Creating splits in Cantabile or another host that allows keyboard splits will let you get much, much closer to what you want. It's much easier than you may fear:
Try downloading one of the Cantabile splits files from the Files area here, and, assuming you have a pc, download the latest version of Cantabile lite (a freeware program), which will give you four splits, and then open the splits file in Cantabile. This way, all of the splits will be created for you. All you have to do is open each instance of Pianoteq, select the preset you want (you can mix and match presets), edit the partials and other parameters, and use "Save as" to save your new set of splits. You can end up with a 4-way keyboard split for all of the PianoTeq presets, each named to indicate that it's an "Erard 4-way split", or "M-1 Jazz 4-way split," etc. You just click on Open in Cantabile to open the file, which loads the file very fast, even though its opening four instances of PianoTeq.
I'm uploading a new split file today, called Songwriting Rock, since I'm too tired to think of a better name.
If the four splits aren't enough, the full version of Cantabile is only $25, which lets you have as many splits as your RAM will let you load. Be sure you get the latest version of Cantabile. An older version had a problem with splits. (I have nothing to do with the company that creates this progran, but Cantabile is a sweet little program that offers other features worth having, too, such as Autorecord, a favorites menu for presets, and the ability to autoload whatever preset you want to appear when you first start it. It also loads very, very fast--there's no 20 second lag while it scans your vst folder. Takes 2-3 seconds, even if your default preset is a 4 way split with extremely different settings in each split.)
All of this may seem cumbersome, but, actually, it will take you about ten minutes to download everything, install Cantabile, and then load the splits file. After that, your time just goes to making the edits in each instance of PianoTeq.
One caveat: with four splits, I don't have any increase in latency, but an edit will sometimes take a few more seconds to "take." In other words, if I lower the amount of body resonance, I will often have to wait for 2-3 seconds before making another edit. Nothing terrible: the interface appears to freeze, but all that's happening is that Cantabile is taking those few seconds to save the new parameter setting to a temp file. To reduce this time, close the instance of PianoTeq and save the file in Cantabile again, and then reopen the instance of Pianoteq. Takes 2 seconds.
More generally, for getting the sound that you want, you may want to experiment with having both varying partial settings in each split and varying EQ settings. (Remember that the EQ settings affect the sound before any other parameter, including the partial sliders.) Thus creating notch filters or exciters in the EQ area can have as much of an effect, or more, on the amplitude of specific frequencies as the partials settings. The EQ settings are of course universal, but only within each split, so they offer much control.
I'm aware, of course, that even this arrangement won't give you the ideal: the ability to control each partial on each note. However, using splits, eq settings, and the partial sliders together does take things into new areas of realism.
Sorry for the long post. I'm sure that other people here will have other suggestions about working with splits.
Last edited by Jake Johnson (19-07-2008 18:29)
