I am a long-time fan of Pianoteq and just upgraded to version 8.0. It is an amazing piece of software. But, as amazing as it is I have to say the star of the show here is your absolutely mesmerising playing! It is simply magical.

Not only Pianoteq 8 is great, but you play is also wonderful. Sit me onto your couch and I will listen for hours, your music is inspiration and interferences with my understanding of music. Thank you.

Thanks to your videos I found Pianoteq 7, having years of experience mit sampled piano libraries before. With Pianoteq 8 the changes in sound production may be subtle, but for me there is no need for any sampled piano library anymore. Pianoteq 8 is everything I ever wanted it to be. I have no idea, how Modartt can improve on it... Its so close to perfection, almost surreal, how it is even possible. E-Pianos, if anything, now sound on par with Keyscape. And the modelled guitar is a nice addition as well and fun to play with.

I bought a v7 Pro license within the last year, so the v8 upgrade was free for me. v8 installs in parallel to v7, so existing compositions in your DAW or VST host like Gig Performer will continue to work and sound the way you're used to. You can manually upgrade individual songs or rackspaces to v8 when desired.

10:15 Loved those phrases the best. You're the one who keeps me believing in Pianoteq for its dynamic expressiveness. Sampled pianos usually don't have nearly enough dynamic range for your specific style of improvisational sensitivity, which I find to be just wonderful.

Your improvs are amazing. Lovely demo of pianoteq as usual

WOW!! WOW!! WOW!! I can hear them improve this program with each version. I have TOO MANY piano VSTi's, but none of the others are "Pianoteq". Stellar playing and helpful commentary as usual, Mr. Best!!! 👍🧡

I love Pianoteq (I started with V.6) version 8 was very reasonable priced upgrade. It sounds so warm and much more natural now. It feels like someone stuffed a couple pianos in my computer!

Phil - beautiful music. PIanoteq has now reached a quality where for the well heeled pianist and composer, it should definitely be one of the tools in their arsenal. Sounds authentic, definitely good enough for exposed intimate music, where its easier to hear any artificialness. And I dare say, there are many piano sounds that are not possible with sampled pianos. Some amazing sounds on this demo, and what's amazing is we are listening to the raw sound, no mastering, no eq after the fact - now that is phenomenal. The only limitation is now the composer and the pianist. For most musicians, we now have many commendable digital alternatives for those who do not have regular access to a high end acoustic piano, with seasoned engineers in a revered recording studio. Been listening to you for many years, and for the 1st time, I'm convinced - I will by God's grace, soon buy Pianoteq. I think it is also going to make a wonderful composing piano, cos it excels at intimacy - as if you are right there on a piano. Excellent demonstration. Nice warm piano sounds.

BTW... Something I always tell folks who scoff at Pianoteq (or any virtual piano) is that... of course it's not going to be the same as an acoustic piano, but it can be close... but to get close you really need a decent monitoring solution. Personally I find a subwoofer is critical because an important aspect of an acoustic piano is the resonance that it imparts to your whole body. JMHO and I'm no pro.

Thank you for uploading this wonderfull video with demonstration of new version of PT and your insane inmprovising skills. Falling in love with this charming tempo and peacefull melodies.)

Just bought Pianoteq 8 on the Black Friday - sounds amazing and is soooo playable - great ! Amazing

I'm excited to try out all those instruments again! You really know how to make the most of Pianoteq. I'd love to hear you do some covers with the new guitar patch!

Sounds really beautiful. You can definitely hear that a lot of that hollow sound has pretty much disappeared, best update so far. Definitely has a more immersive feel about it. Even just by listening to your playing through headphones I definitely feel more drawn to the sound. The Steingraber sounds the best out of them all, has the most full and rich sound, they are great pianos anyway.

A beautiful track for every example, great playing!

Quite surprised by the Model B and the depth of the Kawai. I really wish they would revoice the YC5, or change it to a C7 or CFx. Same for the UR1 - VI Labs nailed their Yamaha upright. Pianoteq can spend the time with those like they did with the Steinways. Brilliant playing as always.

