Topic: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

Demystifying needed:

Is the stereophonic perspective just a shortcut for convenience for some hidden 2 Mic left-right preset more or less symmetrical to the player?

Is it optimized in some way pro instrument?

What implication "stereophonic" has for such a specific instrument as "Blüthner player" - will some perspective characteristics somehow doubled if I choose stereophonic?

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

Temperament wrote:

Demystifying needed:

Is the stereophonic perspective just a shortcut for convenience for some hidden 2 Mic left-right preset more or less symmetrical to the player?

Yes, it's just a particular position of 2 microphones.

Is it optimized in some way pro instrument?

Yes, it can be different from one instrument to another.

What implication "stereophonic" has for such a specific instrument as "Blüthner player" - will some perspective characteristics somehow doubled if I choose stereophonic?

What do you mean by "doubled"?

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

Thank You, Philippe for clarifying.

To my last question: now it seems to me that "Bluthner player" is just a normal model, having that special 2-microphone perspective added as the default stereophonic setting, which can be exchanged by an editable microphone setting or by binaural - "player" does not refer to any particular player sound stage perspective.

If I get it correctly, a particular piano model itself does not include any fixed sound propagation, the whole sound stage will be calculated as the result from the chosen microphone settings. (I hope to have put it clear enough, the next thing I'll probably need to understand is to get the PRO and to delve in making my first model - perhaps later this year.)

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

The stereophonic output of the Blüthner is the same whatever preset you choose from the Blüthner presets list. Actually, the stereophonic output is included in Pianoteq since version 3 mainly to ensure compatibility with the previous instruments that were not equipped with the possibility to place microphones around the instrument (versions 1 and 2). It is redundant with the "Sound Recording" output mode where you can place yourself the microphones.

You are right, a particular piano model includes a description of its characteristics (hammers, strings, soundboard, etc.), and each time you move a microphone, the acoustic field is calculated up to the location of the microphone.

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

Very interesting

Is there a way to also create the "binaural" output, using a mic setup under "sound recording"?

http://soundcloud.com/delt01
Pianoteq 5 STD+blüthner, Renoise 3 • Roland FP-4F + M-Audio Keystation 88es
Intel i5@3.4GHz, 16GB • Linux Mint xfce 64bit

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

You have a Binaural option too, can't you see it?

* Stereophonic
* Monophonic
* Sound Recording
* Binaural

Last edited by EvilDragon (23-09-2013 00:19)
Hard work and guts!

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

Yeah i know, i'm just curious if "binaural" can be reproduced by configuring the mics in "sound recording" mode in a certain way.

http://soundcloud.com/delt01
Pianoteq 5 STD+blüthner, Renoise 3 • Roland FP-4F + M-Audio Keystation 88es
Intel i5@3.4GHz, 16GB • Linux Mint xfce 64bit

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

delt wrote:

Very interesting

Is there a way to also create the "binaural" output, using a mic setup under "sound recording"?

Not exactly because of the head model, but, for example with the Blüthner, you will come close to the binaural output by setting the following mic position with no level/delay compensation:
[1.545  0.922  1.5; 1.455  1.078  1.5].

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

Philippe Guillaume wrote:

The stereophonic output of the Blüthner is the same whatever preset you choose from the Blüthner presets list. Actually, the stereophonic output is included in Pianoteq since version 3 mainly to ensure compatibility with the previous instruments that were not equipped with the possibility to place microphones around the instrument (versions 1 and 2). It is redundant with the "Sound Recording" output mode where you can place yourself the microphones.

You are right, a particular piano model includes a description of its characteristics (hammers, strings, soundboard, etc.), and each time you move a microphone, the acoustic field is calculated up to the location of the microphone.

Are you saying, in Pianoteq Standard, choosing "Stereophonic" vs "Sound Recording" would provide the same output for a given preset? 

The reason I searched for this topic is that I found "Stereophonic" to be louder overall than "Sound Recording" (when all I am doing is switching between the two).   I am trying to determine which is better for a recording.

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

scorpio wrote:
Philippe Guillaume wrote:

The stereophonic output of the Blüthner is the same whatever preset you choose from the Blüthner presets list. Actually, the stereophonic output is included in Pianoteq since version 3 mainly to ensure compatibility with the previous instruments that were not equipped with the possibility to place microphones around the instrument (versions 1 and 2). It is redundant with the "Sound Recording" output mode where you can place yourself the microphones.

You are right, a particular piano model includes a description of its characteristics (hammers, strings, soundboard, etc.), and each time you move a microphone, the acoustic field is calculated up to the location of the microphone.

Are you saying, in Pianoteq Standard, choosing "Stereophonic" vs "Sound Recording" would provide the same output for a given preset?

Not exactly, because when you select "Sound Recording", the mics are not necessarily at the same position as when you select "Stereophonic". But if you move the mics to the same position (which is actually not shown in the UI), then you will have the same sound. For example, in the Bluethner, the mic position for "Stereophonic" is [1.50 1.25 1.50] for mic #1 and [1.65 0.75 1.50] for mic #2 (this is true for all Bluethner presets). So if you select "Sound Recording", move the mics to that position and turn level and delay compensation off, you will have exactly the same sound as the same preset after selecting "Stereophonic".

The reason I searched for this topic is that I found "Stereophonic" to be louder overall than "Sound Recording" (when all I am doing is switching between the two).   I am trying to determine which is better for a recording.

It is louder because  level compensation is off in "Stereophonic" output.

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

Excellent.   Thank you.

Re: What the stereophonic perspective exactly is?

Temperament wrote:

Demystifying needed:

Is the stereophonic perspective just a shortcut for convenience for some hidden 2 Mic left-right preset more or less symmetrical to the player?

Is it optimized in some way pro instrument?

What implication "stereophonic" has for such a specific instrument as "Blüthner player" - will some perspective characteristics somehow doubled if I choose stereophonic?


Exelente subject. Congratulations to the creator of this topic, friend!