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Ivory Piano vs Pianoteq - Steinway D

Pianoteq is pretty playable but does not sound as good as pretty much any sampled library. I personally think Pianoteq sounds pretty bad and I don't really get the hype around it.
 
Due to EvilDragon's and other's many raving reviews about Pianoteq, I finally broke down and bought it last year, but I don't really get along with the tone from it either. I hear what everyone is saying as to being a very playable and expressive instrument, but there is still a fakeness to it that I hear and it bugs me. I'm still going to follow it and try to use it and see if I can get more out of it over time, but generally I end up reaching for something else most of the time. Pianoteq has some interesting abilities to create strange piano-ish sounds...which has some usefulness also. I think probably in a mix it sounds quite fine also and the playability of it might shine in that case.
 
Only IvoryII Italian Grand here and everything gets measured against it ...... for mainstream needs.
Many other fine VI Grands for specific situations and they meet those needs well.
Have Demo'd Pianoteq over many years and have not yet found it superior to sampled libraries.
 
I have yet to hear a sampled library that sounds worse than Pianoteq but I'm sure they exist

The noise buildup in Piano In Blue was quite ridiculous before they had another noise reduction pass on it. Even then, it's still there and it's annoying.
 
I think Pianoteq is suited if you have some sound design skills.

I picked it up, but didn't really get along with any of the stock sounds.

But once I spent some time on the forums (is there a forum where Evil Dragon isn't resident genius?) and got into the vast array of options available, I was soon crafting some lovely sounding instruments.

Now I would not part with it for anything.

I still use libraries at times, but often as inspiration for creating a new instrument in pianoteq or Una Corda for instance to add more noise and mechanical sounds to the ones already available in pianoteq.

maybe you guys can share some of your lovely pianoteq presets ?
 
The noise buildup in Piano In Blue was quite ridiculous before they had another noise reduction pass on it. Even then, it's still there and it's annoying.
Haven't used that one, but I have NI Grandeur, Noire, Maverick, Ravenscroft, and all the Addictive Keys and they all sound much better than Pianoteq. Pianoteq's low end is especially bad, its mid to high range is ok.
 
Well, I disagree there. Low end rumble is something Pianoteq does better than any sample library. Especially when you press that sustain pedal and keep on pounding.
 
I would love to be convinced otherwise as I really do like the concept of Pianoteq but when I tried to use it it just sounded very bad on all the presets. (Granted I did not try every preset since there were so many but I tried a lot) Would love to hear other people's creations with it to see what I might be doing wrong :)
 
Well, I disagree there. Low end rumble is something Pianoteq does better than any sample library. Especially when you press that sustain pedal and keep on pounding.

This is where both Pianoteq and TruePianos do really shine. Because they are modeled, they do much smarter stuff in terms of how different sustained keys interact with each other in upper harmonics and resonate against each other. A lot of interesting stuff happens in a real piano when you have the sustain pedal down and most sample libraries do not capture that at all. There is truth here and I can hear it. Especially if you use some chord extensions, (9th, 11th, etc.) and with sustain engaged...sounds wonderful and sample pianos sound dead. No argument.

But I agree with the other people that basic tone, the attack..something about it is not quite there, that bugs me more than the good stuff impresses. I really more often would rather play the sampled stuff. Actually this will really fire up some people but I prefer the sound of TruePianos. It combines some sampling with modeling and personally I find it more satisfactory to play.
 
Anyone want to compare the Ivory II concert d and VSL concert d?

Do some googling about the VSL pianos. At least one of them is known to have some bad tuning. Otherwise they are supposed to be awesome. Their CFX is probably great. The Garritan CFX is also raved about a lot.
 
I would love to be convinced otherwise as I really do like the concept of Pianoteq but when I tried to use it it just sounded very bad on all the presets. (Granted I did not try every preset since there were so many but I tried a lot) Would love to hear other people's creations with it to see what I might be doing wrong :)

If it's not about creating interesting sounds or a meditation about the isolated low end rumble, there isn't much to say. Pianoteq simply does not sound like a real piano.
Either you hear it or you don't hear it.
 
We could also say that sample libraries don't behave like a real piano. And really, they don't, and they never will. Nor do they sound like a real piano, because a real piano doesn't layer a snapshot upon a snapshot of a particular sound recorded in a particular time over and over itself. Either you hear it or you don't hear it.

See? It works both ways.
 
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