Pianoteq doesn't sound realistic, period. I trust my ears. That thing is a disaster in the mid registers. Grainy fake attacks, impossible to ignore if you have good ears (as opposed to delusional ears).

I'm sick and tired of everyone being empathetic with their criticism of Pianoteq just because they don't want to hurt the Pianoteq fans feelings.

 

Well, I like pianoteq for practise and playing more than most sample libraries but the tone is not "there" yet. It sounds a little like a synth, so for composing or making tracks I use good samples like Embertone Walker 1955 instead. I'm just speaking about the pianos, I never really tried the other instruments, excluding the harpsichords. The harpsichords are the best for me, I still haven't found a better sample based harpsichord.

But playability and half pedal is great in Pianoteq (like Fowly said earlier).

 

What's not "there" for you? I just don't understand. You can mic the piano however you want and edit any aspect of the piano that you want to get the sound you need.

 

I think Pianoteq is great, but I have to say that it sometimes sounds a bit like a synthesizer...but not in a bad way...I mean, imagine a piano standing right in front of you in a room; it will always sound different from the best VST piano in the world...as soon as a sound comes out of speakers or headphones, it's no longer “real”...
An instrument that is physically present will always sound more impressive.
I have to say that Pianoteq is absolutely brilliant for me and my style of music. I don't come from a classical music background, but mainly make hip hop, trap, and reggaeton with a Balkan influence.
With EQ, reverb, and tricks, you can use Pianoteq to shape almost any piano sound that you would get from other sample-based VSTs... yes, I also hear something synth-like in the midrange, but I like it.

 

ah crap, I bought Pianoteq 6 stage years ago and just recently paid for the upgrade to 8... Is 9 enough of an improvement to justify paying yet again? I still just use stage and don't need a piano for playing live or anything, just concerning sound quality/realism. thx!

 

Last edited: Nov 6, 2025 at 4:12 AM

If it is anything close to what you say, is it also probably easily identifiable as Pianoteq? It is like $400 or $900 depending on the bundle.

For me, that would obviously be the foundations for an album called Songs in the Key of Warez.

 

I'm not recording classical music, so I don't need a perfect piano sound. I have experimented with Nebula FRFR speakers and some VST like Stereolab, and the Pianoteq sound would be quite interesting for the stuff I do. For some people, high quality piano sounds are actually unusable, although I do like the sound of Noire

 

Last edited: Nov 6, 2025 at 8:06 AM

With all due respect to all people here ‘loving’ Pianoteq and thinking this is the only piano they will ever need and are ready to dump all their Kontakt libraries? I think most of them don’t really know how a real piano sounds and feels? Sure Pianoteq sounds like a piano and it might be very convincing to most people.
But really, when you compare it to some of the best Kontakt sample libraries available like Embertone - Walker 1955 Concert D, VILabs - ModernD, Soniccouture - The Hammersmith Pro, etc. Pianoteq is clearly (still) not near this league!

During my lifetime I’ve played probably like 100 or maybe even 150 different pianos. And I’ve been fortunate to be able to also play premium concert grands like Bosendorfer, Bechstein, Steinway and Fazioli. So I know a little bit about how a piano should sound?

The problem with Pianoteq today, while gradually getting better, still is this:
The midrange, say from c3 to c5, sounds reasonably ok, but still a little ‘boxy’ so not really great. But the lower mids and lows don’t sound very convincing and are missing the sound of a body like any acoustic piano should have. It somehow sounds two dimensional. There's just no soul behind there. Also from c5 and up it starts to sound like a ‘toy’ piano. On the highest octave you can hardly hear the ‘wood noise’ which is essential on these keys, only a ‘synthesized’ toy key noise that should pass for wood.

The thing also is: Whatever preset (piano brand) you chose? They all have this same character I described above. So regardless if you chose a Steinway or a Bechstein, they all have this character or flaw or how you wish to call it?

Please don’t get me wrong! I’m not saying Pianoteq is totally trash. I’m just saying that it’s a good work in progress, but still far from replacing sample libraries. As far as I’m concerned, when it comes to an authentic piano sound. The better sample libraries are still the ones that come closest to the real thing.

But…..When it comes to instant playability, easy on storage, ram and even cpu, and loadtimes? It’s actually one of my favorites to start out with when starting a sketch in my daw! Also the quick adjustments to like ‘Condition’ so the state and tuning and the quick ‘Mics & Mics’ settings are really great.

So as a basic ‘goto’ piano without being bothered about how the end mix should sound, Pianoteq is great and easy to work with. But as the sound is still currently, I would never use it in a final production. Because to me it still sounds too artificial and maybe also too recognizable as a typical synthetic ‘Pianoteq’ piano.

 

Last edited: Nov 6, 2025 at 5:24 AM

for me it was a real labor to find a decent patch...there was a good Steinway in the FXP preset
the most important thing for my type of music is the quality of the sympatheiic resonance, for this
i still use my go to Art Vista Virtual Grand 3
good luck