As most of the others here I guess, I'm a pianist as well, and the day I found your channel years ago was sort of a nirvana; finally there was a possibility to listen to new piano tech with direct sound with a real, inspiring and complete pianist improvising on it. Pianoteq really has stood out since v4 and on but from 6 and on it's on it's own (Your demo of the Steinway B back then teared me up man). At v8 now, i just got blown away by the new instruments, I've never heard a Petrov sound that good, not even in real life, and the new Blüthner, my god. However, none of the really important and defining nuances would ever have been audible without your sublime touch and playing so I thank you sincerely for making these videos available.

Your improvising is freaking badass.

Thank you for this, Phil :) Wonderful. Love your music/touch/dynamic control. Yes yes yes, I just upgraded from 7 and noticed a certain refinement -quite remarkable... an overall evenness in the voicings, sweetness, and fewer wild hairs :) All in all, it's much easier to submerge into the music without being distracted by quirky idiosyncrasies.

I have no words, but it's even better.

Wonderful once again!

Just downloaded the new version 8. I thought version 7 was so good it could not sound any better, but I was wrong.🙂

Thanks! I am a Pianoteq newbee and already fan. The concert harp is not bad, and the harpsichord presets are also very nice. I particularly appreciate the possibility of implementing and testing unequal temperaments in a very easy way. My favorite is Bach-Lehman, which sounds great for plenty of different styles, from gregorian to jazz though baroque music, Bach, Grieg , Debussy, Lili Boulanger and Ravel. My favorite piano is the Bechstein.

Your improvisation is always cool.

Thank you for the demo, Phil. Going to update today as well and try it myself. I don't have much experience with the quality real pianos, but my first impression that all keys are more connected to each other now for lack of better words, maybe that's the smoothness your are referring to. Also agree that the new version sounds noticeably deeper and immersive in comparison, much more convincing illusion of sitting in front of an excellent real grand piano.

Thanks, Phil, lovely playing.

Version 8 is a bit more polished than 7.5, but still has this kind of metallic sound which is a kind of signature of pianoteq , no matter which instrument you choose. Only way to get away is to use a good reverb and EQ. Good thing they added the possibility to use Impulse Reverb ( which somehow goes against the logic of true modelling as opposed to logo reverb). In all cases, I think majority of users don't have necessarily a good understanding of the technology and believe this is true modelling. I encourage people to look online for the US patent No. US 7,915,515 B2 you can read it and download. Philippe Guillaume explains that true physical modelling cannot run on home machines because of the power needed, therefore the approach choosen is a compromise using a presynthesis module which contains tables with pre-calculated output values based on the preset and user parameters. So in fact every time you hit a key, you tap into a table which already contains the final sound. Reminds me sampling !!! A bit far from the fantasy that plenty of people have, imagining that the sound is created on the fly ;) In all cases , the playability is very good but not exceptional . I think Garritan CFX and VSL Synchron do even a better job at it and the sound is way better by a long shot. Having said that Pianoteq is still better than a lot of KONTACT VST's and has maybe the best sympathetic resonance.

Thanks a lot Phil for this nice video demonstrating the new Pianoteq 8, I am looking forward to upgrade very soon. It is great to see your enthusiasm for Pianoteq... Kind regards and blessings, Max 🙏

I bought Pianoteq when Pianoteq 5 came out... Then Pianoteq 6 impressed so I bought the upgrade... Then again, Pianoteq 7 impressed me so I bought the upgrade... We now reached Pianoteq 8, and by comparing several audios exported using Pianoteq 7 and then using the trial of Pianoteq 8, yes, I hear a very, very, very slight difference. But is it really any better? I didn't feel it was enough to justify the upgrade from Pianoteq 7. Maybe Pianoteq 9 will surprise me again? Who knows. I personally think that all presets, both in Pianoteq 7 and in Pianoteq 8, still sound distinctly more metallic, compared to a real instrument, which is immediately noticeable even when playing a single key, especially in the lowest and the highest register, which is not the case with a sampled piano, for obvious reasons (but sampled pianos have their own share of problems). So in other words, it's _good enough_ to replace a piano, but I wouldn't go as far as actually calling it just _good._ I can't really precisely point out how it could be any better though. I tried pretty hard to make Pianoteq sound close to real instruments, but no matter how hard I try to work on the audio, it's still very much recognizable from a real piano, at least to my ears. When I hear any video on youtube, or any recordings on music platforms, I can tell you immediately, even just after hearing 1 or 2 seconds, if it's Pianoteq or not, despite the quality of the performance, and that's most definitely not a good thing.

