The changing of the mic positions blew my mind, that sounded so real.

Sympathetic resonance is not only about the higher keys - any time you have more than one key down, there will be sympathetic cross-resonance between the corresponding strings. This is why a piano chord is more than playing the samples of different notes together.

I personally like the ability to change the piano's condition. I like the sound of a slightly detuned old piano, it just sounds so natural.

Pianoteq is the best for playing. As responsive and live as an acoustic piano. And that's what a pianist needs. Sampled VST pianos may have better sounds for hitting one key or some limited recordings, but playing them... they are as cold as dead. Just recorded sounds with limited velocity and resonance. No response to the touch and definitely not live!

I think you need to hit the pedal on that tubular bell setting to let them ring, but you're not wrong. Also, "Hey man, can I borrow everything" on the handpan section made me laugh out loud at work. You're going to get me fired. Another great vid man!

"Hey man, can I borrow everything?" Two years late but had to sub for that one.

One of the greatest features, albeit hard to find at first, is 'MIDI Archiving'. You can find it if you click the little triangle that appears beneath the MIDI song title at the top right. You can enable or disable the automatic recording function, and set it to save every note you play while in Pianoteq, from "One Hour" to "A Billion Years", in the archives folder, (which can also be exported to MIDI files). The ability to render a MIDI file, or your own live playing into a 24 bit .WAV file is another feature built in that makes it well worth the price, when you consider most sample banks and VST require a DAW to render a MIDI file. If you are on a slow machine that can't process all the polyphony in a MIDI file in real time, or keep up with one's virtuosity, (or "lead-foot" sustain pedal playing) you can still easily render the file for auditioning at full resolution. (I use a MIDI file of Rhapsody In Blue played live, as an average benchmark for CPU performance indexing.) Another technique to increase available polyphony is to dial the sample rate output to 22Khz, which will still give you sound comparable to a home digital piano, which often use 22,000 Hz as a sample rate, brick-walled, depending on the fact that the average piano tone does not exceed upper range frequencies. The fact that it is now endorsed by Steinway & Sons should be reason enough to buy it, because a real Steinway B or D is out of the budget of most keyboardists anyway. But the real reason to own it is so Moddart can make it even better. They are a truly dedicated team of geniuses, and the community that has sprouted up around it and in the forums, are the nicest people who really love music for the sake of it, from all walks, and not just the "studio geeks" that have every sample bank ever recorded. Pianoteq, from Stage to Pro runs the gamut of piano enthusiast from the MIDI file collectors who just want a great "Player Piano", to the professional musician who wants the full expression that even the best multi-sample libraries can't pull off. It reminds me of my first Keyboards, a Kurzweil K1000, followed by a DX7II-FD; one that had a great piano sample for the time, (but with very little expression), and the DX that had such a dynamic, expressive FM sound, (and I wanted both combined). Ever since I read about piano modeling in an Issue of Keyboard magazine in the eighties, I dreamt about having the perfect digital piano that would rival even a real acoustic piano. I thought sample technology would get us there first, but I had the feeling a computer might edge it out when computing power reached a much higher exponential. Pianoteq, for me, is that dream realized. I would like to also say, I am not affiliated with the company, but please don't listen to any excuses you hear, or nay-sayers arguing what is better in the comments sections, sampling or modeling, they are branches on the same tree. Pianoteq is one of those tenacious products that keep getting better, even when you think it can't. I suspect that trend will continue, but not when the misconceptions about it and the process of obscured by misinformation are allowed to filter through the "social engines". Most people easily 'get' the process of sampling, and most here have attempted it, and know what an art it can be, but this is alien territory for most, the math and theory alone is incomprehensible to many, and that is intimidating. But what I find even more intimidating, is seeing innovation like this squashed by the market-place, for the almighty dollar, or having it become the newest trend for the big keyboard makers to exploit and go no further for lack of affordability, or to be looked at as mere "research" into sound synthesis. It is beyond that at this point. A good indication of this can be witnessed in the failure of the V-Piano, and Roland's foray into 'modeling' early on with the RD-1000 (MKS-20). I wonder if Pianoteq were burned into a ROM, and marketed as a physical keyboard alike, it might die a similar death in the market-place, but my hope is with the 'Steinway' stamp of approval, amongst the Grotrian, Bluthner, ETC. (I'm waiting for Bosendorfer to get onboard), this is the product to bet on for the future of Digital Pianos to come. I wish I could recall the actual article and issue of "Keyboard" magazine, because I recall the author (Bob Doerschuk?) implying that someday sampling and or modeling technology may someday create a sound to rival and even replace the acoustic piano entirely. We may almost be there with Pianoteq 6...

