Attack & String Release - Some Observations.

Hi all,

Pianoteq has been my go to practise 'instrument' for the past 6 years or so and continues to be so, however having seen various reviews of Native Instruments' Noire, this is a sampled piano that I now own and have spent a lot of time with. In my day job I work with acoustic pianos and have spent a lot of time tweaking my virtual instruments along side an acoustic piano to try and get the playing experience to be as close as possible.

Pianoteq is, of course, a million times more configurable than a sample based instrument, and I have had some excellent results that I'm really pleased with, but it has brought to light that there are some features of Noire that add a realistic dimension to the character and sound that I have been unable to achieve with Pianoteq.

1. The initial attack of a note, particularly in the lower registers, on an acoustic instrument provide a guttural 'chunkiness' that I can't replicate with Pianoteq. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it, other than it hits you at the back of the throat. Noire captures this very well, and with a customised velocity curve, makes you feel very connected as you're playing.

2. String (NOT action!) release sounds. I've played some instruments that have had incredibly fine voicing carried out, however there is still a change in tone, especially when using the damper pedal, on release of a note / lowering of the dampers back towards the string. A small detail, but again, it makes the experience more 'real'.

I always set the condition slider to 0.33 in Pianoteq, which makes the instruments feel more 'alive', but adding modelling of the two events that I've written about would be really nice additions!