Topic by Jake Johnson

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  • Jake Johnson
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  • From: Atlanta
  • Registered: 04-05-2007
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Topic: Using more than one instance of PianoTeq?

Over the past year, several of us have posted about two ways to use more than one instance of PianoTeq at once: in splits and in velocity layers. But are other people using multiple instances in different ways, with both sounding at once, to increase the number of partials in some areas,etc?

Any suggestions about what to try? (I feel as though opening another instance opens up so many possibilities that I'll get lost in playing around, and never find what can really be done.)

Reply by Cellomangler

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  • Cellomangler
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  • From: Iuka, MS
  • Registered: 03-05-2008
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Re: Using more than one instance of PianoTeq?

Well I haven't tried multiple instances -cool, but what I am planning on doing is to use a stereo, 3-way crossover so that I can apply different effects/EQ/amplification to different ranges of the piano.  Nice thing about this is that you can keep the low notes cleaner by not having reverb (or as much) on the sub and low output, but you can still have reverb & effects on the overtones generated as they will pass through the low cut filters and into a different signal path.  There are endless possibilities with this approach and it doesn't hit upon CPU power in the slightest.  I'd like to experiment with some delay, modulation effects and tube warmth applied to different bands.  (Aside - Could it be a future option to have multiple outputs available from the software to avoid the need for a crossover, since many sound cards in use now have multiple outputs?)

"Downing a fifth results in diminished capacity."

Cellomangler's Website

Reply by torontobrian

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  • Registered: 13-06-2007
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Re: Using more than one instance of PianoTeq?

Hi Jake,

I too, am interested in using 2 or more instances of Pianoteq.  I cannot do this at the moment, as I only have a single 3.2 Ghz cpu.  I am looking at quad-core possibilities in a future PC re-build here.  I would likely host the pianos inside Reaper, since it is optimized to use 2 quads (8-core) by its developer.

My reasons would be a little on the crude & brute-force side of things.  Simply, to pile on the character and resonance to the point where you feel immersed in a wall of very complex sound (like sitting at my 1905 Bell upright with the panels off).  Probably, I'd detune the 2 instances by a minute amount - just for subtle warmth.

However, if multiples get too massive & muddy, it may in the end turn out to be enough to use one instance of the up-coming Pianoteq 3.0 (or whichever number it may be called).  I'd have to find other uses for a quad core in that case - like convolving spaces etc.

I'm (perhaps unfortunately) instinctively captivated (held at the instrument as a player) by music made from from the stuff of the Universe - matter & energy ("quantum" reality - if you like). -Probably the wrong term.  Vibrations as such (banging on old wood pianos in abandoned rooms) hold me for hours (useful for learning theory - ha!, I wish I did more of that).  However, I find most sound originating in symbolic (non-real) domain of binary numbers doesn't hold me for long periods of time.

BUT!, -Pianoteq is sufficiently different & powerful (especially possibly in multiples) to trick my muse and hold me to stick with it.  I noticed this back with the earliest alphas - the addition of inter-string sympathetics (even if all virtual) was starting to trick my senses and hold me at the keyboard longer than samples.  Pianoteq is going to be a great headphone lab learning tool at the very least - and very useful for creating unique sounds!  Probably, once my Bell is completely restored, I'll find a way to combine them if I can ever afford midi9 kit etc.  The best of both worlds would be sweet.  (I may just drive the Bell with a powered speaker as an effect in a loop off of pianoteq too).

Cheers, Jake, and let me know if you get some multiples running.  It's definitely worth a try!

-Brian McKinlay.

Reply by doug

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  • Registered: 08-05-2007
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Re: Using more than one instance of PianoTeq?

Multiples of pianoteq are easy in Logic but I don't actually use them; I'm more interested in combining ptq's attack in layers with other instruments. I just did a little experiment and I start getting breakup with four instances. It sounded very rich and probably could have sounded much richer with some tweaking.

One notion: people who are looking for seemingly random out-of-tuneness can combine two or three instances that use different temperaments and/or octave stretch. It works.