Topic: Sick of me yet???

I know I'm posting FXP's every night, and I don't know how many people can really tell the difference between them anyway, but I am in heaven playing with PianoTeq, and I'm determined to find and settle on the ideal sound (for me) one of these days. I'm acting all neurotic and obsessive about it...

Anyway, here's the latest preset:

http://www.forum-pianoteq.com/uploads.php?id=2047

I am so happy with how that Schubert sounds I could cry. When I listen to it, I forget all about digital/acoustic/PianoTeq/sample-based and just get lost in the music. And THAT is what all of this is about after all, right? Creating beautiful music?

I think I finally stumbled on the way to clear up the middle register most easily by lowering the cutoff and simultaneously slightly raising the Q factor to kind of soften the cutoff. Gives a purer sound. But it's not right for the whole piano (to me) -- just the middle. I really did need PRO, and I'm so glad I had the funds to just go for it.

Rachel Jimenez
Classical pianist and teacher
http://fundamentalkeys.com

Re: Sick of me yet???

Hello - I have been monitoring your posts and have been downloading many of your FXPs.  I hope you will keep posting them as I am enjoying using them and practicing with them.  They sound good to me!

Re: Sick of me yet???

Really really nice, thanks again

Since you're a piano teacher, maybe you can give me a little piece of advice: i'm trying to improve my playing of this beautiful song from the movie Forrest Gump, "feather theme" - this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzHKUY-5KEc

I'm having trouble with the sustain pedal when playing those inverted thirds, for example at 1:05 ... playing at normal tempo, i have to release the keys too quickly for my foot to be able to press back down on the pedal, and it creates a "staccato" sound on those first notes. What should i do?

http://soundcloud.com/delt01
Pianoteq 5 STD+blüthner, Renoise 3 • Roland FP-4F + M-Audio Keystation 88es
Intel i5@3.4GHz, 16GB • Linux Mint xfce 64bit

Re: Sick of me yet???

I like the sound that you are getting, Rachael. Did you mean to write that you were lowering the Q-factor, however? (In your first post in this thread you wrote that you lowered the cutoff and raised the Q-factor, but in your fxp, the Q-factor is lowered in the midrange and bass.) I slip up in thinking about the Q-factor, too, since lowering it lengthens the decay of the upper partials.

Last edited by Jake Johnson (13-07-2014 06:08)

Re: Sick of me yet???

Jake Johnson wrote:

I like the sound that you are getting, Rachael. Did you mean to write that you were lowering the Q-factor, however? (In your first post in this thread you wrote that you lowered the cutoff and raised the Q-factor, but in your fxp, the Q-factor is lowered in the midrange and bass.) I slip up in thinking about the Q-factor, too, since lowering it lengthens the decay of the upper partials.

I came to the same conclusion after looking at the fxp, Rachel did lower the Q-factor, which makes perfect sense with her explanation "to kind of soften the cutoff". Indeed lowering the Q factor attenuates the effect of reducing the cutoff, and does soften the cutoff.

As you say Jake, lowering the Q factor lengthens the decay of the very upper partials, but in combination with the cutoff reduction, there is a mid-frequency range where the decay is still reduced (there where the cutoff reduction "wins" against the Q-factor reduction). The tricky thing about these two parameters is that they work partially in opposite direction.

Re: Sick of me yet???

Rachel, you are actually inspiring me on saving to some day getting the pro version and on the other hand, everytime I see a new preset from you I rush to listen to it and then trying it, I notice the differences yeah, some are more subtle than others but they are noticeable.

Phillip you gotta put some Rachel FXP, when she is finally donde with it, as a preset!, D4 was ok for me when I got pianoteq 5, the bluethner was the buying factor to me, but from some time now I find myself only using Pianoteq with Rachel fxps and cant believe how mucht eh D4 improved, I'm so curious about the other pianos as well, Pianoteq is almoast a living thing, a real instrument.

I was really moved about your commentary about tone Rachel, and thats true, acoustic digital, when something sounds really good, does it really matter?

Re: Sick of me yet???

Ah yes, you guys are right about the Q factor! That's what I meant.

Rohade, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed if Modartt didn't consider including my presets by default, because they are very personal. I mean, they don't represent the modeling technology too well, per se, because of all the little changes that make the sound more pleasant to me (and you) personally. It is certainly a matter of taste. That's why I'm happy for the FXP corner!

My only wish is that my own students could use my presets with the Stage version. Maybe Modartt would be open to discussing a special volume discount for me so my students could all get Standard licenses at a reduced rate... Hmm...

Rachel Jimenez
Classical pianist and teacher
http://fundamentalkeys.com

Re: Sick of me yet???

Rachel is Pianoteq Forum 's Amelia Earth Heart

Last edited by Beto-Music (13-07-2014 16:08)

Re: Sick of me yet???

right but Ameiia "ear" Heart . .    ;p)    I like her presets too.

Re: Sick of me yet???

To answer the title of this thread: nooo, we're not.

I don't really always hear clear differences between the individual preset versions (I suppose I have wooden ears after all), but I do like the sound of these presets of yours quite much. So again: no.

