Pianoteq 8 is Great

oh! I'm the opposite - I spent a lot of time removing these quirks on the Note Edit function
I'm sure I'm also compensating for my speakers and cabinet.

And I agree with you: the Steinways sound amazing now - notice I have no access to a mechanical piano at all (even the next piano store is 300Km away)
How good are the Steinways for me? I didn't even try any other pianos (yet)

On a different note: In my view these quirks will make the spirio fail...
... unless the spirio has a sound analyser thingy that can compensate, just like a performer would do. It will need to have it to succeed.

Assuming a basic decent standard (not computer speakers or dirt cheap Amazon's cheapest powered speakers say) different listening rooms make a bigger difference than differences between good hardware.

Also how the speakers are set up relative to the position of the listener makes a huge difference. Were the listener is sat in the room, whether the listener is sitting in positions of strong peaks or nulls, the furnishings of the room, size and shape of the room, the list goes on.

Add to that the differences in available listening time between users, amount of headphone or earbud use, the age of the listener, the pre-existing hearing damage of the listener, the preferred listening volume of the listener. The preferred presets of the user..

Yes, but the different rooms would dramatically change the system performance differences too. 
Basically in order to have a remotely close idea of another user's experience they would need to be using their listening room as well, sitting in the users listening position.

Far smaller real world differences between users with the same headphones at least.

To be fair, the same is true for real instruments put in different rooms, with different floors, wall materials, curtains, etc

+1
The upgrade to Pianoteq 8 was flawless on my old fanless Intel N4200 with 64-bit Linux. Still possible to compare 7 and 8 by starting the old or new binary. After a preliminary quick test Pianoteq 8 seems to have more body, very nice! And I like that some presets are less "wet", because I usually play Pianoteq standalone. A great pleasure to use the new version, thank you very much Modartt.

PS:
As always after a major upgrade I'm uncertain, if I have to adapt my individual velocity curves :-). The better Pianoteq gets, the more I fear to loose that sound quality simply by inadequate velocity mapping ...

I played Pianoteq 8 for a bit last night. I can confirm that the attack seems way smoother, less percussive. It didn't tire my ears as Pianoteq 7 did, despite using the same headphones. Thanks for fixing this without us having to tweak the presets!!!

Great videos, think I even liked the Pianoteq Steinway more than the Ivory II one, from that last demo. To be fair, VSL Steinway probably still wins, when it comes to the body of the sound, but even between it, and Pianoteq, it's a close call. Not to mention the quality per price, PTQ all the way.

The VSL libraries are vacuum-cleaners. Both when it comes to our wallets, and disk space. Which in turn makes them vacuum-clean our wallets even more, with the biggest instruments almost requiring a whole SSD all by themselves. And I haven't even began to talk about other computer resources.

A bit off topic, but now pianoteq have a guitar I would like to ask what instrumental guitar music is that (very beginning of the video) and the artist performer :

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=14pxCghhP...e=youtu.be

I always heard this music here and there, in some films or documentaries about early rock, but never found the name or artist.

That is true to a point , as most likely you are going to use better monitors for sound output with an audio interface such as focusrite or similar to increase the quality of the sound , and then you are back to the initial problematic you highlight as we all different equipments , different rooms with different reverbs , and ultimately different ears and taste which are the final component in the complex chain production . In fact I consider it as a positive , as uniform sound rendering would be extremely boring and robotic .
You are right about advantage of digital pianos vs midi controllers + VST setup , but VST and in particular Pianoteq rendering is way ahead of any integrated bank sound on any digital piano in the market . But the use case is different Pianoteq and other VST are best suited for studio work whereby digital pianos are recommended for live gigs .

That music is 'Wipe Out' by The Surfaris.

Hi, Opus32. I remember your problem. I also have tinnitus and have had exactly the same feeling since version 6. That's why I hesitated whether to update to the latest 8. Do your ears really not hurt anymore? Can I feel free to buy? Regards!

I'm on vacation. I'm back in a week. 28.11 will be the end of the promotion. I won't be able to test it

A bit of "Wipe Out" with the Pianoteq Guitar

https://forum.modartt.com/uploads.php?f...ipeOut.mp3

__

Superb, Piet, superb!!!!

Twist and shout was also recorded by Brian Poole and the Tremelos, a rather dated British band from '63.  I used to like this version, but I'm now left wondering why . I won't inflict it om ou, but if you're really curious . .

. .https://youtu.be/-GXOsb6Av0Y

I would too like to say that I really enjoy the new version 8 of Pianoteq Stage. I feel that the dynamics have improved a lot and the overall sound impression has gained. I also like the redesign of the GUI. Thank you, dear developers!