Your playing is so great, the VST sounds incredible! 🤝

Now, granted Phil could make sound good even a bunch of old pennies struck by brake pads (don't ask me how & why I come up with these weird examples, you don't want to know, trust me!), Pianoteq is a product I've always loved, and it seems still a bit underrated but surely gaining more ground that is used to. I skipped v. 7 non because it wasn't good - it was great - I simply fell victim to GAS on other fronts ;) Definitely worth checking out v. 8. Thanks and keep on enchanting us. Have a lovely day.

Huh got version 8 for free. Looks like anyone who bought it after 1 Nov 2021 is eligible to upgrade to version 8 for free. Was going to pay for it regardless (I think their upgrade policy is reasonable and in my mind encourages retaining customers). Thanks Modartt, will definitely pay for an upgrade next year then!

Awesome little showcase. Great playing man!

Lovely playing. I was dabbling in the trial version this morning. Once I set the touch curve (using the great tool? It really came alive. Very tempted!

Bought the latest version my god I love it especially the guitar.

Geeeez that was quick Phil lol thanks for the review, I'm still trying to upgrade and to play it myself, so excited already :)

Your improvisation is more beautiful than many great hits. ❤❤

What a great presentation and emotional playing! You make the pianos shine, it seems they do exist. 🙏🏻🙏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 My favorite are the Petrofs

Your improvs sound like polished compositions. Awesome!

Beautiful playing!! 👏 I will be upgrading from Pianoteq 7, this sounds great!! Love the Bechstein 🔥🔥

Was anticipating your thoughts about v8. Well done as usual!

Lovely touch in your playing

Great vid, really like your walkthroughs, not to mention your terrific playing.

Very nice Phil, enjoying your demonstration of some of the available sounds. Upgraded to version eight and I noticed a marked improvement in the quality of the sound. Some of the earlier instruments historical instrument to me, sound much better this time around. Thank you for this demonstration.

Sounds amazing. I'm hoping they have a great Black Friday / Cyber Monday deal and I can finally hit purchase

Very delicate, nice playing.

The main reason I have stayed with samples so far was some of the hollow sound that was a bit grating to me. From you sound demos here pianoteq 8 will be my next software piano

Phil, great piano playing and videos!

You said the same about 7.5, although 8 has a remarkable boost of high end to make you think it sounds diferrently and better. If devs have no good ideas they make a face-lift and make changes in sound/frequencies what everyone could do with an eq

Bonjour Phil Je voudrais savoir quel marque de piano utilisez vous ainsi que la marque de la carte son merci Régis

Fantastic playing

Nice done! What piano do you play on?

amazing playing as usual!!!

do you use the microphone settings or stereophonic for these amazing sounds?thanks for the demo!

Listening to these pianos for a second time today. One thing I'm noticing is how 'new' (perfectly maintained) they sound. But I know there is a 'slider' to age the pianos... so that isn't a problem. (Still, I may be mistaken... because I'm not certain if Mr. Best may have dialed in some age; but I doubt he did because he's switching patches and then playing immediately.)

beautiful...

My belief is that DSP just arent enough for the attack, at least with how the algorithms currently are. I still prefer modeling for EPs, and the morphing is just so cool. I still lean towards the sample-modeling hybrid that Kawai does with the ES9 for acoustic, but Pianoteq for sure gets deeper for customization

Are you playing on a Roland lx17? How do you find the pha50 for advanced playing like repeated notes and fast playing? I recently tried pianoteq 8 on trial and thought it was impressive and highly playable, I actually found it hard to adjust back to a static sample on my kawai es920 as it felt lifeless when compared to pianoteq, I may buy pianoteq stage but would like a nice controller with nice action like pha50, don’t know whether to get hybrid action on lx706 or 708, that action seems faster and more fluid, I like to play all sorts of pieces including advanced classical.

