Pleyel hard forte hammer compressor/limiter?

Actually, I don't think it's a stupid question at all!!  Rather, it's a very good question that might go unnoticed by any number of Pianoteq users.

Question to berghs.kedjan:  When playing loudly in the bass notes -- and when the bass notes don't seem to sing out more -- do you notice whether Pianoteq's red limiter light is engaging on the volume meter?  If so, is the red limiter light getting r-e-a-l-l-y large?

If either or both of the above are happening, Pianoteq is clamping down on its portion of the audio chain, so as to avoid and/or minimize clipping. 

Here are a few ideas to consider, but beware to consider them in moderation -- or else the signal may go into digital clipping:

You may consider reducing the amount of limiting.  Taken alone, it is possible that you send Pianoteq's audio output signal into clipping, a bad thing.  Why is this a bad thing?  If you imagine the digital audio signal as a bunch of one's and zero's, the highest possible non-clipped signal occurs when all of the bits are maxed out as all one's.  If you force the input signal to give even more digital, it runs out of one's ... and essentially "crashes", giving you that all-too-familiar crunching sound.

If a slight amount of limiting reduction seems to help, then you may wish to (believe it or not) reduce the dynamic range to, say, about 30 or 35dB.   What this will do ... is to tame the overall audio gain in Pianoteq, but do it with less limiting.  In this manner, you are then able to push the digital signal such that it approaches its maximum clean amount -- and will do so without sounding squashed -- and will not go into digital clipping.

Aside:  When I first became acquainted with Pianoteq, I was running my dynamic range up beyond 60dB, and then attempting to tame the beast by increasing the limiter's strength.  Essentially, I was defeating my own purpose.  In the past year and a half, I have dialed DOWN my dynamic range, and correspondingly dialed back the limiter's strength, and it seems to work for me.

Back to suggestions for follow-up:
Let's say you have dialed back both the dynamic range, and the limiting strength, you still might be concerned about the overall volume of Pleyel's bass notes.  Assuming you are not clipping, but would like a little more "oomph" in your volume level, then I would next consider increasing the volume on your amplification system.

The idea is to keep Pianoteq from clipping.  Once Pianoteq clips, then the audio signal will be fed right into your audio amplifier, and you are dead!  I say this, because even if you turn down your audio amplifier (given a clipped input), you will only hear a softer version of digital clipping.

In summary, if you want your bass to bloom (not boom or digitally crunch), the system chain of Pianoteq and your audio system need as much signal as possible BEFORE Pianoteq clips!  Once you have dialed in a combination that Pianoteq's output has enough clean signal with "oomph" to it, then you can make final volume adjustments to your audio amplifier.

Hope this information helps you.

Cheers,

Joe