I love my Pianoteq so much. It's just 50Mb and it sounds amazing and is so much fun. *fiddle* *tweak*

14:56 is such a good moment hahahah your reaction is so genuine. I bought pianoteq a year ago because of this you and this video; thank you -- this is hands down the best money iv ever spent on a virtual instrument. So much value.

I remember checking this out a couple years ago and it wasn't too convincing, but I see it now sounds great ! And WOW, seeing all the presets ! This is really an amazing instrument.

I like the idea of real time production of a sound because then you're actually producing it from scratch each time, working and interacting with an entity, instead of playing a sample.

This was such a thorough and well thought review, I'm surprised that I actually watched the entire thing! Best of luck on your new studio space and hope to see more of your videos.

I was caught by the title, and wondered what you ment by that. This surpriseed me and I was blown away! I new that pianosounds are hard to emulate, but didn’t know it has come to this level....! Thank you so much for showing!

Love your free-flowing style, man. Great video!

aw man this is so cool, I was just messing around with the trial version on their website... a 0.7MB file with so many realistic instruments inside of it and instant load times. Really looking forward to stuff like this becoming the norm

I started watching this video and about halfway through I realised you were one of my favorite artists. So that was surprising and awesome.

Love your videos, Ben! Keep up the great work and your channel will definitely grow bigger and bigger!

Thank you for your time and in-depth review!

this is stunning. thanks for the video. Your channel is really great!!

Keep up the great work man! Love your videos.

your content is brilliant. You are very inspiring dude. Thanks Benn from Sheffield!

Well, looks like I just found a favorite channel. Amazing video just like every one I've seen so far

Awesome stuff man, pianoteq has me in awe.

Awesome and knowledgable, thank you! I have been using the trial (which btw just has some dead keys and goes off after 20min) on Linux (as a plugin in Ardour) and am still blown away how it turns a stage piano into a real upright.

Another great Video! Amazing, this was the biggest suprise impact what a musicsoftware had to me, crazy stuff and a good sign for the future.

This is definitely way ahead of most sample libraries in a number of ways, it seems more seamless and naturally dynamic through out the entire key range. I can see how this modeling will be especially nice for small ensembles.....the Swam instruments are very impressive as well.

Big love dude ! Congrats!

Well I just discovered your channel. I’m impressed mostly by the fact that not only do you love synths but you are clearly a highly educated musician. You are Right On about the Medusa by the way. I’m a fan now to be sure. I also love this piano program. Those guys are not fucking around!

looking forward to the studio building videos!

Hi Benn. Really glad I found your channel. I love the content and your presentation. Just adding my "+1" to your idea of doing a series of vids on setting up one's studio space. I could really use a lot of help there and would love to see how you go about it and to get your advice on the matter. Looking forward to that later this year!

Totally agree with you, actually I predicted this when the first Pianoteq version was released. Just two things, Kontakt libraries can be used with Kontakt player which is free, and for sympathetic resonance hold sustain and press several keys with the same note on different octaves, once the sound gets quiet and without releasing the sustain, hit the same note on a lower octave, because the fundamental frequency of the higher notes corresponds to the harmonics of the lower notes they will resonate in cascade producing a very rich harmonic content, then release the sustain and hit the same lower note to see the difference. Great review btw, subscribed already and looking forward for more. Cheers!

Subbed for more advanced synths like this and your additive cello.

A great introduction to some awesome technology. Thanks!

loved it, pianoteq is amazing

That's a great sounding piano! I recently bought an acoustic upright piano for practice but might get Pianoteq just for the sounds. The only thing that comes close for me is the Keyscape but I haven't tried it hands-on, only listened on YT so if the loading times are true, then Pianoteq is the only player left. Great video, those 40 minutes flew by fast!

This program is like the gift that never stopts giving it sounds GREAT

"Dear Lord, this lighting makes me look like a 50 year old cigar smoker!" I can hear my 50 year old cigar smoker friends harrumphing all the way from over here.

Impressive and entertaining. Thanks for the vid!

I was lacking a piano sample for my laptop with no HD space left and couldn't believe my luck when I found Pianoteq. I just bought the cheap stage version, which was around £90 and, although it might lack some advanced features, it still has settings for action, mallet bounce, eq and effects - which is plenty for me. At that price, it's a no-brainer. I still prefer the Korg Kronos Piano in the higher notes, but I think the Pianoteq is more fun to play - it responds to the keys better. Great video :)

Been using pianoteq for years and I love it!

I was already in awe but then you move the mics wherever you want? With orientation?! Holy smackaroonies

Great review and comparison thanks

Wow this is impressive! I’m using Alicia’s Keys right now and Piano in Blue, but I may grab this.