Pianoteq 6 Standard (Steinway D&B, Grotrian, Petrof, Steingraeber, Bechstein, Blüthner, K2, YC5, U4, Kremsegg 1&2, Karsten, Electric, Hohner)

Re: Sick of me yet???

As a university student that can only afford the stage version of pianoteq, I second the request of being able to use rjpianists preset with stage

Re: Sick of me yet???

rjpianist wrote:

Ah yes, you guys are right about the Q factor! That's what I meant. ...

Sounds good, in any case. You have me experimenting with the hammer hardness on these notes in conjunction with your settings.

Re: Sick of me yet???

rjpianist wrote:

I know I'm posting FXP's every night...

Rachel, does each subsequent fxp replace the previous ones or do you feel they are distinct enough to warrant them all being actively used?

One reason I ask is because there are also a lot of fxp from sskuk1, DonSmith, billd, Kysinc, Gilles and Philippe that I would like to try and I just don't have enough time for them all.

Did you decide on getting a VPC-1? Have you played one yet? My VPC-1 and I and family will be flying home from Tokyo to New Jersey a week from this coming Saturday. If you ever want to try mine out, let me know.

Back to the original topic...thanks to all the fxp posters!

Re: Sick of me yet???

i just tried it out and i really like it too.

it's somehow dependable, if that makes any sense. the melody sings through and doesn't get lost easily with a bit of uneven touch, and through all registers.

also, it's nice that there is another layer of timbre when playing piano. i noticed that the velocity curve starts at a quite high value with low midi velocities going to a blank. on my keyboard i miss quite a few piano notes in that way, but it does allow accessing the ppp sound of the instrument more, which is great. i'll experiment and hopefully find a good compromise.

anyway, cheers for the fxp!

Re: Sick of me yet???

nb wrote:

i noticed that the velocity curve starts at a quite high value with low midi velocities going to a blank. on my keyboard i miss quite a few piano notes in that way, but it does allow accessing the ppp sound of the instrument more, which is great. i'll experiment and hopefully find a good compromise.

anyway, cheers for the fxp!

You do realize that velocity curve is for her keyboard that starts at around 25, you're supposed to use your own velocity curve for your keyboard

Re: Sick of me yet???

njaremko wrote:

You do realize that velocity curve is for her keyboard that starts at around 25, you're supposed to use your own velocity curve for your keyboard

ah ok, i thought it was done on purpose, maybe by comparing directly the touch on the piano and on the controller. i did adapt the velocity curve but i discovered that starting at a higher velocity (not quite 25) feels more realistic  for my controller too.

Re: Sick of me yet???

mabry wrote:

Rachel, does each subsequent fxp replace the previous ones or do you feel they are distinct enough to warrant them all being actively used?

The more recent ones with just a date are a progression towards the sound I am working on. So, the most recent one is the one I'd like people to use and comment on. The only other one that is quite different is "My Steinway", but I'd use the one posted by Philippe that has SR and bass smoothing.

Rachel Jimenez
Classical pianist and teacher
http://fundamentalkeys.com

Re: Sick of me yet???

I've been using this preset more and more now.  Even my kids (6 and 8) have switched to it as their primary Pianoteq instrument.  It's especially good for my oldest as he tends to mash the keys more than he should.

Thanks for the great work.

Re: Sick of me yet???

You are very welcome! I've been traveling the last couple of weeks, hence the quiet from me. Just got home today, and very excited to fire up PianoTeq and get back to practicing and preset tweaking.

Rachel Jimenez
Classical pianist and teacher
http://fundamentalkeys.com

Re: Sick of me yet???

Hi Rachel,

Would you accept to send me your .mid files of this so nice music (schubert-7-11) you playing so well...

Thank you,

Regards,
Hervé

Re: Sick of me yet???

rjpianist wrote:

I know I'm posting FXP's every night, and I don't know how many people can really tell the difference between them anyway, but I am in heaven playing with PianoTeq, and I'm determined to find and settle on the ideal sound (for me) one of these days. I'm acting all neurotic and obsessive about it...

Very inspiring (I only discovered the presets now after a longer absence from a piano and the forum here). Like others here I tend to think those nice ideas fit well into pianoteq, and surely your contributions will find their way to the factory presets one way or other^^.
As you posted quite a few presets it adds to the fun that we can see what you changed (with the pro version at least) and see what we like about it.

The very good and helpful remarks from Jake and the explanations of Philippe Guilleaume about the Q-factor are precisely what is missing in pianoteq the most - an in-depth manual for people who don't have the time or knowledge of all the factors that shape sound. Reaper has something like this, in a way - a "get started" manual but also an indepth-manual for those interested. Maybe one day, as it would most certainly help a lot of people in finding their own sounds, instead of doing much by "trial and error" (which can be amusing too, of course.) - So a big thanks for those presets! And there are quite some good from other contributors since I last checked.

Re: Sick of me yet???

I'm new to pianoteq but I'm already a fan of your fxp presets. And your audio examples are first class...

Re: Sick of me yet???

Thanks guys. Right now I'm working on a new blog post explaining the different types of software pianos. I am very excited by everything I'm learning.

Rachel Jimenez
Classical pianist and teacher
http://fundamentalkeys.com