I bought the basic "Stage" product with two instruments and couldn't be happier with it. I chose the C Bechstein and Bluetner products. The level of detail -- A-B recording -- and the quality is simply stunning.
I run a pure Linux workflow, no Windows, no WINE, and wish more companies would provide pure Linux VSTi products like PianoTeq for those of us willing to pay real money for solutions that just work.
Good work, ModArtt.
+1 from another very appreciative Linux user.
I have a deep admiration for S.O Linux.
It's great that Pianoteq has a native Linux version. I'm determined to set up a dual boot with Win10 and Linux this year. A lot of projects on the go at the moment, but it's on my to-do list! Reaper also has a native Linux version, so it seems like a perfect partner for music production in Linux.
Reaper also has a native Linux version.
And it works very well; as do Bitwig Studio, Mixbus and Mixbus32C.
Mixbus (and 32C): https://harrisonconsoles.com/
Bitwig: https://www.bitwig.com/
Bitwig and Pianoteq make for a great pair. I've replaced GigPerformer with Bitwig for seamlessly switching between instruments while playing. Bitwig also allows for hooking modulators up to Pianoteq, which opens up a lot of possibilities.
Quick question for all you Linux users here: I've recently loaded Pianoteq on Linux Mint, but for some reason can't figure out how to pin its shortcut to the main panel or to the "start" menu. For every other program there's a pin option when right-clicked, but nothing like that when running Pianoteq (except "create shortcut" which doesn't actually create a shortcut). The way I'm running it currently is just opening the Pianoteq folder, then opening the x86-64bit folder, and running the Pianoteq 7 file. I'm a beginner when it comes to Linux and assume I'm doing something completely wrong here... maybe I'm running it without having actually installed it??
I did manage to 'grant realtime privileges' since I'm not running a dedicated audio distro.
Bitwig and Pianoteq make for a great pair. I've replaced GigPerformer with Bitwig for seamlessly switching between instruments while playing. Bitwig also allows for hooking modulators up to Pianoteq, which opens up a lot of possibilities.
Quick question for all you Linux users here: I've recently loaded Pianoteq on Linux Mint, but for some reason can't figure out how to pin its shortcut to the main panel or to the "start" menu. For every other program there's a pin option when right-clicked, but nothing like that when running Pianoteq (except "create shortcut" which doesn't actually create a shortcut). The way I'm running it currently is just opening the Pianoteq folder, then opening the x86-64bit folder, and running the Pianoteq 7 file. I'm a beginner when it comes to Linux and assume I'm doing something completely wrong here... maybe I'm running it without having actually installed it??
I did manage to 'grant realtime privileges' since I'm not running a dedicated audio distro.
You can copy the Pianoteq file on your desktop and just run it from there. It is just an executable file so it can't be installed as other applications.
I see, thanks. I'll likely run it inside Bitwig on this Linux machine most often, so not a big deal at all.
Quick question for all you Linux users here: I've recently loaded Pianoteq on Linux Mint, but for some reason can't figure out how to pin its shortcut to the main panel or to the "start" menu.
Using one of the many desktop environments for Linux (I use Linux Mint, XFCE edition; you might use the regular Linux Mint Cinnamon desktop), just create an app launcher or edit the "start" menu (use the menu-editor utility) to include Pianoteq. The Pianoteq standalone app is not installed in Linux using a package installer, so it is not automatically added to the system menu during installation. Instead, Pianoteq is downloaded, extracted from the archive it and its associated files are within, and then marked as executable within Linux (using the right-click "properties" function, or in a terminal window using the chmod utility, for example).
Once the Pianoteq standalone program can be executed (launched/run by double-clicking the Pianoteq app listing or icon in the file browser, or with a right-click->run), a launcher helper app can be created for it, and/or the system menu can be edited to include an item to launch Pianoteq. Once the menu item is created, you can right-click on that item in the menu and choose the option to pin or add the item to the panel (where it's chosen icon will be visible) for easy launching of the app from the panel or from the main system menu. You'll probably want to download and store an icon for Pianoteq to use with the launcher and/or menu item, from here, for example--
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...72#p977572
--> If you use Linux Mint regular edition (Cinnamon desktop) or Linux Mint XFCE edition, I could list a step-by-step process for making a launcher for Pianoteq which would appear in the start menu or on the desktop or in the panel (sometimes you can add a launcher directly to the desktop or the panel, without the app needing to be added to the system "start" menu, if desired).
