Topic by oshogg

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Topic: "Authentic" sound and velocity curve

Hi,

Let me preface this post by saying that I love Pianoteq 6 - I bought it a few days ago and am loving it so far.

I have heard several folks (including reviewers) comment how 'authentic' Pianoteq sounds - e.g. how real Steinway D sounds to the actual piano it is modelling.

I have also heard that one should optimize the velocity curve for one's keyboard - otherwise the keyboard feels too stiff or too light. I can vouch for that - my keyboard felt too heavy and the sound too muted, until I used one of the velocity curve for https://www.pianoteq.com/velocity_curves.

The thing is that the sound of Pianoteq changes BIG TIME when one changes velocity curve. The piano sounds are completely different from the "Normal" velocity curve and the one that makes the keys feel more 'responsive'.

So, how can one say that the sound actually sounds like the real 'piano' it is modelling?

I am not saying it is not sounding great - it is. Just that it doesn't sound like the real piano it is trying to model.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Osho

Reply by Beto-Music

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Re: "Authentic" sound and velocity curve

Well, to start a well adjust velocity curve it's very important. On real piano you have a scale of velocitiess, ppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff and FFF.  the ppp is the weakest touch and fff the strongest.
If you play soft  but the velocity adjust it's not right, the sound can be, for example f instead of mp.  It will sound different.
And you can make the mistake of adjust volume before adjust velocity.

Each piano controller have a sensibility, some harder and others softer, and that's why pianoteq have a advanced velocity curve adjust tool, to ensure the pianist's desired touch will be understanded by the software and as resulkt the correct velocity sound will be reproduced.

Reply by oshogg

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Re: "Authentic" sound and velocity curve

Beto-Music wrote:

Well, to start a well adjust velocity curve it's very important. On real piano you have a scale of velocitiess, ppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff and FFF.  the ppp is the weakest touch and fff the strongest.
If you play soft  but the velocity adjust it's not right, the sound can be, for example f instead of mp.  It will sound different.
And you can make the mistake of adjust volume before adjust velocity.

Each piano controller have a sensibility, some harder and others softer, and that's why pianoteq have a advanced velocity curve adjust tool, to ensure the pianist's desired touch will be understanded by the software and as resulkt the correct velocity sound will be reproduced.

Thanks, I understand that one needs to send the velocity curve 'correctly' for one's DP - but given there is no definitive way to know what is 'correct' - the sound from Pianoteq could change a lot! And, I am trying to figure out how get as good a sound as I hear in the demos - and it is not proving easy!

Thanks,
Osho

Reply by Beto-Music

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Re: "Authentic" sound and velocity curve

There is a way to adjust correctly. You just need to look in the velocit curve graphic, the vertical bars that blinks when you strike a note. You can see there is a indication fro PPP to FFF.

Supose you are used to a given key touch response in a real piano, or in the natural natural playinh feelings with the onboard sounds of you digitalpiano (MIDI controller for pianoteq). You will try to adjust the curve of velocity in a way youy will need to play as soft or as stronger to get the same or close response in pianoteq as you are used to play in the controller onboard sounds or in a real piano.

Don't hurry, take your time.
First see what is the best adjust of your controller/digital piano midi, since most have adjusts to sof, middle and heavy. For example my old Roland have 3 adjusts and the heavy adjust capture more heavy strikes, while the others can't capture as much velocity. So the heavy adjust for my Roland, in my case, it's better to get a better range from F to FFF, otherwisw it will reach FFF to early in pianoteq.

Last edited by Beto-Music (15-09-2017 13:55)

Reply by Stephen_Doonan

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Re: "Authentic" sound and velocity curve

The MIDI velocity transmitted by the keyboard not only affects the volume of the resulting sound, but other aspects of the sound as well such as the force and hardness of the virtual hammers as they strike the virtual strings. So it's important to adjust the velocity curve so that your characteristic playing technique and your MIDI keyboard sound more natural, or more like an acoustic piano.

My MIDI keyboard (a Kawai VPC1) tends to transmit velocities at a high numerical value (loud) even when the keys are struck with only a moderate or softer touch or force by my hands. So I scale and spread the velocities and their associated volume and hammer hardness sounds by choosing Pianoteq's built-in velocity curve preset "Fast Keyboard" from the Velocity-Curve pane's drop-down menu, and then customize it a little more by moving the dots (the control points) along the displayed velocity curve, to exaggerate the curve a little more.

Last edited by Stephen_Doonan (15-09-2017 15:26)
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