Have fallen down the VST rabbit hole. To Pianoteq or not??

[nadroj]

I recently replaced the HDD in my 2011 MacBook pro with a 500GB SSD. Even with the measly 4GB of RAM it"s like a new machine and can handle more than it did when I first bought it new.

 

I"m currently having a blast finding and downloading all of the free VSTs I can. Got a great OB6 one that sounds fatter than any hardware synth I"ve owned. Alchemy and the Logic sampler is a lot of fun too. I"ve tried a few free piano VSTs and have enjoyed some of them, especially the more out there ones.

 

With Christmas coming up and santa on his way I"ve a bunch of family members asking what I want (which is kind of nice because for the past 6 years all anyone"s ever asked about are what our kids want!) I"m tempted just to take money and get Pianoteq 7 stage.

 

I"m currently wrestling with the question 'do I need it?' and I need your help to convince me!

 

Reasons For:

 

- I"m doing a lot of recording at the moment for myself and for others, and am doing a lot of audio editing for the church I"m MD at. There have been a few times over the past few months where I"ve had the thought 'if only I had a really good piano VST, I could fix that myself and make it sound great.'

 

- My wife and I are writing music again, and we both have the same taste in piano sounds (like this:

 

We"re both a fan of the beat up, compressed upright sound. Pianoteq would give us both a lot of fun to experiment in this regard.

 

- It"s tiny. My MacBook has so far been able to run the trial version without any problems.

 

- I"ve already found that having more sonic flexibility and options in my piano sounds has given me a lot more creative freedom than I normally have.

 

- With the tiny memory in my Electro 4, I"m very restricted to what pianos I can load in. This would give me a lot more flexibility.

 

- It"ll mean I have a great piano loaded into my laptop which can be flung into a backpack if I ever have to travel to a session or backline provided church gig.

 

Reasons Against:

 

- Do I really need it?

 

- This would be my main Christmas gift. I"d be sacrificing a bunch of books and bike stuff I could treat myself to instead...

 

- Using EQ and compression, I can get some fairly record worthy pianos on my Nord, but the flexibility is definitely lacking.

 

- It probably won"t be used live. I"m too happy with my customised Nord pianos live to use anything else atm. My laptop will never come to a funk or rock gig, so it"s use will be pretty niche.

 

- If I take the plunge it"s inevitable that I"ll start buying expansions and new libraries as the months go on...

 

- If my laptop dies in a couple of years I won"t have access to it for a while.

 

Share your stories and uses of Pianoteq - should I go for it, or is it not worth it? If so, which 2 libraries should I start with? A grand piano of some sort and an upright one seems like a good choice.

[Noah DC]

Yes.

[johnchop]

The beauty is that you can demo all of it is great, isn't it?

 

I was a PTeq user from version 4 through 6 when I found myself turning to it less and less.

 

But if you've got minimal computing resources, I'm not sure what else would work as well.

[Stokely]

I would think PT might be tougher on a machine than a sample-based one, with the nice tradeoff of needing a fraction of the space. But I have never owned it, just an impression.

 

If you haven't seen this one (Hammersmith Free) it might be worth a try as well (for the price, get this AND PT!)

 

https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p322-hammersmith-free/

[Tusker]

Pianoteq is a bit of a rorschach test for the ears. Those who love it love it, and yet for some others it sounds fake. I am in the former category and I love it. If you enjoy the sound, I would recommend the instrument completely. It"s been my live rig piano for several years. Sounds good. Very responsive. Easy on the CPU. Easy on the SSD. They have been improving the models with free upgrades. I like the two Steinways and the Bechstein but taste and use-case are personal. There are a number of ways to tailor these sounds from within the instrument or with plugins.

[Doerfler]

I really liked the U4 Upright when I used Pianoteq. Still own it, spend more time elsewhere currently.

 

https://www.modartt.com/u4

[Pianoman JC]

I picked up Pianoteq in Nov. at the Black Friday sale and am very happy with it. I think it has a different feel and playability than sample based pianos because there is no velocity layer switching. I am a 35 year full time piano tuner/technician that listens to real pianos all day and it doesn't sound fake to me.

I would recommend getting the Steinway B because you get 2 pianos - The New York and the Hamburg and they have been upgraded in Pianoteq 7 and sound very good.

 

 

 

 

 

JC

[Pianoman JC]

Correction-I meant to say Steinway D includes the New York and Hamburg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC

[KuruPrionz]

If you don't have way to many plugins, you are not doing it right.

 

Demo it, then get it!!!

[Fleer]

But you don"t need Pianoteq Stage.

You need Standard.

Or Pro.

 

Or get the Studio Bundle.

It"s that good.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

But you don"t need Pianoteq Stage.

You need Standard.

Or Pro.

 

Or get the Studio Bundle.

It"s that good.