If you are not using a dedicated Linux audio distro (distribution), you could (if you want; I usually don't bother) install UbuntuStudio (or particular parts of UbuntuStudio) from within Linux Mint using Mint's own package manager or (as I usually prefer), the Synaptic graphical package installer/manager.
For information or to ask questions, you might check out (if you have not already done so) the LinuxMusicians forum: https://linuxmusicians.com/
Have fun. How to do things in Linux makes more sense (and sooner and more quickly) as you use and become more familiar with the OS.
Thanks for all the info Stephen. Based on what you wrote I just found a tutorial for making a launcher (linked below in case it's ever helpful for anyone) which was much easier than I expected and works great. And yes, I'm using Cinnamon, but put XFCE on an old computer a while back.
I did run into an issue that I might need to visit linuxmusicians.com for with JACK. I was able to get Pianoteq running in Bitwig, but with a lot of pops (the standalone works quite well). I had already granted realtime privileges, so thought JACK might help, but when I try to start it I get an error: "D-BUS: JACK server could not be started." At some point I did install a low latency kernel which I read should work with Mint (sudo apt install linux-lowlatency), but that might be where I went wrong. I later installed all the non-visual elements in UbuntuStudio, thinking something in there might help, but no change for JACK. At some point I also added pulseaudio-module-jack (sudo apt install pulseaudio-module-jack). And I'm using QjackCtl to control JACK. Probably should have created a restore point...
Anyway this is all an experiment for me to see if I'll eventually be able to ditch Windows entirely (especially with 11 on the horizon). I haven't tried running some of my non-Linux software in WINE yet--that would be the big thing (Sibelius and the Affinity suite of programs).
Thanks for all the info Stephen. Based on what you wrote I just found a tutorial for making a launcher (linked below in case it's ever helpful for anyone) which was much easier than I expected and works great. And yes, I'm using Cinnamon, but put XFCE on an old computer a while back.
... so thought JACK might help, but when I try to start it I get an error: "D-BUS: JACK server could not be started." At some point I did install a low latency kernel which I read should work with Mint (sudo apt install linux-lowlatency), but that might be where I went wrong. I later installed all the non-visual elements in UbuntuStudio, thinking something in there might help, but no change for JACK. At some point I also added pulseaudio-module-jack (sudo apt install pulseaudio-module-jack).
That video is a perfect tutorial for creating a menu item in Linux Mint Cinnamon. It was nice to post it so that it can be helpful to others.
The confusing D-BUS: JACK server could not be started issue has happened many times to me. After trying many suggested solutions (https://askubuntu.com/questions/224151/...g-qjackctl), some of which worked some of the time, I believe the issue was finally solved by explicitly selecting my external audio interface (in my case, a Mackie Onyx Producer 2-2) in QJackctl (Settings-->Advanced-->Output Device (and Input Device), as mentioned in the following webpage (this fix is something which I now do by habit):
http://dpod.kakelbont.ca/2015/08/16/fixing-qjackctl/
Regarding the lowlatency kernel, its installation and maintenance became for me somewhat a headache. The regular generic linux kernel installed by Linux Mint is now so good and optimized for very decent low latency when "Realtime" is enabled in JACK (QJackctl), that I ended up ditching the lowlatency kernel entirely, unless I ever feel like messing around under the hood of Linux again (I really admire and appreciate that the OS allows ordinary users to dig into the internals of a Linux system, to use a real command-line and terminal, etc.). Anyway, you might find that the lowlatency kernel is usually superfluous nowadays.
One optimization I personally feel is important (on my system, anyway) is to disable automatic frequency scaling, which is when the computer BIOS or linux kernel changes (usually lowers) the CPU frequency, and only raises it on-the-fly when more computational power is needed. These abrupt changes in the clock frequency of the CPU cores seem to often interfere with audio tasks; by disabling frequency scaling, the cores run at their maximum rated frequency all the time, causing them to be as responsive as possible to demanding tasks like recording or routing audio. My computer uses an Intel CPU, so to disable frequency-scaling at boot time, I added the Intel-CPU-specific kernel argument/parameter "intel_pstate=disable" to the kernel commandline in the GRUB bootloader configuration file (in my system, at /etc/default/grub). (you can check "edit GRUB configuration file" at Google or DuckDuckGo.com for more info). Here's what my GRUB config file currently looks like:
-- -- -- -- --
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
# info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true
GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_pstate=disable"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"
# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console
# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"
# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
-- -- -- -- --
After disabling frequency scaling, audio tasks usually work much more smoothly, with fewer or no Xruns (pops), and smaller buffer sizes with higher sample rates, so disabling frequency-scaling might be well worth investigating/implementing on your system (unless it's a laptop computer and might be sensitive or prone to overheating). If you use an AMD or other CPU rather than Intel, the specific kernel argument/parameter to disable the frequency-scaling of that particular type of CPU will probably be different.
