I immediately understood its potential, which is why I suggested Philippe to assist in marketing and product development. I was updating an extensive article on digital piano technology in 2004 when someone advised me to have a look at Philippe’s research. Niclas: I represented many of Pianoteq’s customers of today, being a part time piano composer with a love for the piano instrument. Thanks to the French law on innovation and research (1999), the support of INSA Toulouse, and the Institute of Mathematics, the start-up MODARTT was created in 2006 to sell Pianoteq, which was at that time the first fully modeled piano instrument. I took charge of the development of the real-time engine, and we quickly decided that we wanted to turn this research project into a commercial product. My focus was on an open-source finite element package ( ) when Philippe told me about his project of piano sound synthesis. Julien: I was working as an engineer at Institute of Mathematics of Toulouse, with Philippe (who was also my teacher when I was a student). ![]() Thanks to these two skills and to an exceptional scientific environment in Toulouse, I succeeded in identifying important phenomena responsible for the generation of the piano sound and proposed a model which describes the whole interaction of the soundboard, strings, bridge and air. After what I prepared my PhD thesis on the parametrization of vibrating phenomena, without imagining that it would be the basis of my third life with Pianoteq. Then at the age of 31, I started a new life with basic studies in mathematics at the University of Toulouse, France. ![]() ![]() Philippe: the Pianoteq history is strongly connected to my first job as a piano tuner. In the “geeky as we want to be” spirit of this site, here’s the full scoop.ĬDM: Can you talk about the background of the company? How does one make a shift from dealing with the physical instruments and tuning to thinking about mathematical models, let alone translate that into actual software? But they also have some fascinating commentary on sound design, modeling, and the development process. (I’ll discuss more of the experience of using the tool, and the new Player version, shortly). Naturally, they’re proud of their software, so there is a bit of expected boasting here. Pianoteq sent along some extensive answers, which I’m pleased to be able to share. Its rigorous approach to modeling has attracted a lot of attention in the virtual instrument world, and the fact that it targets Linux alongside Mac and Windows challenges notions that commercial software can’t make it on the free operating system. But I also wanted to know more about how this software developed. That’s especially meaningful to me, as my background in music has been on acoustic pianos, back to when I was literally old enough to reach the keys for the first time. ![]() I’ve been impressed with my time playing with Pianoteq’s software. In addition to software development, the team has even launched an extensive piano restoration effort: And a new “Player” addition, announced this month, makes it more affordable. Pianoteq, which runs as do its rivals on Mac and Windows, is also unusual in providing support for the Linux operating system – something some developers have claimed isn’t practical with commercial music software. Using mathematical models in place of recorded sounds, an entire grand piano fits in just a few megs of space, rather than requiring several DVDs, and the software maker claims the results can be more natural and playable. Now in its third major release, its interface and sound generation have each matured. Pianoteq is an effort to model, rather than sample, acoustic pianos and other instruments on the computer.
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