In Part 1 of this review, we’ll look at the overall software and the modern pianos implemented with it. The sound quality available is extraordinary across the board. But Pianoteq is also well equipped to make the sounds of lesser pianos (both modern and historical), plucked string instruments (harpsichords and harps), tuned percussion (xylophones, vibraphones, and more), and several kinds of electric/amplified pianos. In Pianoteq magnificent concert grands are the star of the show – and there’s not one of them for which the term “magnificent” is inappropriate. An impressive amount of brainpower has gone into making this technology a reality. In fact, it you look at the About page of the Modartt web site, you might notice that five of the seven individuals introduced have “Dr.” in front of their name. It uses mathematical computational modeling to generate realistic musical instrument sound, a subject few mortals could even begin to understand. Until last year it was Modartt’s only product. First appearing in 2006, Pianoteq is now at version 7, released several months ago. Over almost a decade, Pianoteq has gone from strength to strength.Pianoteq is France-based Modartt’s flagship product. Version 5 offers astonishing realism with remarkably low CPU and hard-drive requirements.ĭoesn’t time fly? Not so long ago the idea of a computer model of a musical instrument that you could actually play would have seemed like science fiction. And yet, it’s already been nearly a decade since French developers Modartt first released their modelled piano software, Pianoteq. In that time they’ve subjected it to continuous development, refining the basic acoustic model, and releasing new pianos and other instruments to run within it. So with this latest version 5 Pianoteq is more capable and flexible than ever, and that’s been matched by some important changes in the way it’s sold, as we’ll see. Pianoteq runs in OS X, Windows, and Linux. You’ll need OS 10.5 or later, Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8, or Linux (x86) with Jack and ALSA back ends. There are 32– and 64–bit variants, and as well a stand–alone version it’s provided in VST, RTAS and AAX plug–in formats for OS X/Windows, as well as in Audio Units for OS X.įully equipped, Pianoteq offers an embarrassment of riches pianos, electric pianos, and many different mallet percussion sounds. After you’ve chosen your basic sound ‘flavour’ at purchase, additional instruments are available for €49/$89 a pop.Then, regardless of your chosen platform, the installation size is almost incomprehensibly, laughably tiny - at least compared to any half–decent sampled piano competition. It occupies a mere 40MB or so on your hard drive, which to put it in perspective is over 3000 times smaller than Garritan’s CFX Concert Grand. Pianoteq doesn’t require much memory either - 256MB is sufficient. That makes it very suitable for users of laptops with solid-state drives, for example, which may not have a great deal of storage capacity. A modest multi–core chip like Intel’s Core i3 is recommended as the minimum spec for the CPU. Pianoteq 5 continues on with a very similar look and feel as its previous versions. The exact layout depends on which version of Pianoteq you’ve stumped for, of which there are three: The compact user interface (roughly 600 x 600 pixels, though scalable between 50 and 250 percent of that size) arranges panels for tweaking various aspects of the sound and playback characteristics beneath a preset management section, and above a representation of a piano keyboard and pedals. This most expensive variant offers the full, unrestricted Pianoteq experience. There’s huge scope for sound design, even on a note–by–note basis (which pretty much lets you do ‘prepared’ piano setups, à la John Cage). There’s a surround–capable multi–channel virtual miking scheme, you can load your own impulse responses into the onboard convolution reverb, and supported sample rates stretch to 192kHz. Still very capable, Standard forgoes only the high sample-rate support and per–note sculpting of Pro. Interestingly, though, it’ll actually load Pro presets, with per–note adjustments intact - you just won’t be able to alter them yourself.
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