Pianoteq Wins KVR Reader's Choice for Fav Keyboard VI

Hex, thanks for the confirmation.

I "discovered" Pianoteq from the "clonewheel" forum that discusses Hammond organ clones and other keyboards. I have to admit that when I first looked into it, I was impressed by the vast array of parameters that can be tweaked. They actually sell 3 versions: Stage, Standard and Pro. They all sound great, the difference between them is the number of parameters you can adjust.

There are 2 Free Trial Downloads: one for Stage and one for Standard and I downloaded both of them. I started with the Standard and played around with some of the adjustments and found that I tended toward the stock settings and just had more fun playing than tweaking so I decided to check out the Stage which has less, but still a fair amount of parameters to adjust and I was just as happy with that.

So after all that, I never pulled the trigger and even purchased the cheaper "Stage" version mainly because I really don't need it since I have a couple digital pianos already and, because they are self contained, they're more portable and simpler to set up etc.

The other drawback of the Pianoteq SW is the "Instrument Packs" ($59 each) thing. You get a choice of 2 that come with the initial purchase but then it's $59 a pop if you want more. Not a big deal but just sayin'. One last thing, and this is a big one but really just my opinion: The Steinway D is my favorite! In the free trial you can sample the wide assortment of instruments but I found myself playing the "D" the most.

So yeah, I think Pianoteq really does deserve an award, it's really a great product even though I am only judging from the free trial versions.

Whatever 88 piano you decide to buy, you'll probably find one with a pretty nice sounding "piano engine" so you may never really need a SW version. However, for serious recording, it may be useful to record the MIDI data and have the option to choose a different piano model or tweak parameters in post...(but I never do that, just sayin')

While you're shopping, check out that Cassio Privia PX-560, it may be more than you need but I need to play one sometime if I ever see one around here. I have an old Privia PX-300, it's basically OK but with no user presets, it's not very easy to use live (but I'v been slogging along with it for years:(

I just bought a PX-5S. At first I thought the main piano sound was lacking in a big way. Sounded toy-like in comparison to my VST's. The next day I recorded the audio from the Casio and the midi performance on a track. Copied the track and compared the same piece/s of music between the Casio stock piano sound and three VST pianos.


1. Sampletank 3 (Grand).

2. Addictive Keys.

3. VITA Grand.

VITA is part of a bundle package that comes with Magix Acid Pro 9 DAW.

I was very surprised to find I preferred the Casio on some things, while preferring Sampletank (this is like a 10 year old VST) and Addictive on others. I did not like the VITA piano on anything, outside of the dynamics being all over the place, the sound was, by far, the least realistic to my ears. However, my wife thought it sounded the most authentic! Overall my favorite, as far as realism goes, was probably Sampletank. My wife felt Sampletank was the least realistic sounding! Just goes to show you... it's all personal preference.

Just want to add that RME is now bundling this software with the Babyface Pro FS along with other apps. Pretty neat, if you ask me.

EDIT: No they're not.  It was just a demo.  Kind of weird, tbh.

That's interesting, mej. Thanks for replying. Can you link to one of your compositions? I'm always interested to hear how pianists compose as coming from a guitar background myself. The SG1-D is the sampling grand? You're not the first one I hear who prefers the sound of older samplers. The D1 was something I was considering for when I can make more time for piano playing.