Topic: Steingraeber transducers in action with Pianoteq

In this video (8:30), Robert Hofmann says that the sound played through the transducers is a sampled version of the Steingraeber grand piano ... but, I suspect it's Pianoteq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQuq3iet9zA

I wonder if it’s possible to build a little grand piano specifically for Pianoteq (with a real soundboard, without the strings ...) using transducers to spread the sound?

I think nothing could make Pianoteq more realistic for those who don’t need a '' real '' acoustic grand piano ...

Re: Steingraeber transducers in action with Pianoteq

It says it right here on this Steingraeber site: https://www.steingraeber.de/en/innovationen/transducer

... The startlingly-authentic grand piano sound is thanks not to out-dated sampling techniques, but to the physical modelling approach of piano sound ‘Guru’ Philippe Guillaume and his firm Modartt/pianoteq.

I am a bit doubtful though about the sound of pianoteq played through a transducer on the soundboard. Don't we hear a modeled soundboard with its proper modes played back on the physical one, not a linear device for sure? Unless there is a special version where the soundboard response is absent from the model, or is properly equalized, I still think pianoteq sounds much better on normal speakers or headphones, (in my opinion of course)...

Of course, only pianoteq can be so powerful with microtuning in real time...

Last edited by Gilles (28-06-2018 16:17)

Re: Steingraeber transducers in action with Pianoteq

Congratulations to Modartt!

What you seem to say makes sense, but I think the only way to find out is to compare.
If someone has already done this comparison (transducers vs speakers), I would be curious to know the results.

Re: Steingraeber transducers in action with Pianoteq

Modelling Audio Prod wrote:

If someone has already done this comparison (transducers vs speakers), I would be curious to know the results.

It's more correct to say Flat-Panel vs. Point-Source speakers because both types of speakers use transducers. You could rip the transducer out of your point-source speakers, press it up against a soundboard and you've got a flat-panel speaker. In addition, the wooden bridge in a piano is a transducer for the strings, so technically, acoustic pianos have always had a transducer.

Last edited by Groove On (28-06-2018 19:24)