Grandartist Presets Updated ...

I found the idea of someone who creates Pianoteq presets to sell quite bold.

But I didn't understand how it works. If, for example, if I have the Stage version, will it recognize all the presets available in the "Grandartist"?

Initially, I believed that it was someone who simply created presets in Pianoteq Pro to sell them. For that, we already have the "FXP Corner". Is not the same thing?

I just got the latest updates from Grandartist and have to say they are fantastic. Many improvements and a much improved interface, these preset libraries for Pianoteq are great sounding and really useable. Those of you that have already tried them are likely to agree on the quality and range from a developer that listens to your suggestions too. There are more options for purchasing either individual instrument or bundled packs too, the updated collections are very welcome here.

https://grand-artist.com/

jfornies wrote:

Just my personal opinion after an initial test with the presets that Dick created... simply amazing and made me love Pianoteq again. I've been always looking for a good library that I can use before recording in studio and this is giving me real feel of a grand piano. I didn't check them all but very quickly I found real gems. My communication with Dick was also great, he listened and helped me to find the right sound, can't recommend enough, I really wish Pianoteq takes some of these presets because they are far better than the ones coming with the library.

I have downloaded the trial version for the Steinway D . I confirm presets are really good BUT  in my own opinion there are a few major showstoppers :
(1) no velocity curves. You could deal with this one using velocity curve adjustments on your DP but a part VPC1 and maybe a few keyboards , the DP adjustments are very basic . So in theory one would think you could use adjustment with software like Velpro or similar , but it doesn’t work either as grandartist selects all midi inputs and offer no option to select which midi input you want .
(2) no VST or AU cannot be used in a DAW and as far as I can see no recording option . I hope this is only for the trial version , otherwise it just a few fundamental flaw
(3) no option to save any changes you make to the very little adjustments which come with the software ( maybe a limitation of the trIal version)

Pianistically wrote:

jfornies wrote:

Just my personal opinion after an initial test with the presets that Dick created... simply amazing and made me love Pianoteq again. I've been always looking for a good library that I can use before recording in studio and this is giving me real feel of a grand piano. I didn't check them all but very quickly I found real gems. My communication with Dick was also great, he listened and helped me to find the right sound, can't recommend enough, I really wish Pianoteq takes some of these presets because they are far better than the ones coming with the library.

I have downloaded the trial version for the Steinway D . I confirm presets are really good BUT  in my own opinion there are a few major showstoppers :
(1) no velocity curves. You could deal with this one using velocity curve adjustments on your DP but a part VPC1 and maybe a few keyboards , the DP adjustments are very basic . So in theory one would think you could use adjustment with software like Velpro or similar , but it doesn’t work either as grandartist selects all midi inputs and offer no option to select which midi input you want .
(2) no VST or AU cannot be used in a DAW and as far as I can see no recording option . I hope this is only for the trial version , otherwise it just a few fundamental flaw
(3) no option to save any changes you make to the very little adjustments which come with the software ( maybe a limitation of the trIal version)

Yes I do think these need development and I am sure they will listen to the feedback and continue working on them. For me the sounds are great but more options to do small changes is needed. I also believe the VST or AU is required (not available in the full version either at the moment) but there's a way to actually record the sound, create an external instrument with audio input 3-4 and then, record in an audio track with audio input 3-4 (with no output initially to avoid to listen the two instruments at the same time) and you have the audio recorded with grandartist reading the midi from the external instrument. Hope this helps

Pianistically wrote:

jfornies wrote:

Just my personal opinion after an initial test with the presets that Dick created... simply amazing and made me love Pianoteq again. I've been always looking for a good library that I can use before recording in studio and this is giving me real feel of a grand piano. I didn't check them all but very quickly I found real gems. My communication with Dick was also great, he listened and helped me to find the right sound, can't recommend enough, I really wish Pianoteq takes some of these presets because they are far better than the ones coming with the library.

I have downloaded the trial version for the Steinway D . I confirm presets are really good BUT  in my own opinion there are a few major showstoppers :
(1) no velocity curves. You could deal with this one using velocity curve adjustments on your DP but a part VPC1 and maybe a few keyboards , the DP adjustments are very basic . So in theory one would think you could use adjustment with software like Velpro or similar , but it doesn’t work either as grandartist selects all midi inputs and offer no option to select which midi input you want .
(2) no VST or AU cannot be used in a DAW and as far as I can see no recording option . I hope this is only for the trial version , otherwise it just a few fundamental flaw
(3) no option to save any changes you make to the very little adjustments which come with the software ( maybe a limitation of the trIal version)

The only limitations in the trial version are that a few notes are disabled and it stops after 20 minutes (but still you can start it again). You can in particular use the VST or AU version in a DAW, as well as record and export midi and audio files. Regarding velocity, this is keyboard dependant, and many users here have provided specific velocity curves, see https://forum.modartt.com/viewforum.php?id=10. Hope it helps!

