Hello everybody,
sorry for my ignorance but I have a doubt.
I really like pianoteq and I would like to buy a basic license … my doubt is if I can download Pianoteq for Mac, so that I can also have it on the Mac in my recording room and use the license also on my Zynthian or if I can use it on the Zynthian I have to download the software for Linux …
Thanks for the info
From the Modartt website :
Pianoteq is an award-winning virtual instrument which you can install on your computer (PC/Mac). It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, and will even run on some ARM-based boards such as the Raspberry Pi.
So it will run on a Mac but you can also download a demo version to validate how well it works on you machine.
You can activate a license on three different machines simultaneously, i.e. you can activate on the Mac and the Zynthian. Note that you can only activate each device once. If you deactivate a device you cannot reactivate later. This avoids abuse of the (quite liberal) license by just moving the license around multiple devices.
Thanks as always Riban. We pianists are always looking for better sounds … I tried this Pianoteq for the first time with the Zynthian just yesterday, as with the old firmware it didn’t work for me, while now, the demo version works perfectly (thanks). But I didn’t want to spend the money to have this instrument “only” on the Zynthian. You answered (as always clearly) to my question and I thank you. I just installed the demo version on my Mac and I’m testing it with my Yamaha keyboard and listening to it from the studio speakers and I’m choosing which are the two best sounds. Really spectacular.
It’s possible. Your pianoteq licence can be used with three plateforms at the same time.
Thank you
One last question … my Mac is not connected to the internet … can you register even offline?
I took a long time (as many do) to choose two instruments. I looked at other’s advice (which mostly pointed towards an acoustic and an electric piano pack) and then did blind tests. I also tested the free / included historical instruments so I could exclude sounds that would be provided by them. The blind tests were a good way to shortlist bit it took me a long time. In my opinion Pianoteq is the best piano sound you can get from a computer and is excellent value for money.
In fact, the first will certainly be the Steinway model D jazz … For the electric piano I am in doubt because I have some that emulate the really beautiful Rhodes Piano … very nice (perhaps the most beautiful) the Sfizz stereo Rhodes of Zynthian … but I have yet to try it with my recording room rig …
I am amazed by the Sfizz sounds … at least in headphones … but the piano keeps giving me the problem of the suspension of sounds when the sustain pedal is used a lot … Problem that has not been solved even with the new firmware … only the piano, the other instruments do not have this problem …
I too was sceptical over the electric pianos having heard some very good / authentic / nice sounding epianos in various other sound engines but when I tested PT and heard things like their “W1 Logical” I was blown away by the authenticity. Play one key on that preset and you are instantly taken to Supertramp’s recording studio!
Anyway, each to their own. It is a very personal choice which I think deserves much deliberation. I too chose the Grand Steinway D which now comes with models of New York and Hamburg models. There were many other fantastic pianos that I was choosing from but ended up with the Steinway because it is the most familiar with stuff I have touched before and I could change settings to make it sound worn in the way I wanted. (I tried to emulate an old upright I had which sounded awful and fantastic at the same time!!! The main thing I wanted was broken dampers so that it rang when it should and for longer than it should.)
In the end I went shopping …
On the Mac installed and activated in 5 minutes … now I am installing on the Zynthian. I downloaded the software for Linux and from Webconf I fed the .rar file … that’s all? because the window is fixed and nothing happens … at the end of the loading, must the window disappear and Webconf reappear?
Thanks
OK! with Microsoft Edge work perfectly…
It should work and install pianoteq.
After this, you have to activate your licence thru webconf>pianoteq
In webconf>plugin, try ‘search for new plugin’, then reboot your zynthian.
If activating licence it’s not working
Try this :
In Webconf>plugin , activate Pianoteq 7 plugin. In your zynthian, you will be able to start pianoteq like a lv2 synth.
From Vnc server you will be able to see the pianoteq gui, from there you can activate offline activation by copy/paste.
Thanks Tabula,
it seems to work … But I don’t understand a thing … I have inserted a Piano that sounds perfectly and I see in the mixer … but now if I want to insert in the snapshot also an electric piano (of which I have the license) … I hold down the button at the top left and I go to the menu and access New sinth chain … but Pianoteq is now not in the list …
Currently the native Pianoteq is limited to a single instance in Zynthian, i.e. you can only have one of them at a time. There is a workaround - you can enable the LV2 version which allows multiple versions but remember that Zynthian runs on an arm processor and will struggle to run multiple instances of this powerful engine.
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Ok, Riban
But this thing even if you use one sound at a time?
If I have the Steinway piano on CH1 in the mixer, can’t I have a Pianoteq Rhodes on CH2? Thank you and excuse me
Nope! You can only create a single instance of Pianoteq. It is one of a few sound engines that behave this way:
- Pianoteq
- setBfree
- Aeolus (can only be added if chains 1-4 are free)
I use only one instance and I can play all the Pianoteq instruments I need using ZS3 subsnapshots. Just assign a Program Change to every different preset and you can have as many as you like.
Ok, I’ll study it.
Thank you both. However,
I am happy to have Pianoteq … really nice.
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