Pianoteq Enhances Musical Ears (give your comment)

Hello, this is my first post here, and I absolutely agree. Playing on high-grade instruments like Pianoteq makes our ears more sensitive for details in piano sound. In this respect, PT even surpasses any single acoustic piano because of its tweakability. Change the impedance and hear how that'll sound. Try that on a real one. There, you need two different pianos (and preferably, a piano technician's education) to learn about the difference.

Kind of downside to this is that many real-world acoustic pianos sound from "slightly unbalanced" over "OK for Ragtime, but could use some tweaking" to "anti-musical trash" if you are used to have optimum response and control over instrument design and voicing. Prior to PT, I often could not exactly determine what was wrong with a particular piano. Now I can. And sometimes the solution is to rather "go digital" instead of using the "bitch-to-play" provided at the venue. Well, of course not "go Clavinova"...

Many "real piano" enthusiasts cannot understand that. They claim that the instrument itself tells a story (you know, the "grand old lady"). OK, but what if that story does not fit my intentions? If it is one of long-overdue reconditioning, loose pins, noisy (and awkward) action, metal-grade hammers, sub-optimal soundboard performance etc.? Hardware flaws CAN add "charme" to certain music (Tom Waits!) but more often they get in the way. At least, that's my perspective.

I am not talking of the spick-and-span Steinway D many of us get to touch once a year (if we're lucky) but of those heavygoing "budget" mini grands and muffled uprights we are frequently offered.

Fact is: Since I play with PT, I listen ever more for details, particularly the state of the hammers, and now I know much more exactly why I have often been so unhappy in the past. Thanks, Modartt!

There are more defective new (real) pianos than perfect ones. Even Steinway's vary massively, expecially American ones, in fact I would say that less 1 in 10 are truly superb, they require days of voicing and regulation when new and then repeating every few years with a complete rebuild at 20 years. 

What you have with pianoteq, given your own chosen ajustment and thge right keyboard is as close to a perfect instrument as it gets, you can't blame it for anything, it only does what you ask it with your fingers.

I can honestly say that in my 45 years of playing piano I can really only remember a small handful pf pianos (and not all Steinways) that I truly fell in love with. My last Steinway was an ex-hire fleet 1993 D, on a good day after tuning it was marvelous, but it was also massivelyt affected by changes in humidity and temperature, and required bi-monthly tuning and regulation. I only discovered Pianoteq yesterday, and I am sold. I don;t need to worry about the instrument anymore, just start practising and concentrate on what my fingers are doing to my ears.

Someone needs to develop a better keybed (keyboard) and then the acoustic world need to rethink. OH and by the way, my Steinway 11 years old cost £55,000, my CME UF8, computer and powered speakers, less than £2,500.