I have downloaded the trial version for the Steinway D . I confirm presets are really good BUT  in my own opinion there are a few major showstoppers :
(1) no velocity curves. You could deal with this one using velocity curve adjustments on your DP but a part VPC1 and maybe a few keyboards , the DP adjustments are very basic . So in theory one would think you could use adjustment with software like Velpro or similar , but it doesn’t work either as grandartist selects all midi inputs and offer no option to select which midi input you want .
(2) no VST or AU cannot be used in a DAW and as far as I can see no recording option . I hope this is only for the trial version , otherwise it just a few fundamental flaw
(3) no option to save any changes you make to the very little adjustments which come with the software ( maybe a limitation of the trIal version)

sharpnine wrote:

Pianistically wrote:

I have downloaded the trial version for the Steinway D . I confirm presets are really good BUT  in my own opinion there are a few major showstoppers :
(1) no velocity curves. You could deal with this one using velocity curve adjustments on your DP but a part VPC1 and maybe a few keyboards , the DP adjustments are very basic . So in theory one would think you could use adjustment with software like Velpro or similar , but it doesn’t work either as grandartist selects all midi inputs and offer no option to select which midi input you want .
(2) no VST or AU cannot be used in a DAW and as far as I can see no recording option . I hope this is only for the trial version , otherwise it just a few fundamental flaw
(3) no option to save any changes you make to the very little adjustments which come with the software ( maybe a limitation of the trIal version)

I was prompted to try out GrandArtist because of this thread. I have the full pianoteq studio, and it seemed like a nice, inexpensive way to leverage what I already have (and it is). There are a huge number of presets spanning many pianos. Since I have the full studio I can use all of them.

I had a couple issues figuring out how to install and run it on my mac laptop, although the main issue turned out to be that I had Pianoteq 8.0 on my mac (not 8.1 which I am running on my iPad and iPhone). The newest version of GrandArtist does not work with versions earlier than 8.1 apparently. I believe the documentation stated 8.1 was required, so that was my mistake.

Dick Schouton, the creator of GrandArtist, responded to my emails quickly and helpfully. Consider: I only paid 24.50 (euros)  for this, as he is running a 50% off sale. To get any support at all, for that price, is saying a lot (I'm a software developer and have sold my programs online like this, so I know all about it). It's clearly a labor of love for Dick, and he gets high marks from me for support.

I like the sounds I've tried, and I have fun clicking the random button and getting a random preset from the many hundreds available. The sounds are good, like Pianoteq. It's hard for me to compare presets as Pianoteq also offers so many, and I can't say much about which are better--just that there are many additional ones.

Regarding the issues/critiques above:
I also miss the velocity curves, being able to store them per keyboard. I have a stiff keyboard (arturia keylab 88) and I use a very light curve to compensate. I switched the keyboard itself to a lighter curve, but it doesn't have the finesse that the pianoteq curves give me. I would like to see better support for those added.

Regarding recording, it does not have a recording option, and from what I read, it isn't really designed to be used for recording, but more for live performance. The idea is that you have a selection of sounds good for live, and these only have a few adjustments for eq, reverb and compression levels. Probably what you want in a live performance.   My problem here is that since 8.1 came out for the iPad, I generally use Pianoteq on my iPad for live performance, and on my laptop for recording and studio use. So it doesn't fit my use case too well.

I was able to use my existing blackhole driver on my mac (https://existential.audio/blackhole/) to route the audio from GrandArtist to Logic Pro on my mac. This worked fine and was very easy to select. I do feel the audio quality was a little compromised by the re-routing however. That's probably a matter of tweaking all the levels on GrandArtist, Logic Pro, the mac and everything else :-). I'm pretty sure it could work with the daw, with the advantage then being that you could use all the Logic Pro effects, mix it with other instruments, etc. (and record, of course).

It also seems to me that settings don't get saved. Each time I start GrandArtist I have to go back in settings and choose my output device, for instance. Tweaks to presets don't get remembered either.

Overall I am very happy that Dick has created this product, and provided it at a very reasonable price. However I don't care for the user interface limitations and I don't think I'll use it much except to play around and get ideas from. I'd encourage Dick to make the presets available just as presets, that can be loaded into the Pianoteq UI. I would be happy to pay as much (or more) for those, and he wouldn't have do so much app support and could concentrate just on the sounds. And I could use them with my iPad!

the main issue of not being to use it in within a DAW such as logic is the fact that you cannot use scripter or fine midi editing.  The problem with velocity  curve is that the majority of digital pianos only have a few setup velocity curves essentially done to be compatible with the mapping of internal bank sounds . Only a handful of DP such as VPC1 offer the ability to generate velocity curves as a DAW .  So the only solution if you don’t have such a keyboard is to use midi scripts with DAW that supports midi scripting such as Logic to create your own curve . Unfortunately in absence of VST routing audio within your DAW won’t allow any scripting , so you are basically stuck . I really think that not being able to tune velocity is a fundamental show stopper no matter whether you play live or not . Again it’s a pity as the presets sound really nice . One question I have though is to which extent the existing pianoteq have been adjusted vs just taking them as is and just adding very good EQ and compression .  As sometimes adding good EQ with multiple bands is like day and night .