Beautiful :) Do you use it as a stand alone or in a DAW? And how does it sound with headphones? I'm in a small apartment so have to play with headphones at night.

I've been really impressed with the Pianoteq stuff recently. What is the controller keyboard you're using?

Do you use Studio, Standard, or Pro?

I've been a Pianoteq convert since early on, keeping up with updates - I'm sure I'll nab this one today. You're demonstration and playing is superb and it sounds great but I must ask.. are we hearing a combination of direct and the microphone picking up your speakers? It's not a complaint because it does sound good (although I'm just listening through TV speakers at the moment 😳) but I was wondering if you were muting your microphone with a foot switch or something. Cheers!

With every version they come a little closer to sounding like a real piano. The concept of modeling a piano has a lot of potential. But I'm still hearing some unnatural elements in the sound, like as if it's missing 'resolution' or transients. But does sound like an improvement over the previous version, non the less. Maybe in a couple of more versions they can iron it out.

Hi Phil thanks for a good video. What piano are you using connected to pianoteq 8 in the video

Wonderful plugin . I'd think Pianoteq is a way better than Keyscape. My I ask, what would u think ?

Phil - always enjoy your videos with Pianoteq. During the Pandemic I upgraded my15 year old Clavinova to a CVP-809 and added Pianoteq 6.7 to the CVP's Midi options. I've just updated the Pianoteq software to version 8.0 - so your video was timely. My question is - I'd be interested in knowing the keyboard you're using in your studio - the one you play during your videos. Thanks, from Houston TX USA

Hi Phil, Thanks for this great video, very helpful and informative. Could you please tell me: What keyboard are you using? Thank you very much, all the best!

Great as usual. I'll have to hurry up and upgrade. Help! I'm alone in here with a pianist.

Beautiful plugin. Thank you. What version is it of Pianoteq? Stage, standard, pro?

Hello Phil! Thank you for your sharing! My U4 Felt I sounded not as nice as yours, mine had this sticky hard sound when the hammer hits the strings... can you help me sharing your better sounding U4 Felt I presets? Much love and appreciation! Thank you Phil!

Great performance! How about pedals? Half pedal, unaCorda, etc...? Greetings from Argentina!

Great vídeo Phil . I am going to get this versión 8 Pro with steinway, petrof,bechstein and steingraeber. Is good election ? I was playing with the demo version one month with all pianos and listening all web demo files and watching your videos. I have another question , nowadays Kawai vpc1 Would be the option more similar instead of a real grand piano touch ? Thanks a lot

which digital piano is that? I have a yamaha p45 which is great for a starter but I'm looking for an upgrade. And great video, what is your favorite instrument in pianoteq?

great video

Phil, what are your reverb/EQ settings on these pianos? I remember when you did your review of Pianoteq 7 you didn’t really add any plugins or do much within the program settings, it was pretty much straight out of the box and sounded fantastic!

Thanks for the video. I am interested in buying the Bluthner pack or the Bechstein pack, but I can't decide. I usually make rock, pop, and latin music.

Can I know the audio interface, computer and speaker system used? thanks I think i need better hardware to run Pianoteq 8.

Phil You sound great. Can you tell me what keyboard controller you’re using? I have a Yamaha conservatory grand with a midi 9 nine that I installed on it,and I also have a Arturia Key labs 88,an older one in my electronic studio to trigger the pianoteq , I have the version seven pro pianoteq. Keep up the great work you’re an incredible artist. Robert

The Bluethner Model One is one of my favourites. Btw, which audio driver do you use in the audio/midi setting? I can't seem to get audio recorded with ASIO driver, but window drivers have a bit of lag...

It sounds really great! Did you use an high-end audio interface?

Beautiful music! What type of MIDI keyboard are you using?

Phil, what do you think of the Bluthner on PT8? You mentioned it was special.. just curious if the voicing is an improvement?