All this hee-haw about how expensive it is, but just think: it's a hell of a lot less expensive than a real piano...

Excellent review.

man, i feel you. this is amazing.

OMG - sounds amazing... and I love Sakamoto... easily one of my favorites of his. Never forgot after seeing film.

There are no dampers on the highest of strings in a piano.

Wow - I've been sleeping on this. Also 5 years ago, I'm sure it's improved even more

You can lower the cpu usage in the preferences/perf section, by lowering internal sample rate Great review, a great product. For people who say it sounds fake, well, not sure what they're hearing.

The loading time and mentioned SSD price really dates this video haha

I listened to the demos on their site, it sound very nice. 😀😀

IMO I am totally satisfied with Pianoteq Stage. The presets are perfectly crafted, I actually like it that there's less stuff to fiddle with. Less distraction= more playing.

I'm as excited as you about Pianoteq ( 6 in particular ) .. The possibilities are mind boggling and the one certain fact about it is that it makes me want to play music on it. I honestly don't know about the "lack of attack" according to one comment here thus discarding it as "rubbish". I have an acoustic Yamaha C3 and this is the only software piano that can give me a dead note (no sound) if I don't manage my pianissimo well which is a challenge in playing a real piano. I am also able to play fast repeated on it notes without lagging, it just snaps back as a real piano. This in my opinion it is the closest experience to playing a real piano from a computer.

the best piano plugin i've heard

I’m really interested to know if you’ve ever tried out or used Keyscape? Hammer noise, pedal noise, and bunch more packed in. I’m in the middle of making a final decision on whether or not to get it. But after seeing pianoteq in action, I would love to see a comparison between the two. Noted that the pro version has a TON more options for tweaking, but as for like the $400 to $500 version to Keyscape. Love your videos, thanks for inspiring me!

Thank you SO MUCH!!!

Nice playing!

OK, so, awesome video as usual. You're one of the greats on this platform IMHO. If you ever get around to reading this, I'm wondering if you could shed some light on a mystery regarding the Benn and Gear theme song. I'm noticing that I can distinctly toggle between hearing it two different ways. I can hear it as a V-IV-I progression but I gravitate toward it being an unresolved I-bVII-IV progression. Did you intend the first or last of these three chords as home base or was made to be it ambiguous by design? I know I've definitely taken artistic advantage of tonal ambiguity on occasion.

Love the content. Any more details you can share about your California show in April?

that's honestly , probably the most incredible virtual instrument wares I've ever seen online.

For me sampling is already payed for because I have the equipment. I think it's very interesting with the possebileties this software opens the door to. I don't use the piano so much anymore, but I see this is crazy good compared to the last piano emulation software I tryed and never used for anything.

Man i just tried the demo and amazed... i hate the sound of my Yamaha DGX 660... and pianoteq wooow it is giving me a new feeling

Pianoteq all the way. Steinway endorsed - top shelf effort by Modartt.

Now I know what VST I need. Just need some string synthesizers to catch up for other orchestral bits.

Impressive indeed, not only the software.

Pretty amazing stuff. It's neat you can build a hardware dock for this with raspberry pi 3.

Okay, Pianoteq is insane. Too expensive for me personally, but insane nonetheless. Hopefully other companies joins them in the quest to end sampling! Off-topic: I bought Reaktor 6 in the black friday sale thanks to your video on it! Having a ton of fun with Blocks, and just finished(ish) my first 80's-style synth in primary. Endless possibilities, I love it. So, thanks for the tip!

Last guy who plays Hand Pan I met was exactly that Hey Man Can I Borrow Everything guy.

You gotta smash that sustain for the tubular bells and marimba dawg!!

Concantenative, granular, and physical modeling synthesis -- these are the future!

Sympathetic resonance: To show off sympathetic resonance, take two notes that have common overtones, hold one quietly (or let it fade), keep holding it, Then hit the other note hard. The common overtones will resonate on the held note. For example: hold C4 quietly, hit F3 (a perfect 5th below), you should hear C5 resonate, for it is the 2nd harmonic of C4 and 3rd harmonic of F3. If you switch keys (hold F3, hit C4) you will still get C5 only that now it resonates off of F3. This is just a simple example, others can be much more complex. String length: it mainly affects the sound of the bass notes - the longer they are, the cleaner they are (less "inharmonious" overtones)

The Bluthner sounds very nice, one of the newer models offered.

