I've been wanting Pianoteq to sound real, just like literally everyone else that purchased Pianoteq. I've noticed that my Steinway Model D Felt presets sound really good, and when I switch back to a non-felt preset, I notice the bad "plastic" sound. Is there something in the preset that I have to add to get that nice full sound?
You can isolate the felt variable with the celeste pedal. If you pull up a felt preset and depress the celeste pedal, it'll remove the felt (or vice versa with a non-felted preset). I always keep an expression pedal mapped to celeste, it makes for some expressive performance options you can't get with sample libraries.
I notice some mechanical noises when the felt kicks in that don't seem to be there without it, almost like a muffled key release knock. If that's part of the sound you're noticing, then standard and pro let you adjust key release noise, might be worth playing with that.
You may be aware of this already, but you can also play around with the condition parameter to introduce more imperfections like you might hear on a real piano. And of course dial in your velocity curve, and EQ can make a huge difference.
The main thing the 'Felt' presets have is some extra care and time put into balancing out all aspects of they way the felt makes the model sound.
(Oh, obviously I'm not saying 'just more time overall' but just some specific time put into zeroing in on, and balancing things inre felt).
While any preset can indeed be quickly made 'like' a felt preset, it will likely be a little different, which is for sure OK (not saying worse etc.. could be excellent and the way you like it - try it for sure) - but having pre-made 'felt' presets means users do not need to fuss so much in trying to create the well loved effect. I think Pianoteq felt presets are wonderfully rich and maintain realism.
Within the felt variants, 'felt II' variants go a little further towards pushing certain characteristics harder than 'Felt I' variants.
The felt models are hitched to an inescapable realism set by the piano itself, which means they are not all just identical - so it's a great pallet available here to have among all pianos.
The U4 upright 'Felt II' preset (my fav of the felt presets) dances even a little further beyond realism, towards other famous felt pianos on the market which also include more up-close mics and cinematic compression with more noise evident. I find it quite the fit for cinematic felt piano moods. It's easy to overlook the U4 among all the wonderful pianos - but it's versatile and I just love being able to dial in character of any kind as it becomes more balanced over time generally.
Whilst the notion of 'felt piano' is a near recent music production craze with some progenitors (in a way worthy of some righteous and joyous market buzz), actual felt pianos in reality have been around for a century or more. There are some interesting old instruments with all kinds of ways of introducing felt to the strings - but for sure, Pianoteq gives options here too.
Esp.. by applying Celeste pedal (felt) and using 'pinch harmonic' (tweaking these like applying felt somewhere further down the strings, subtly to get that superb and magical sound.. there's a horizon somewhere - see you when you get back