Topic: my expericence with PT after 6 months

Hello,
it's my first topic here. I'am a Pianoteq Pro user since half a year now. After this period I can say only: fine models and sound, nice style of program and user interface, easy to operate and stable, it's a pleasure for me to use this software.

Using:
Kawai VPC-1 (would buy again).
i7 Pentium, noiseless without any fan, ASIO, approx. 2ms latency works still fine.
24 bit setting + quality soundcard with headphone amplifier.
Audeze LCD-2 Headphones (would buy again).
And of course - Pianoteq (would buy again).

Instead of writing many things which I like, I write what I miss:

Somewhere in the forum or in the manual, photos, technical and historical information about the pianos used in the models. For example which Pleyel, Erad and which model Bechstein have been used, how they look like, black hp paint, Schellack, wooden, original condition, fully restored?

New models are welcome, historical and common used models, especially the pianos with a typical sound (old Blüthner Aliquot, Bechstein, Bösendorfer), and expensive concert types (any brands) and also common used low or medium-price models.

With PT it's easy to change tuning frequency and temperature. It's a experience and a pleasure for my to discover all these settings. There are somewhere the math equations for the temperature frequencies? More historical infos about these temperatures are also helpful. It would be nice to see the frequencies (hide-view Button) when opening the special tuning windows. PT can be a helpful tool for choosing a new temperature, tuning a real piano.

PT always records for me what I played (excellent idea). After some seconds whitout pressing any piano key a new record starts automatically (good). Is it possible for the user to change this "dead-time". Sometimes I want a shorter, sometimes a longer "dead-time", helpful for composing my own small pieces, searching what I played.

I wish PT should have build-in also a Piano-Roll viewer, to "see" what I played. Yes of course, I can use Synthesia........and many other programs, but this require always starting a new program, saving first the files, copying files to other programs..... takes a lot of time (any other idea?)

Transfering a midi to notes, I do it by hand, (most software convert midi sometimes to funny notes). A piano roll viewer is helpful to transfer to traditional notes. Many times  I play something, but I didn't knew what I played 1/16 1/8 ??? a roll-viewer helps, especially for the time information.

PT is a useful tool also for tuning and composing.

May be you won't believe PT gives me "kick" to buy also a new real piano, because PT improved my level. Using PT many hours for training, disturbing nobody playing late in the night, testing new things on PT, record my playing and I won't stress the piano-hammers hours by hours. After many training hours on PT, its a pleasure again to play the acoustic piano.

PT, recommended for beginners and professionals. PT+real piano nice combination.

Regards Ralf

Re: my expericence with PT after 6 months

Zwerg wrote:

Somewhere in the forum or in the manual, photos, technical and historical information about the pianos used in the models. For example which Pleyel, Erad and which model Bechstein have been used, how they look like, black hp paint, Schellack, wooden, original condition, fully restored?

There's some info for each preset when you go in the preset menu.

Hard work and guts!

Re: my expericence with PT after 6 months

Thank you, will help me to search for more info in the web.

Re: my expericence with PT after 6 months

More information about the historical models:

https://www.pianoteq.com/kivir



There are many grand pianos on pianoteq that are not reacreation of a single ral piano, but based in two pianos for example.

Last edited by Beto-Music (04-01-2014 02:55)

Re: my expericence with PT after 6 months

Hello Zverg!

Well, I use Garageband for recording,and with a click I get the pianoroll to see the notes what i played(without starting a new program,savings etc.)
Did it help?

Re: my expericence with PT after 6 months

Thank you, unfortunately Garageband is not for Win7.

Instead of - I download many other music programs, will be a task for me to try them.

MuseScore
PriMusFree
Akoff Music Composer Demo
LilyPond
Denemo
Aria Maestosa
Anvil Studio
tuxguitar
Play Synthesia

Re: my expericence with PT after 6 months

Zwerg wrote:

Thank you, unfortunately Garageband is not for Win7.

Instead of - I download many other music programs, will be a task for me to try them.

MuseScore
PriMusFree
Akoff Music Composer Demo
LilyPond
Denemo
Aria Maestosa
Anvil Studio
tuxguitar
Play Synthesia

Have you tried using the vsti version and using the sequencer's midi window to edit? The free version of Mulab (limited to four stereo tracks) has a good piano roll\midi editor, and when you start the program, it lets you choose among setups, one of which you can have named Pianoteq.  ( http://www.mutools.com/mulab-downloads.html ) It loads faster than many similar programs--about as fast as the standalone version of Pianoteq. Simply create a track and load Pianoteq, and then make that setup the default song, so that it loads every time, or choose it from the list of setups at the start, and you will not notice having to use a sequencer much.

