I realise the lowest note you can play on a guitar is the low E string but I was wondering, since it's a modeled instrument, if there is any way to play notes lower than that? Some times I find myself wanting to go lower but it can't.
I realise the lowest note you can play on a guitar is the low E string but I was wondering, since it's a modeled instrument, if there is any way to play notes lower than that? Some times I find myself wanting to go lower but it can't.
You may change the tuning (e.g. Drop D) :
https://ahp.li/85f58bd18b95d86e1105.jpg
Or use "Guitare a la piano" preset which allows you to use full 88 keys of your keyboard.
MannyF wrote:I realise the lowest note you can play on a guitar is the low E string but I was wondering, since it's a modeled instrument, if there is any way to play notes lower than that? Some times I find myself wanting to go lower but it can't.
You may change the tuning (e.g. Drop D) :
https://ahp.li/85f58bd18b95d86e1105.jpg
Or use "Guitare a la piano" preset which allows you to use full 88 keys of your keyboard.
Thanks Gaston! Your reply pointed me in the right direction. After loading "Guitare a la piano", I noticed some icons had changed on the virtual keyboard:
It seems any preset supports this feature. There "+/-" button (green arrow) toggles between original and extended note range, pretty much does what it says on the tin and makes the whole 88-key virtual keyboard playable disregarding the physical limitations of instrument being modeled. When the button displays a "-" that means the extended range is active. The button at the top (red arrow) cycles through three types of keyboards: C = Chromatic, G = Guitar, D = Diatonic; click it until you see "C", which gives you 88 piano keys and access to the lower registers of the extended range. There appear to be some limitations/compromises which at the moment I don't think can be overcome:
1. Unless you use Guitar mode you lose the guitar articulation section entirely, which I can't fathom because there are still unused notes left that could have been used for this.
2. Guitar articulations don't work when I enable the guitar-style keyboard unless it's a guitar patch. I think it would have been interesting from a sound design perspective to be able to use those features with, say, pianos, even if it sounds unnatural, it has a valid place in a sound design context.
3. Pianoteq ignores any notes outside the range of the 88-key virtual piano keyboard.
4. Some Pianos, such as the Steinway Model D, feature a 105-key range instead of the usual 88-key. When this is the case, Pianoteq displays arrow buttons either side of the virtual keyboard to enable scrolling (pic below). If some pianos can have a 105-note range, why not a 128-note range? And why give users the option of a range greater than 88 notes for pianos that originally only have 88 notes (at least in extended range mode)? I mean, who cares if it deviates from the original? Isn't that the point of models, to extrapolate physics and go beyond? I think this would be of interest from a sound design perspective.
If some pianos can have a 105-note range, why not a 128-note range? And why give users the option of a range greater than 88 notes for pianos that originally only have 88 notes (at least in extended range mode)?
Actually some rare acoustic pianos do have more than 88 keys and AFAIK none more than 105 which is where the number came from. Info about that in PTQ from https://www.modartt.com/pianoteq_features#105keys and for acoustic pianos you can google it yourself.
Why not more? I guess from a software perspective you could easily do it, but from a hardware perspective it would be a moot point, since it'd be extremely hard to get decent audio chains with such a broadband response. Not to mention the human ear response....