I have a question. I am using pianoteq 8, and after the note for example, C1, plays, I hear this weird "mmmmmmmmmm" sound, weird way to say it, but it sounds either bubbly if the sound is on the left of the piano or eery if it's on the right. This is when I use the Bechstein DG d-282 and it makes me just uncomfortable, since it's hard not to focus on it, and I am training pitch. Is this noise meant to be there, how could I fix it because I know there are modification settings, all around I just want to have some answers, if you could reply fast with some type of step to step guide, it would be of so much appreciation.

Really nice overview of the instruments. Thanks for taking the time to do that. Out of curiosity, could you describe your current setup? I see two red boxes closer to camera, a monitor, a black box towards the back, and count 'em ... two keyboards. lol

Which version are you using here? Stage, Standard or Pro? any comments or info?

When this hits iOS I’m going to be all over that.

That Rhodes Mark 1 19:10 sounds pretty nice. Is it the same as the one in Pianoteq 7 ?

Wonderful playing, wonderful sounds. I have a Lenovo laptop - i3-6100U - 12GB RAM - Windows 10. I always get a delay/lag when playing though. Any thoughts? Better processor (i7?) - more memory (32GB?) - upgrade WIndows?

Lovely playing and great review! I’m thinking of picking up Pianoteq, but I wanted to ask, can the reverb settings be turned down from the default load settings? I play mostly jazz/ballads and prefer a more dry and close intimate sound, but a lot of these examples are caked in reverb that can give a washy and muddy sound when doing added tension chords and other blocked voicings. Thank you!

Hi Phil Thanks for your inspirational look at v8. I have enjoyed all your previous videos - I held back but now looking to start with Stage and 2 pianos. I most often play jazz on an old Bechstein upright but was thinking about selecting the Steinway D or B and in contrast the U4. Appreciate your thoughts and would be happy if 2 completely alternative selections might give a better range of tones! Cheers Chris Sheffield, UK

Do you have some knowledge that Modartt has revised the physical model algorithms of the pianos that were already included in earlier versions? Your comments imply that is the case.

Just starting to watch... free or paid upgrade?

Cool! Hopefully they fixed the VST issue on Linux...

I recently purchased Pianoteq 8 and play on Yamaha CLP 735, do i need to use Focusrite AD or the Yamaha Piano built in Audio Interface is good enough ? Is it going to make any difference ?

Thanks for your review. Compared to “real” sampled plug-in pianos, is there any obvious difference in authenticity? Do you know if the trial has a time limit, or just persistent muted notes until you purchase?

What keyboard do you use?

Hi Phil… I’ve become interested in multi-track recording on my Clavinova + Pianoteq for a number of months. As I consider you an “expert” with the Pianoteq application, I thought you might provide me with some real-time user experience to a couple questions: My Clavinova is connected to a MacMini -M1 running the Pianoteq app. (1) While accessing the Pianoteq voices and hearing them over the Clavinova speaker was easy to setup, when recording a MIDI track, created with Pianoteq voice, replaying the track on the Clavinova results in hearing the default Clavinova Piano voice - CFX Concert Grand. The Pianoteq voice is not linked to MIDI playback on the Clavinova. As your Roland HP-605 may have some similarities to my Clavinova CVP 809 - (2) is there any MIDI connection setup that would allow the Clavinova’s recorded MIDI file to access the Pianoteq voice (in which it was originally recorded) ? This assumes that both computer (Pianoteq) and Clavinova are running at the same time. (3) If the above is not possible, is using the Clavinova keyboard connected to a DAW application on the MacMini, running the Pianoteq, the preferred (and easiest) way to achieve a MIDI file that when replayed through the computer would contain the Pianoteq voice(s). Can you suggest suitable DAW applications that aren’t too involved for someone with minimal MIDI skills? Thanking You Immensely for Your Time !

Can the Pianoteq be paired with any keylighting keyboard?

How is your real piano triggering midi notes?

Monitors are the best option however often one has to do with headphones. With headphones the sound is wonderful but it is in our head and it is difficult to project it in front of the piano, and the piano seems to move with head, even with binaural preset. I recently tried "nx waves abbey road studio" with the bluetooth headtracker, the effect is very very impressive and I really feel that the sound comes out of monitors, I even thought I made a mistake in the connection. Did you have the opportunity to test this formula ?