One side benefit is that you will, over time, learn to use the other recording features a little better, and thus be better prepared when, inevitably, you want to record a singer or another live instrumentalist along with your playing. (Because Mulab has an appealing interface, but does not work the same way as some similar programs, I wrote what turned into a brief tutorial here:  http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/viewtopic.php?id=2191 .) The lite version of Cubase that comes with many keyboards also has a good piano roll\midi editor. It also has a "score view" that lets you see the traditional notation, although I think many people see it as limited when it comes to complex scores.

I too sometimes wish that the standalone version of PT had its own midi editor, but I think that the worry is that this would demand resources in time, and more, that would take away from the continued development of the model. And, after all, programs like Cubase exist for a reason---most standalone instruments do not have their own midi editing section. Kontakt, for example, must be loaded into a sequencer if one wants to edit the midi data.

But I do understand the natural hesitation over using host programs. They must have so many features for serious mixing, features that I rarely use, that learning how to do simple things, and learning what to avoid doing, consumes time and encourages errors. My solution is simply to create the one track with Pianoteq attached, while remembering how to do elementary things, and using Save as to save each new recording. Not painful once you've learned to work this way, and as I say, you will then be much better prepared if you want to record vocals, or another instrument. There are other benefits, too. Using a host lets you play behind an existing vocal track or learn a piano part that you can load into an audio track and loop. People who play rock also like to load a set of drums to use as a metronome.

If you try out Mulab and run into any problems, let me know. I think I know its basics well enough to get you to the point of using it for simple things. The developers also have a good forum over on the KVR-vst forum site.

Last edited by Jake Johnson (05-01-2014 20:09)

Re: my expericence with PT after 6 months

Thank you Jake,

this mulab is powerful with so many internal instruments and possiblities.
It plays fast with the VPC Keyboard+ASIO without problems, 2ms latency with 192khz - wow. The internal mulab piano sounds useful. I will take me some time to discover the program before I ask the community for more questions.

But one question:
Somebody wrote in your linked post:
""normally, you just have to copy the PianoTeq "dll" file in the VST directory of MuLab.""

Where this PianoTeq "dll" file is hidden? After copying it in mulab VST directory and selecting this file within the mulab VST settings, then I can play directly the PT sounds in the mulab when both programs are open? Great. There will be no conflict between both programs, they start to "fight" about the audio driver? When I open PT all other programs having a disabled sound.

http://abload.de/thumb/first12kwp.jpg

Last edited by Zwerg (06-01-2014 03:15)

Re: my expericence with PT after 6 months

Zwerg wrote:

Thank you Jake,

this mulab is powerful with so many internal instruments and possiblities.
It plays fast with the VPC Keyboard+ASIO without problems, 2ms latency with 192khz - wow. The internal mulab piano sounds useful. I will take me some time to discover the program before I ask the community for more questions.

But one question:
Somebody wrote in your linked post:
""normally, you just have to copy the PianoTeq "dll" file in the VST directory of MuLab.""

Where this PianoTeq "dll" file is hidden? After copying it in mulab VST directory and selecting this file within the mulab VST settings, then I can play directly the PT sounds in the mulab when both programs are open? Great. There will be no conflict between both programs, they start to "fight" about the audio driver? When I open PT all other programs having a disabled sound.

http://abload.de/thumb/first12kwp.jpg

You do not have to copy the dll file into another folder. You just have to tell Mulab where to find it.

Usually, the dll file is stored in one of two places. If you have a 64 bit system, it will be stored in C:\Program files\Steinberg\VST instruments (or some other subfolder of the Steinberg folder that uses the term VST). If you have a 32 bit system, it will be stored in C:\Program files (386) \Steinberg\VST instruments (or some other subfolder of the Steinberg folder that uses the term VST). However, during the installation for Pianoteq, you are given a choice of where to put the files, and if you want to install them at all. But be sure that, if you are using a 64 bit system, you load the 64 bit version of Pianoteq, or Mulab will just display a message box saying that the plug-in is not valid.

What you are doing is loading an instrument (Pianoteq) into a host that was created to host instruments, so there will be no conflict over the audio driver. I remember that all of this seems complex at first. However, you will soon learn your way around. Once it is all set up and working, it becomes almost transparent. Let me know if you get lost. By no means do I know all that there is to know, but I and other people here can help you find your way around.

Last edited by Jake Johnson (06-01-2014 07:23)

Re: my expericence with PT after 6 months

Jake now it is working, thanks a lot.
the dll found in the Steinberg folder.

http://abload.de/thumb/second9yucz.jpg