Topic: thin sound HELP

Hi all,

ever since I have PianoTeq (8 Standard) I don't think I have been able to get the full sound I hear in demos and YouTube videos. For instance, in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgOQ5imqPrU , the Steinway Classical New York, first piano, default presets sounds more realistic and fuller than what I have.

I have obviously played around with various settings and velocity curves, but I keep getting this thin sound, and I don't know where to look.

I have a Focusrite MIDI interface, and when I got that it had both the left and right channel panned to the center which kind of cancelled out the sound a bit, and so I had to pan left to left and right to right. My Pianoteq sound reminds me a bit of this, as if left and right are both panned to the center.

I also hear, at least to my taste as I cannot verify, too many overtones. I know I can adjust that with the settings, but maybe that's also part of the problem? I recorded this quickly: https://soundcloud.com/jan-willem-tulp/...q-overtone I just hit some notes, and then when I release, you hear a high overtone kind of sounds sustained for some time. Is this normal?

I have a Nord Grand as keyboard, and the pianos of my Nord also sound fuller than the Pianoteq sounds.

Anyway, I don't know where to look, so if you have any suggestions as to what it may be, that would be very helpful.

Thank you in advance!

Last edited by jwtulp (22-05-2023 23:30)

Re: thin sound HELP

Hi jwtulp,

One of the "problems" I have with Pianoteq is, when I switch between the various instruments, the "Reverb" is not set for any particular room size. In Effects the reverb room is set to "Jazz Studio", for example, but if you right click the actual "Reverb" button (just above the keyboard) there is no room size selected.

The Pianoteq instrument sounds, as you say, a tad thin and uninteresting.

Once I select a room size in "Reverb" then my instrument has its presence and fullness of body back.

Just running a few quick comparisons, I think it is a function of the "Jazz Studio" setting to sound thin and clean. My preference is to go with a larger room with way more overtones and reflections and tweak from there.  Playing a "fado" on the Pianoteq Classical Guitar sounds so much better, to my ears, if you are sitting in a corner of a virtual cathedral in Andalusia listening to the notes play catch as catch can around the arches i.e with the "Reverb" room size set to "Cathedral" and then tweaking until I can "see" the space I am playing in.

Not sure if this helps

Michael

Last edited by mprimrose (22-05-2023 23:54)
Pianoteq 8 Studio plus all Instrument packs; Organteq 2; Debian; Reaper; Carla

Re: thin sound HELP

Thanks for the suggestion. That's not what's happening in my case, though I do hear the difference you're talking about by toggling the reverb. Thanks again!

mprimrose wrote:

Hi jwtulp,

One of the "problems" I have with Pianoteq is, when I switch between the various instruments, the "Reverb" is not set for any particular room size. In Effects the reverb room is set to "Jazz Studio", for example, but if you right click the actual "Reverb" button (just above the keyboard) there is no room size selected.

The Pianoteq instrument sounds, as you say, a tad thin and uninteresting.

Once I select a room size in "Reverb" then my instrument has its presence and fullness of body back.

Just running a few quick comparisons, I think it is a function of the "Jazz Studio" setting to sound thin and clean. My preference is to go with a larger room with way more overtones and reflections and tweak from there.  Playing a "fado" on the Pianoteq Classical Guitar sounds so much better, to my ears, if you are sitting in a corner of a virtual cathedral in Andalusia listening to the notes play catch as catch can around the arches.

Not sure if this helps

Michael

Re: thin sound HELP

I've been tweaking NYSD regularly over the past few months on Pro.

1. PianoTeq (8 Standard) -- IMO, unfortunately, this is missing important features for professional applications. Factory defaults successfully mask most issues, but is it pro level? I would say, perhaps yes, but only in limited ways

2. thin sound vs full -- short audio samples might be helpful here. edit: I see a link now-- but as below, this can be a complicated thing.

3. too many overtones --  this is a complex thing - Spectrum profile note edit  can address this, but so can mic placement, eq (3 band, many band main and res), ASIO settings, hammer hardness, various effects, anything listed under Design, various output settings, and to some extent volume.

4. a high overtone kind of sounds sustained for some time -- I think this is sort of unique to NYSD default -- impedance for a single high note. Could be other things. Not 100%

You may want or need a corrected preset, but its also possible you have enough in standard's toolbox: e.g. volume note edit plus the layering feature, or some other things could address this.

IMO, the best solution for a tweaker would be to upgrade. For a professional/semi-professional non-tweaker, you might try hiring someone to make a preset for you. I could try to work with you if you want that.

Last edited by bani223 (23-05-2023 01:04)
MOTU M2 using native ASIO driver, Windows 11, weird tweaks needed to make it work, but seems fine now.
I have posted several times about tweaking Pianoteq

Re: thin sound HELP

Some presets (the warm and gentle, it depends on the pianos, though) have a full sound, imo. What do you think about it ?

