Modartt / Pianoteq 8 (+ Nylon Guitar Expansion)

[Piet De Ridder]

Modartt has released version 8 of Pianoteq -- several new features and enhanced instruments -- as well as a new expansion pack for the software: the Alhambra Nylon Guitar. On top of that, they've also announced that a version for iOS is in the works (which is a long-standing request by *many* users).



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[Fleer]

Thanks Piet, sounds pretty pretty good.

[Guy Rowland]

Nice demos Piet. Out of interest, can it do chords?

[Piet De Ridder]

Not in the sense that it has a database of chords which can be triggered with one or two keys, no. But you can play chords with it of course, any chord you like. With one (tiny) limitation: unless you play it "à la Piano" (there's a preset for that), PTQ's Guitar adheres rather strictly to what is possible on a real instrument, so if you should happen to want to play a chord, picking pattern, phrase or whatever that would be impossible to do on a real instrument — due to notes requiring the same string or falling outside the reach of a human hand — it won't be possible with this virtual guitar either. "A la Piano", as the name suggests, ignores these limitations and let's you play the sounds of this guitar as if it were a keyboard.

There's no strumming engine either. There was talk of including something like that at one point, but the developers — very wisely, in my opinion — felt that they had already more than enough on their plate getting the instrument to the state it is in today and wanted to fully focus on that goal.

I'm biased of course — I hope not too much though —, but I really do think that they did a rather impressive job with this Guitar. While some timbral moments of the guitar may possibly be equalled or even bettered by the best sample libraries, the its performances as a whole — when content, expression and timbre become one — is the exclusive territory of Pianoteq. No sample library I know of can touch this.

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[Guy Rowland]

Thanks Piet. It sounds terrific for what it can do.