And here's what the /etc/security/limits.d/audio.conf file looks like on my system, if you'd like to see if yours is similar. (the text below may alternatively appear in /etc/security/limits.conf)
-- -- -- -- --
# Provided by the jackd package.
#
# Changes to this file will be preserved.
#
# If you want to enable/disable realtime permissions, run
#
# dpkg-reconfigure -p high jackd
@audio - rtprio 95
@audio - memlock unlimited
#@audio - nice -19
Have fun.
I believe the issue was finally solved by explicitly selecting my external audio interface (in my case, a Mackie Onyx Producer 2-2) in QJackctl (Settings-->Advanced-->Output Device (and Input Device)...
Thanks so much, this ^ worked.
One optimization I personally feel is important (on my system, anyway) is to disable automatic frequency scaling...
Yes, I thought it might be good to have a convenient (GUI) way to turn this off/on as needed, and so I tried out Ubuntu Studio Controls. It seems to work as far as I can tell.
@audio - rtprio 95
@audio - memlock unlimited
#@audio - nice -19
Thanks, I just went with the values Pianoteq included in their readme file, but I might play around with these down the road.
Now that JACK is running I have another issue. Pianoteq standalone works perfectly with JACK, but for some reason Bitwig gives a "MIDI input error" saying "device or resource busy." I read that a2jmidid needs to be stopped for Bitwig (something about it requiring exclusive control), but stopping it in Ubuntu Studio Controls and in the terminal don't seem to change anything. I looked into using Cadence, but apparently KXStudio (which includes it) is no longer supported.
And now if I try to load Pianoteq as a VST in Bitwig it fails, citing the path to the VST along with "could not read metadata." Otherwise audio plays within Bitwig via JACK. I can check on the Bitwig forum since this seems to be more of a Bitwig issue.
Now that JACK is running I have another issue. Pianoteq standalone works perfectly with JACK, but for some reason Bitwig gives a "MIDI input error" saying "device or resource busy." I read that a2jmidid needs to be stopped for Bitwig (something about it requiring exclusive control), but stopping it in Ubuntu Studio Controls and in the terminal don't seem to change anything. I looked into using Cadence, but apparently KXStudio (which includes it) is no longer supported.
And now if I try to load Pianoteq as a VST in Bitwig it fails, citing the path to the VST along with "could not read metadata." Otherwise audio plays within Bitwig via JACK. I can check on the Bitwig forum since this seems to be more of a Bitwig issue.
I have a Bitwig license as well, but not updated recently because I rarely use Bitwig (I tend to use Harrison Consoles' Mixbus32C most often). From what I remember, Bitwig seems very modular and insulated, which means that it tends to use its own methods to connect to and interact with system audio and MIDI, so there can sometimes be some conflict between "Bitwig's way" and the concurrent use of audio and/or MIDI outside of Bitwig. I admire Bitwig though, and I remember that I figured out a way to resolve those MIDI issues, and the Pianoteq plugin worked fine within Bitwig. I'm a fan of a2jmidid, but I'm also finding that more and more, lately, the use of ALSA instead of JACK as a backend for audio and MIDI seems to work fine (much better than it used to) and produces fewer issues with regard to routing and use of audio and MIDI.
You might try _not_ using JACK or a2jmidid when working with Bitwig, if you don't absolutely need them at the time, and allow Bitwig to use its own methods of communicating with and routing between audio and MIDI hardware or processes outside its own universe. Bitwig seems to work best when it is in control and doesn't interact or play well with others, so to speak. If I decide to play a little with Bitwig Studio (my license for free upgrade is still in effect), I'll test the issues you mention and respond, although it might be better to start a new "Pianoteq and Bitwig in Linux" thread rather than to continue to use this "Really a fantastic product" discussion, I guess.
-- -- -- -- --
OK-- I just downloaded the latest version of Bitwig Studio (4.0.1). Both Bitwig and Pianoteq (latest version, 7.4.2) within Bitwig work fine, when choosing any of the available audio backends in Bitwig (ALSA, JACK or PulseAudio). I'll start a new discussion thread-- Pianoteq - Linux - Bitwig
That "Pianoteq - Linux - Bitwig" thread is here: https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php?id=8774
--
Thanks again, I finally figured out the issue. It seems (as far as I can tell) that there was some kind of conflict or redundancy between 'QJackCTL' and 'Ubuntu Studio Controls' that Bitwig didn't like. Ubuntu Studio Controls has a way to start/stop JACK which seems somewhat independent from QJackCTL's start/stop. I had to make sure QJackCTL wasn't running, and didn't run at startup. 'a2jmidid' still has to be disabled, but then everything seems to work just fine. The other issue with Bitwig not loading Pianoteq was just a stupid oversight on my part. I had moved Pianoteq's folder and forgot to point Bitwig to the new VST location.