It sounds much better than the version I heard a few years ago! It is hard to believe it is not a real piano or sampled!

this reminds me of the Roland Blues Cube guitar amp, it's solid state and lots of pros think it sounds better than real top end tube amps

I didn't notice any parameters that would not lend themselves to changing in real time. Might be fun to see how far you can take it, and sequence rapid preset changes every 8th note. For rhythmic textures. Even just holding a chord and have the presets change rapidly.

This makes me want to learn piano.

I am still struggling to get a good sound with the Pianoteq stage Demo :( I really love the playability and the way the high notes sound. But somehow there is some kind of metallic sound in the mid section. Is there any way to get rid of it? I thought that all versions sound the same, except for the expanded sound section. I was using Galaxy Vintage D with my KX-8 and was always satisfied, but those demos on KZfaq sound so realistic. Does anyone have a good Velocity setting for that keyboard? Probably I should wait until next year when they will release Pianoteq 7.

This is why I love arturia v collection instead of just samples. Modeling the real thing is just so much more flexible.

I love Pianoteq. Simple, quick, handy and it runs on any platform, even on Raspberry Pi! Try and do that with libraries ;) YC5 is a Yamaha C5, unlike other companies, I guess Yamaha hasn't endorsed yet Moddart's version of their pianos, there is also a CP-80 in there. You can run a full calibration of your key and pedal velocity (indlucing half-damper) to suit your keyboard and style and save your presets. You can basically create your own pianos. You get regular updates and can choose what package to buy. All sounds are already included by default, they are just in demo version in case you haven't bought the licence for them. As soon as you do, they are activated once you launch the app again. Even just the Stage version is good enough and allows you to tweak a few things, including effects. Does it sound like a 'real' piano? I guess that's a bit of a moot point given that each single piano is different, even the exact same model, add to that the room, the mics, the time and date, the speakers or heaphones, your ears and a thousand other factors so... what is the real sound of piano exactly? There isn't ONE, there's an infinite amount...

I am very happy about physical modeling getting as good as it is. Samples are large and static, this is not. I love plenty of samlle sample libs but it's nowhere as powerful as a infinitely tweakable setup like that plugin. Awesome.

23:24 - "Hey maaaaan, can I borrow everything?" HAHAHAHA

Caught the hand panner - "hey man, can I borrow everything" swipe. hahahahahha

17:15 Young Chang maybe? Digging your harmonic sensibility meng.

that's incredible. you ever check out nils frahm/NI Una Corda? one of my favourite piano sounds

I’m very tempted in getting Pianoteq but can you only hear the sound when you play coming from your computer or can you hear it through speakers on a piano as I have my CP88 connected to Yamaha HS8 monitor speakers with XLR cables.

I see two mistakes ;) Equal temperament & 440Hz / After watching more: boy was I wrong! PTQ changes the tuning of the historic pianos! I'm impressed :bows:

sympathetic resoance is not just for the high keys It 's for strings that resonate at the same frequencieswithout being striked ,obvious when the pedal board is lifted

i wonder how the developers convinced Steinway that they were going to model their pianos and make a plugin that basically puts Steinway out of business... wild stuff

some nice lyle maysesque moments there !

Very Good VST ..In my opinion the best......

"hey man can i borrow everything" why are jazz pianists always just the funnest dudes lol

...you get every instrument with the Studio Bundle and all subsequent new ones free for a year. And the pedal (with my Kawai MP11SE) is continuous. I'm not sure if that is just for Pro.

I once had a Roland Juno with several piano presets. I decided I wanted a better piano sound so I tweaked it a lot. That's when I ran into the "Comma of Pythagoras". I got two octaves of very good piano sound but when I played above those two octaves it started sounding like a little girl with a sore throat.

Nice playing and style on autumn leaves. Good review too. Persuades me to take a serious look at Pianoteq.

Ben, you think it can be turned into a rhodes? The minute I heard you mentioning pickup distance I thought that, I'm trying with my eps and it's.. well, specific, curious, strange

Have you tried the v-piano sounds in the RD-2000?

I wish I could justify purchasing Pianoteq, but I'm really not good at playing piano parts. I'm curious to see if you've tried Una Corda? It's not very versatile but it does a specific thing very well I think.

The designers of Logic Pro should make stock instruments like this, because I imagine that would be a game changer.

hearing pianoteq on its own in the first part I thought WOW they got the organic-beating-fade-out (aka sympathetic...) part just right, but then against the Giant I started to hear the "peaky resonators" sound in pianoteq. what I mean is more clear e.g. in the 4MS SMR Eurorack-Module: that "hollow, peaky, ear-splitting resonator-style-frequency-weighting" - maybe I am allergic against that type of timbre? The intimate/gentle pianoteq presets were much better in that regard. The Giant was simply "round & woolly" & didn't suffer any peaky-ness.