Topic by dondascher

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Topic: pIANOTAEQ mYSTERY

I just had a very mystifying experience with Pianoteq and I am posting it just in case someone else has had a similar experience and maybe there is a reason that can be determined.

I have been slowly becoming happier with the sounds I have been getting with Pianoteq.   Today, I was able to pick up an EQ setting from a user on this forum (Jake Johnson) which seemed to make a big difference in my overall sound.

In fact, I was using that EQ along with almost any of the presets with no other modifications and they just seemed very nice and also ... very similar.   It seemed a little odd but I was not arguing because I liked the sound I was getting.

I have a separate piano software (Galaxy Vintage D) which I had not been using because I was starting to like Pianoteq enough to continue working with it.

AND THEN IT HAPPENED !!!!!

I inadvertently loaded Kontakt4 (Galaxy Vintage D) when I already had Pianoteq loaded and the result was no sound coming from my keyboard.   I exited Kontakt4 and reloaded Pianoteq and now the sounds coming from Pianoteq were very LOUD and HARSH.  I rebooted my computer, shut the keyboard off and restarted everything but to no avail.   That beautiful sound I was getting from Pianoteq is lost.

I have since uninstalled Pianoteq and reinstalled ... but ... no luck.    I am now back at square one. 

I tried putting that same EQ back into the mix but it does not have that same global effect.

Logic tells me that I am imagining at least half of this but I know what I had and I know it is gone.

Just wondering if any of this sounds familiar to anyone ?

Reply by clementi_clementine

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Re: pIANOTAEQ mYSTERY

I've had a similar incident where Pianoteq suddenly sounded unbearably bad (Harsh, but not so much loud). It was certainly very strange and puzzling, but was resolved after simply restarting the software. I don't remember how it happened though...I'm using the standalone version. This only happened ONCE (recently) in my almost 3 years of using Pianoteq.

Keegan

Reply by dondascher

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Re: pIANOTAEQ mYSTERY

Well, thank you for responding.   I am hoping that someone else has experienced this and figured out why it happened.   I am now back to a situation where I do not like the sound I am getting.   It is discouraging when I was getting what I considered was a sound the was competing the Galaxy Vintage D for playing time.   Now, of course, I am back using Vintage D as my staple sound.   I am back to "fooling" with Pianoteq again.

If Pianoteq 4 would come out soon, things might take care of themselves.   

Hoping for the best.

Don

Reply by Philippe Guillaume

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Re: pIANOTAEQ mYSTERY

Sorry Don for not being able to help you very much, but could it be that the similar sounds you were getting was coming from the fact that you had frozen (the little check box at the top) all parameters? If that was the case, it remains to find what was frozen and how...

Philippe Guillaume's Website

Reply by dondascher

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Re: pIANOTAEQ mYSTERY

Philippe Guillaume wrote:

Sorry Don for not being able to help you very much, but could it be that the similar sounds you were getting was coming from the fact that you had frozen (the little check box at the top) all parameters? If that was the case, it remains to find what was frozen and how...

Well, of course, the details of this experience are beginning to fade but I believe I checked for that possibility.   I could not say for sure.  If so, it would have been by mistake because it was not my intention to be freezing them.

My intention is to leave Pianoteq for a while, focus on Galaxy Vintage D,  and then try it again at some later date.   I still think Pianoteq has the potential to become my piano sound of choice.   Who knows .... maybe v. 4 will appear.   

Thanks for your thought on this.

Don

Reply by Michael H

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Re: pIANOTAEQ mYSTERY

When you attempt to run two audio applications at the same time, frequently the two applications will fight for the use of the soundcard. One or both of the applications can stop working.

Restarting got your audio back, but it sounded different than before. It's conceivable that there may still be a conflict going on. I'd try not just turning the computer off but unplugging it AND in the case of a laptop, taking out the battery.

Wait a few minutes, restart. Start Pianoteq. Change the soundcard driver to Direct Sound and hit the test button. Then change it back to whatever you were originally using and see if this does you any good.

All this is assuming you had saved the settings that you liked before your audio problems.

Reply by skip

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Re: pIANOTAEQ mYSTERY

This may really be stating the obvious, but is it possible that you simply had not saved your changes, and you were relying on the fact that Pianoteq was always loading the "last used" edit? (I think that persists across reboots, but did you switch to a different preset, which would then lose all the changes?)

What we need now is a systematic way of stepping through every possible permutation of all the settings. 

Greg.

Reply by dondascher

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Re: pIANOTAEQ mYSTERY

Michael H wrote:

When you attempt to run two audio applications at the same time, I'd try not just turning the computer off but unplugging it.

Well, I am past the possibility of recovering from this now.   However,  I will still go through those steps just in case there still is a residual effect somehow.

Also,  I have gotten over it and have moved on.    After all, with version 4 coming I am sure there will be many more opportunities to tweak sounds.    I am sure I had reached THE HOLY GRAIL of sound. 

Thanks,

Don

Reply by dondascher

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Re: pIANOTAEQ mYSTERY

Well, now I know exactly what happened because I had a similar experience and discovered what the reason for it was.

One of the events leading up to my "Mystery" was my being able to load any preset and it sounded great and very similar in sound.   I was pleased at the time and didn't wish to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Well, now that same thing seemed to be happening.  Every preset loaded sounded almost exactly the same.   I then proceeded to try recording something but found that each attempt resulted in nothing being recorded.

And then I noticed that I had inadvertently opened another instance of Pianoteq even though I had one already open down on the taskbar.    The reason everything sounded the same was because my MIDI connection was utilizing the Pianoteq I had opened FIRST and I had my normal preset selected on that one.

Mystery Solved !!!

It might be nice these piano softwares would give us a warning when it discovers (if it does) some other application is using the driver it is supposed to use.

Well, anyway .... onward and upward ...

Don

Last edited by dondascher (06-12-2011 18:53)