Most players find Stage adequate. Only total tweakheads will ever get the most out of Pro (do you REALLY want to program each note of your piano to have a slightly different physical model?). Standard is the sweet spot for me. I recommend starting with Stage and upgrading to Standard if you want the extra features.

 

Tusker summed it up very nicely; Pianoteq is a love/hate thing, and I love it. If they ever did an iOS version, I'd dump my Synthogy and Ravenscroft products in a heartbeat.

[Marzzz]

I think [Pianoteq] has a different feel and playability than sample based pianos because there is no velocity layer switching. I would recommend getting the Steinway B because you get 2 pianos - The New York and the Hamburg and they have been upgraded in Pianoteq 7 and sound very good.

Pretty much echoes my sentiments, I"d say go for it.

[Baldwin Funster]

I was in the VST rabbit hole. I got tired of the sides caving on on me and went hardware. No laptop crashes or app crashes. No latency or sample size glitches. No OS updated that make things not work anymore. Have fun in the hole.

[yannis D]

I use it since day 1 and I like it, but recently I downloaded Hammersmith freebie and l like more the new acquisition! Overall Poanoteq is light and has so many parameters that you will absolutely need time to adjust everything. It will eat up a good amount of your time to fix everything according to your liking, but when you're done, you set and forget. Other than this it's CPU light and easy on the hard disc of your computer. At least you can give it a try....

[SamuelBLupowitz]

I fooled around with the free demo for a little while before I bit the bullet on Stage. My use case is opposite of the OP's; I wanted a more lifelike, responsive piano sound for my live rig without emptying my bank account on a new DP. Being something of a purist, I almost never record anything other than a real acoustic piano anymore (though I'm thinking about crafting something ethereal in Pianoteq for one of the solo projects I'm working on).

 

Anyway, I love it, and it loves my penchant for percussive key-smashing, nuanced sustain pedal work, and slightly-less-than-perfect tuning and resonance. The Yamaha YC5 Rock Piano is my primary for my band playing, and the Steinway is lovely as well when you need a fuller, richer sound.

[EscapeRocks]

I've had PTeq since version 2. now on 7. Upgraded to Standard last year. I love it.

[EscapeRocks]

[video:youtube]

[EscapeRocks]

[video:youtube]

[ProfD]

This may be an alternative to Pianoteq:

 

https://www.waves.com/plugins/grand-rhapsody-piano

 

Be careful going down the software rabbit hole. An audio engineer buddy of mine who knew nothing about a DAW a few years ago has become addicted to downloading plugins.

[johnchop]

This may be an alternative to Pianoteq:

 

https://www.waves.com/plugins/grand-rhapsody-piano

 

Demo and see if it suits you. Definitely a lot of character and some weird behavior with staccato notes.

 

I have it and it's by far the weakest of the piano libraries I own for general use (and I own the NI stuff, EZ Keys, Addictive Keys, and the long-in-the-tooth EastWest pianos).

 

The free Hammersmith is worlds better, assuming Kontakt player doesn't overhwelm your system.

 

I'm among folks who loved Pianoteq's responsiveness and subtlety but could never quite unhear the metallic sound. I will admit it gets better and better with each version.

[RalphF]

I bought Pianoteq a couple of weeks ago. Overall, I love it and definitely recommend it. You already know what"s great about it so instead I"ll focus on your cons

 

If you bought Pianoteq, you"d have to sacrifice books and bike stuff. Possibly, I can nudge you in the right direction. What gives you the most pleasureâreading books, riding your bike, or making music?

 

Its inevitable that you will buy expansion. I didn"t bother to count them all, but with Pianoteq standard you"ll getting probably at least 70 piano sounds and about that many electric keyboard sounds. For me, it will be a long time before I"ll need to buy anything more than that

 

What happens if your laptop dies? since that"s a problem with any software, that"s a wash-out for me.

 

Hope this helps.

[David Emm]

I do hear the "metallic" or slightly sterile element, but in my view, its at 95%. I can rough it up gently if needed. The base sounds are inviting and as a small but definite plus, you can tweak it into synth-like strangeness if you want to push it. My capabilities are well south of the Lupowitz level, so my more left-field interests would be well-served. I lean towards it because I'm a PM convert. I can stack up Chromaphone tracks all day and barely tickle the CPU meter. The clarity is impressive as well. You might feel the need for 4 or 5 software pianos due to various aspects they serve, but I like workhorse instruments. This passes that mark admirably. Just my 2 cents as a fan of PM.

[Markay]

I The Yamaha YC5 Rock Piano is my primary for my band playing, and the Steinway is lovely as well when you need a fuller, richer sound.

+++, the YC5 cuts through for me live, particularly in a guitar heavy mix. Plus the infinite and immediate volume sensistivity makes it easy for me to "sit in the mix" at any venue.