It is so realistic, you can actually press a low C key too slowly to make any sound, hold it down, and quickly bang the next highest C key, and the one you are holding down will resonate, just like a real piano does. I've never met a trained pianist yet who could not recognize a sampled piano after 3 minutes of banging on the keys. For someone who only does Jerry Lee Lewis impressions, Pianoteq would be serious overkill.īut if you get someone who wants to sit down and play some serious Beethoven on a real grand piano weighted keyboard controller, then Pianoteq (and some fine monitors) is the ONLY way you will ever convince the person that it is a real piano. I grew up on piano, so I can tell you that Pianoteq will only be fully appreciated by someone who is after the feel of the piano sound as much as the timbre of the sound. So I always end up bouncing the piano to wav. To put it mildly, it blows ALL the sample-based stuff clean off the stage!Īnd it is very CPU intensive. I cant say enough good things about Pianoteq. It looks like nothing, but for rock - even certain instrumentals - this one hell of a flexible softsynth!!! Make sure you check out Modartt's Pianoteq. But it does have the advantage of being included in the price of a SONAR upgrade. Not bright enough, and not CPU-friendly despite their claims to the contrary. If you're intent on going with software, there is the TruePianos sampler that is now included with SONAR. That'll set you back around $800, I'd guess. It's a now-discontinued model, but if you can find one used they not only have a great rock sound but an excellent piano-style keyboard. If you're open to buying a hardware synth, you can pick up something like a Yamaha P90 digital piano. You want something that sounds like a real piano, but is bright and punchy, like the old Baldwin used in the piano break in Layla or the Steinway upright at Abbey Road. But as impressive as it is, it's probably not what you want. The Synthology Ivory Italian Grand is an absolutely jaw-dropping example of this. The problem is that most of the high-end piano samples are geared toward ultimate realism for jazz or classical solo piano, not for rock 'n roll. Dave, from what I've heard of your stuff (which I'd categorize as "classic rock" for lack of a better description) you want a nice rock piano.