Last edited by Borealis (23-05-2023 15:02)

Re: thin sound HELP

Borealis wrote:

Some presets (the warm and gentle, it depends on the pianos, though) have a full sound, imo. What do you think about it ?

Yeah, they are indeed warmer. I'm just playing around with the settings, and it can have huge effects.... I guess I just need to find the proper ones for me.... Thanks!

Re: thin sound HELP

bani223 wrote:

I've been tweaking NYSD regularly over the past few months on Pro.

1. PianoTeq (8 Standard) -- IMO, unfortunately, this is missing important features for professional applications. Factory defaults successfully mask most issues, but is it pro level? I would say, perhaps yes, but only in limited ways

2. thin sound vs full -- short audio samples might be helpful here. edit: I see a link now-- but as below, this can be a complicated thing.

3. too many overtones --  this is a complex thing - Spectrum profile note edit  can address this, but so can mic placement, eq (3 band, many band main and res), ASIO settings, hammer hardness, various effects, anything listed under Design, various output settings, and to some extent volume.

4. a high overtone kind of sounds sustained for some time -- I think this is sort of unique to NYSD default -- impedance for a single high note. Could be other things. Not 100%

You may want or need a corrected preset, but its also possible you have enough in standard's toolbox: e.g. volume note edit plus the layering feature, or some other things could address this.

IMO, the best solution for a tweaker would be to upgrade. For a professional/semi-professional non-tweaker, you might try hiring someone to make a preset for you. I could try to work with you if you want that.

Thank you! I'm not a professional, I do like a good sound, but I don't have to go to the extremes. That being said, thank you for your suggestions, I'll tweak a bit more and see if it'll improve...

Re: thin sound HELP

Same problem here.

I have a Kawai Novus NV5S. Comparing Pianoteq with the SK-EX rendering, Pianoteq is much thinner.

I installed Pianoteq on my laptop with only the internal soundcard and connected my headphones directly to the audio output of my laptop. Do you think my sound could benefit from an external audiointerface?
If yes, could you recommend one to me?

Re: thin sound HELP

I have similar issues with thin and overtones.  So far, my tweaking hasn't resolved it.  I have it on both ASIO and Windows Audio.

The overtones are the ones I am mainly concerned with.  There is a long ringing out on the notes which isn't appealing to me.  Speakers or headphones produce the same results.  Playing live with someone masks it out so I am good there.

Re: thin sound HELP

Schmaly wrote:

Same problem here.

I have a Kawai Novus NV5S. Comparing Pianoteq with the SK-EX rendering, Pianoteq is much thinner.

I installed Pianoteq on my laptop with only the internal soundcard and connected my headphones directly to the audio output of my laptop. Do you think my sound could benefit from an external audiointerface?
If yes, could you recommend one to me?

part of the problem us that the internal audio of the NV5S is designed specifically for high quality sound  but laptop’s sound card are  low specs compared to it . Mac sound card and audio drivers are better than standard PC’s usually but if you use a good audio interface it makes a huge  difference not only in term of overall sound quality but also in term of fuller sound .

Re: thin sound HELP

If you have a look at section 4.5.3. of the manual. "Using Reverb". It explains what is going on there.

jwtulp wrote:

Hi all,

ever since I have PianoTeq (8 Standard) I don't think I have been able to get the full sound I hear in demos and YouTube videos. For instance, in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgOQ5imqPrU , the Steinway Classical New York, first piano, default presets sounds more realistic and fuller than what I have.

I have obviously played around with various settings and velocity curves, but I keep getting this thin sound, and I don't know where to look.

I have a Focusrite MIDI interface, and when I got that it had both the left and right channel panned to the center which kind of cancelled out the sound a bit, and so I had to pan left to left and right to right. My Pianoteq sound reminds me a bit of this, as if left and right are both panned to the center.

I also hear, at least to my taste as I cannot verify, too many overtones. I know I can adjust that with the settings, but maybe that's also part of the problem? I recorded this quickly: https://soundcloud.com/jan-willem-tulp/...q-overtone I just hit some notes, and then when I release, you hear a high overtone kind of sounds sustained for some time. Is this normal?

I have a Nord Grand as keyboard, and the pianos of my Nord also sound fuller than the Pianoteq sounds.

Anyway, I don't know where to look, so if you have any suggestions as to what it may be, that would be very helpful.

Thank you in advance!

Re: thin sound HELP

Maybe needless to repeat, but be sure to set your volume high enough (i.e. realistic level compared to a real piano).
This has a huge influence on the overall sound experience.

Also play with the "condition slider" to get a more realistic sound (no real piano is ever in perfect condition).

Last edited by shiihs (04-11-2023 21:27)
KAWAI NV10 / Sequential Prophet Rev2
https:://youtube.com/stefaanhimpe