''Pianoteq'' is a

software synthesizer A software synthesizer or softsynth is a computer program that generates digital audio, usually for music. Computer software that can create sounds or music is not new, but advances in processing speed now allow softsynths to accomplish the sam ...

that features real-time

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

-control of digital physically modeled

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

s and related instruments, including

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

fortepiano A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Mo ...

, and various

metallophone A metallophone is any musical instrument in which the sound-producing body is a piece of metal (other than a metal string), consisting of tuned metal bars, tubes, rods, bowls, or plates. Most frequently the metal body is struck to produce sound, ...

s. It is usable as a stand-alone program for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

(including ARM architecture) platforms, or as a plug in for VSTi hosts and two VSTi counterpart for use with

digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pro ...

History and technology

The original version of the program was released in August 2006. The software's physically modeled synthesis create sound from scratch using several megabytes of mathematical algorithms (Fourier construction) to generate

and acoustic

sounds that can be manipulated analogously to those produced by their material counterparts. Pianoteq's modeled sounds are supplemented with sampled pedal noise, key release, and hammer noise. Patches for additional instruments are also available. Several of the historical instruments were created as part of the KIViR (Keyboard Instruments Virtual Restoration) project, which aims to create playable digital models of historical keyboard instruments in museums like the Händel-Haus in Halle.

Instruments

Pianoteq models several modern as well as historical pianos, including the

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

model B and model D, the Antonin Petrof 275 and 284, Bechstein DG, Steingraeber E-272, Grotrian Concert Royal, and

Blüthner Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik GmbH, is a piano-manufacturing company in Leipzig, Germany.

Model 1. Other instruments include models for the

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known ...

Pianet models N and T and

Clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

D6, as well as models for

, concert harp and

Celtic harp The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring grea ...

, various tine and reed electric pianos, vibraphones, celeste, xylophone and marimba, and various steelpans.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Pianoteq official websiteModartt Official forumInterview with the creator of Pianoteq explaining the difference between modelled pianos vs. acoustic pianos and the generations in-between
(in French, with English subtitles) Keyboard software synthesizers

History and technology

Instruments

See also

References

External links