Topic: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

I found that the highest A on the keyboard produces an unnaturally piercing sound. Some of the notes closer to it have it a bit too, but the A has most. I've tried different settings and the K2 piano and it is in every one of them. It's especially noticeable when using high volume (to simulate playing a real piano). My headphone is Sennheiser HD598 so that shouldn't be really a problem.

https://puu.sh/xJBlf/d17b343c81.wav

Pianoteq 6 has been great otherwise, but I hope you do something to this. There can definitely be sparkle in the high register, but one particular key standing out so much is bad.

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

Can't hear any problem at all

Regards,
Tin Ears.

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

I can't hear the .wav file you posted on the computer I'm using right now, but it could possibly be your MIDI keyboard registering a higher velocity for that note than it should, relative to other nearby keys on the keyboard. Fatar StudioLogic keyboards and the Kawai VPC1 (and probably others) have software to recalibrate the individual note velocities, and Pianoteq Pro offers a note by note calibration of volume and many other parameters.

It could also be caused by resonances within the headphones or speakers you are using, which can greatly amplify certain frequencies.

Last edited by Stephen_Doonan (26-09-2017 22:55)
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Linux, Pianoteq Pro, Organteq

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

I'm not hearing anything strange, either.

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

I have the same experience with my setup as well. The ear piercing sound is quite annoying. For my situation I am pretty sure it is due to interactions between my room and my speakers (which is embedded in my digital piano). Not sure how it could be effectively resolved. I have pianoteq pro and using note by note edit to turn down the volume of those keys helped quite a bit, but I am sure a more elegant solution exists.

p.s. I do not hear anything wrong with the wav file.

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

Yeah it sounds fine over here. I would also say the position of speakers vs walls could have a great impact here...

Hard work and guts!

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

I tried some more. With the Sennheisers (open headphones) it happens the most clearly, with Shure srh440 (closed headphones) it happens almost as much, but with my UE600 earbuds it doesn't happen. Though in all cases, the volume must be pretty high (to compare to the volume of an acoustic piano which is definitely quite loud compared to the volume people usually use with headphones). If I use low volume then it doesn't stand out as much. Pianoteq 5 didn't have this problem.

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

Just had a play. Nothing out of the ordinary - with two sets of monitors.

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

Hello Mr. Skinkken,

As Duke Ellington once said, "If it sounds good, it is good."

The converse may also be implied:  "If it doesn't sound good, it isn't good."  Who am I or anyone else to question what you hear in your own setup?

If this anomaly of piercing sound you hear happens to bother you too much, there is always a way to fix it ... by upgrading to Pianoteq PRO.  Once in the note-by-note window, you have the option to modify more than 20 parameters, including volume, hammer hardness, strike point, spectrum profile, soundboard impedance, duplex scale resonance (hint, hint!!), etc. etc., but you probably already know that fact.  Then you can save each preset, or you can go into the global parameters and save these note-by-note changes for all presets of every model you happen to own.

Cheers,

Joe

Last edited by jcfelice88keys (28-09-2017 01:02)

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

jcfelice88keys wrote:

... or you can go into the global parameters and save these note-by-note changes for all presets of every model you happen to own.

Joe, this is something I missed. How does one apply Note Edit changes to all presets, globally?

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Linux, Pianoteq Pro, Organteq

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

Stephen_Doonan wrote:
jcfelice88keys wrote:

... or you can go into the global parameters and save these note-by-note changes for all presets of every model you happen to own.

Joe, this is something I missed. How does one apply Note Edit changes to all presets, globally?

Hello Stephen,

It is entirely possible to do this in Pianoteq PRO!!  Simply make your note-by-note change, say, unison width for example.  Then go up to the "Check Mark" in the main window, and a new window will appear.  In this example, if you elect to "freeze" Note Width, then in every other piano model you select, that note-by-note change remains frozen in place!

(Just to verify what I say is true, I made a Unison Width change in Steinway B, froze the note-by-note parameter, and then found that very same modification was indeed changed in Steinway D.)

Cheers,

Joe

Last edited by jcfelice88keys (28-09-2017 23:37)

Re: Pianoteq 6 highest A piercing sound

Thank you, Joe. I mistakenly assumed that freezing parameters such as the unison width only froze the position of the primary unison-width slider, without all of the note-by-note variations one might make to that parameter in Note Edit.

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Linux, Pianoteq Pro, Organteq