Pianoteq

Pianoteq is a software, MIDI-controlled, VSTi musical instrument, which uses virtual modeling techniques to emulate the piano, and also harpsichord, electric piano and vibraphone. The product is by French company Modartt and has been published for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms.

The original version of Pianoteq was released in 2006. The instrument is a modelled piano; where all sound is created by mathematical algorithms as opposed to the technology a sampler (musical instrument) piano product derives its sound from.

Modartt describes Pianoteq as being a 'fourth generation' piano (first generation being acoustic pianos, second generation electric pianos, and third generation being sample-based software pianos).

The fourth generation of piano instrument is created entirely from scratch using mathematical algorithms to generate ALL aspects of the sound of both the electric piano and the acoustic piano. The software based Pianoteq belongs to this new generation of synthesised piano sounds, alongside software products by GSI (Genuine Soundware) and Devine Machine. Hardware manufacturers are also beginning to adopt this new generation of piano synthesis. Currently, only Japanese company Roland have a fourth generation piano product, this is the hardware based V-Piano.

The most recent version of Pianoteq is version 3.04, released in June 2009, it introduced new piano models, and the ability for users to virtually position microphones onto their modelled piano. Microphone positioning can drastically affect the definition of a recorded source, and as an additional mathematically modelled process it presents the user with more ways to shape the sound the virtual instrument generates.

See also

• Digital piano
• Piano acoustics

External links

• Pianoteq - True modelling (Official Pianoteq website)
• Interview with the creator of Pianoteq explaining the difference between modelled pianos vs. acoustic pianos and the generations in-between (in French, with English subtitles)