're trying to thread the needle between an authentic reproduction of an instrument vs. the reproduction of a recording. Speakers have a limited dynamic range so need some compression to represent the full range of dynamics correctly.
Decibel-matching, while technically correct, sounds weird in practice. E.g. in a classical orchestra recording, the audio engineer would increase the gain on pianissimo sections. Similar to how in a movie an indoor vs outdoor scene are closer in brightness than they would be in real life: your eyes can adapt to a wide range in brightness in the real world, but struggles to do the same on a screen.
So the trade-offs as I imagine them are audience vs player verisimilitude and trying to fit the widest range of speaker set ups. Just as a comparison point, the default dynamic range sounds excellent through my speakers.
But maybe someone from Modartt can expand so that we don't have to speculate
I couldn't have said it better
That makes a lot of sense.
I do feel that with a wider dynamic range, the sound opens up a bit and breathes a bit more, mainly (perhaps exclusively?) in the pianissimo range. With a range of 40 dB, pp notes don't just sound louder, but have a slightly different timbre. It's subtle but noticeable. Increasing the range to 47 dB adds significantly to the playing experience, enabling me, for example, to play the left hand accompaniment in a Mozart piece as delicately as on a real grand, or to explore dynamic nuances in a Debussy piece in a way that is not quite possible with 40 dB. I have very good speakers that comfortably accommodate a wide dynamic range.
You do indeed end up with a recording that has too wide a dynamic range for most listening situations (and probably quite a few playing experiences, depending on the quality of the speakers you're using). I address this problem with a little fader riding, and just a bit of compression and limiting outside Pianoteq. In this way, I preserve the dynamic range, with its timbral nuances, at the source. I should perhaps add that I mainly use the Shigeru Ryuyo preset, with an external reverb. With the increased dynamic range and a really good MIDI controller, it makes for an amazing playing experience.
As far as I'm concerned, the difference is significant enough to include a comment on it in the Pianoteq manual. Something along the lines of: for maximum player realism, especially for classical pieces, try increasing the dynamic range to 45+ dB, but bear in mind that this requires powerful speakers with plenty of headroom?
