Pianoteq is great and I have been using it for many years, but if you want to get the most out of it, you need to "reamp" the piano, as in, record it from your playing going dry into good speakers in a good room. Other than that, it sounds a bit boring. I love it for playing and sketching though, but I think it doesn't come close to Imperfect Samples Fazioli. That's still my go-to for realism.

 

A few Kontakt libraries and other pianos I know of are actually different since in Pianoteq you can’t get the kinds of prepared pianos that would be sampled for something like Claire avant, or go overboard with more synthesis techniques like how Keyscape is in Omnisphere, I find Pianoteq to be the perfect fit for computers low on space or that just need a bit of extra help, plus I can take it with me wherever my laptop goes… really the only other pianos I have access to all the time are Piano V3 from Arturia because I keep the full collection, piano samples from stuff like Triton/Trinity/XV5080, Reason, etc. so I don’t need regular piano as much elsewhere but can still benefit from the upsides of any libraries

 

As much as I want to love Pianoteq, I just can't get there. Objectively, it sounds fantastic, but something just isn't quite right to my ears. There's a flatness to the sound. It's just not as alive and vibrant as other libraries like Garritan or Pianoverse, and there are lots of fantastic Kontakt piano libraries as well. I really like Noire, Claire, even Alicia's Keys sounds great in a pop track. But every one of these options is so much better than what we had a decade ago - none of them are bad, all of them get the job done with a bit of tweaking, and it's a luxury how spoiled we are that we're even debating this.

 

There are still many piano libararies with character that Pianoteq cannot replicate. Consider UNA Corda, Noire, Claire, and PIanoverse uprights. They offer something special. Pianoteq is great too, but doesn't quite replace everything. Expecially in the eletric and plucked pianos, Keyscape is better. Concert/Stage grands by Steinberg still have unique character. So with the addition of Pianoteq, we can be more picky about Kontakt libraries and only consider what brings special tone/character.

 

Beautiful sonority with no changes to the settings in Pianoteq.

How to make Pianoteq sound just like playing a physical piano?
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php?id=3423

 

Last edited: Nov 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM

I was asking similar thing when Audio Modeling SWAM got v3 upgrades, and well I got rid of NI Kontakt stuff that couldn't really compete with it

 

I feel weird saying this but somehow none of the piano libraries I've tried have done it for me. Pianoteq and Addictive Keys didn't do it either.

I don't even think I'm super picky when it comes to piano, definitely wouldn't count myself among the people who can distinguish different pianos by the quality of their specific overtones and such, but to my ears even the $600 Kawai Digital Piano from 2014 standing in my room sounds better than Pianoteq. In Pianoteq 6.7.0 the only Piano I found usable was the C. Bechstein DG D 282. It didn't sound any different in 8.4.3. The Steinways sound completely flat and lifeless to me, like they all got squished by compressors? And yet they have the dynamics you'd expect. Very weird.

Maybe I'll try out Synthology next... Idk why it seems so hard for me to find a library that sounds good. Maybe at some point I'll get to try out Keyscape. The Spitfire Piano that comes with Ableton Live Suite actually sounds pretty good to me on "Intimate", but it's quite limited in its dynamics and it's for a very specific niche of very closely mic'ed upright, which of course doesn't work for every style of music.

 

Last edited: Nov 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM

There are countless "algo model" acoustic instruments (piano, string, brass, guitar, bass ...)
But none of i tested sounds realistic.

It remembers me when guitar sims started : all of them faced Kemper superiority, because it "captures" the real deal (with limitations anyway).
After that point came good modelers like Helix, Axe FX updates ... because they faced Kemper and needed to be more realistic to sell.

For now, i tested a bunch of acoustic instruments models and they are not realistic.
But one day, they will.

PS : i tested Pianotec and erased it fast. It is NOT up to big scripted Kontakt libs or even Addictive Keys to me.
PPS : the "how to make Pianoteq sound good" is like "how to make music with Linux". I don't have time and energy to loose with half backed solutions.

 

I know Pianoteq is divisive: you're either immediately impressed, or not at all.

How to make Pianoteq 7 sound like a real piano | Sound Synthesis Tutorial

 

The problem is : WHY you need to loose time and energy to tweak something whereas concurrent products are just "click'n play" with a base good sound with no tweak ?
The devs need to do the work ... not the user.

Same with Linux : Mint creators done the job, whereas Ubuntu just stacked features and told ppl : "you want something ? Just do it".
Because when devs do the job, it works for everyone.
when they don't do it, hundred/thousand/million ... ppl need to do it on their side.

It is called time and energy lost for something that SHOULD have been right from the start.
Especially for paid products.

Time passing by, i'm more and more against "workarounds".
It works STOCK or not.
Simple.
And Pianoteq doesn't sound good stock

I still totally understand ppl loosing their time and energy in bottomless holes ... i was there years ago (sadly)

 

You obviously never have time for anything.
I never had time to learn to play on a bad guitar so I went straight out and bought a $20,000 custom Gibson, and I never had time to learn how to record. So I rented a studio in Los Angeles for $7,000 an hour. I never had time to learn how to produce my songs and write lyrics so I paid $100,000 and hired a lyricist and a famous producer. Learn how to mix? How awful!
$10,000 per song.
My daughter started playing the piano last year and I told her: don't bother with that. Get a subscription to Suno. I don't know why she cried. I didn't understand!
And to all the young people I meet who are trying their luck at some project or other I say: if you don't have money, connections, give it up! You'll never make it! And above all, stay away from Linux, man! It's a Virus like this Pianoteq VSTI!

 

How to master Pianoteq properly?
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php?id=8078

 

There is like a cult following for the thing... As far as Piano sound it's meh... There are many MANY superior sounding sampled pianos that beat it handily. There's a simple easy test I do with all virtual pianos straight away - listen to the extreme lowest/highest notes (in v8 they are "marked"). The extreme low notes sound like someone banging on a trash can (no real discernable tonality), the extreme high notes like an old typewriter (again, no real discernable tonality). From all the hype I was expecting some sort of miracle piano, but in reality it's not much comparatively.

 

How does Pianoteq fare against NI Jade, Moonshell, Diamond and Phoenix? I love those electric pianos.

 

I found all Pianoteq pianos to be dark AF. Once you start EQing them so get anything brighter for rock and such, along the lines of "Bohemian Rhapsody", the sound totally fall apart and becomes a parody on a piano with totally unrealistic buzz and unpleasant harmonics.