And yes, I probably shouldn't have hijacked this thread! Didn't realize it would be so involved. But to bring it full circle, it really is fantastic that Pianoteq is dedicated to Linux. With more great software running on Linux, and as the two big personal computer companies get worse and worse in terms of spyware, forcing users into their "ecosystems," etc.--it seems like Linux adoption will only increase and that in turn should increase Linux development. At least that's my uneducated view of the general trend.
... to bring it full circle, it really is fantastic that Pianoteq is dedicated to Linux. With more great software running on Linux, and as the two big personal computer companies get worse and worse in terms of spyware, forcing users into their "ecosystems," etc.--it seems like Linux adoption will only increase and that in turn should increase Linux development. At least that's my uneducated view of the general trend.
I agree about Pianoteq and its developers, and I hope you're right about your other comments. That would be great.
Great comments, everyone!
Yes, Pianoteq brings it full circle. Linux is really perfect for music in many ways (minimal bloat and system overhead, stability), and the low-latency kernels do seem to help. Now if we could just get ModArtt to do a professional orchestral set to compete with Kontact -- and that works for Linux...
Since I wrote that original post I acquired Bitwig Studio 4 (love both Reaper and Bitwig) and upgraded to Pianoteq Standard, and bought a simple weighted keyboard and pedal. Not the fanciest setup -- I'm certain many of yours would put mine to shame -- but for me it's pretty cool. I've completed a few compositions over the past few weeks, most featuring Pianoteq instruments, including the Vibraphone.
What I enjoy about PianoTeq Standard are the tools for piano nerds: the ability to have Baroque tunings and change the soundboard, and add random tuning imperfections brings a bit more real-life character to the sound.
Perhaps the nicest new feature that Pianoteq Standard brings, though, is the ability to set different mic arrangements -- A-B is typical for classical I've been told and X-Y for pop and jazz (and I work in two of the three) -- to give renderings a little more realism. Whoever developed this wonderful product is a full-on audio nerd and has my respect and admiration.
I probably won't upgrade to Pro anytime soon -- can't justify it not being a pro -- but the Standard offering is quite nice and I'm glad I took the plunge.
Stephen_Doonan wrote:I believe the issue was finally solved by explicitly selecting my external audio interface (in my case, a Mackie Onyx Producer 2-2) in QJackctl (Settings-->Advanced-->Output Device (and Input Device)...
Thanks so much, this ^ worked.
Stephen_Doonan wrote:One optimization I personally feel is important (on my system, anyway) is to disable automatic frequency scaling...
Yes, I thought it might be good to have a convenient (GUI) way to turn this off/on as needed, and so I tried out Ubuntu Studio Controls. It seems to work as far as I can tell.
Stephen_Doonan wrote:@audio - rtprio 95
@audio - memlock unlimited
#@audio - nice -19Thanks, I just went with the values Pianoteq included in their readme file, but I might play around with these down the road.
Now that JACK is running I have another issue. Pianoteq standalone works perfectly with JACK, but for some reason Bitwig gives a "MIDI input error" saying "device or resource busy." I read that a2jmidid needs to be stopped for Bitwig (something about it requiring exclusive control), but stopping it in Ubuntu Studio Controls and in the terminal don't seem to change anything. I looked into using Cadence, but apparently KXStudio (which includes it) is no longer supported.
And now if I try to load Pianoteq as a VST in Bitwig it fails, citing the path to the VST along with "could not read metadata." Otherwise audio plays within Bitwig via JACK. I can check on the Bitwig forum since this seems to be more of a Bitwig issue.
Hey Nathan,
I had the exact same problem a couple days ago setting up my new Casio ("generic") keyboard. I raised the issue with Bitwig and had a few rounds on e-mail with them. It turns out that the workaround -- which may or may not work for you -- is to use ALSA as Bitwig's audio output. For some reason, JACK and Bitwig are not playing nicely together. Not exactly intuitive but you may want to give it a go. For now, REAPER has Bitwig beat on the "it just works" front when it comes to MIDI input via JACK.
Update: I see you already found it. Hopefully they will address the QJackCtl issue in an upcoming maintenance release.