In my opinion, we must frequently remember to preserve our hearing. I think Beethoven did not hear the bright, high-pitched sounds before he got totally deaf, so he composed what he could hear, and the music got dark? So, what have I learned and want to share? - Hearing is important. It is always important to be able to hear as much frequencies as possible(when we discuss sounds), especially when we get older. And the possibility to enjoy Pianoteq and Pianoteqconserts live (guess they will come) through good loudspeakers, when 88, hopefully. Can still hear 12,000Hz, so, want to keep the rest of my hearing fresh. So, I am using open headphones now(Grado SR80i), because, when I can hear sounds around me when playing Pianoteq, chances are that the level is not too high. Maybe, playing Pianoteq too loud with headphones for a long time, or exposing your ears for too loud sounds somehow, can damage hearing. I did not think about it when I was young, and now have a bit hearing loss. I have to say - it is good to wonder how we hear when we get older – before we get old.(I am old).
As we grow older we gradually hear less of higher-pitched sounds. So, now I always wonder what is the reason for that? - Of course it is always about taste, but in my opinion more important, maybe, it is also about the difference in how people, young people and old people hear frequencies.
Have been reading this forum every day one year now, and often it is very exciting – what can I learn today? When reading about discussions on pianosounds and how they sound compared to Pianoteq, and which sound is best and so on, we have so many different opinions about which is best. This post is a bit off topic, but exuse me, could not keep from writing it here because it is associated with how we hear pianosounds. I play classical.ĭonSmith wrote in another thread:”When listening or reading about discussions on piano sounds, I've often wonder how we hear frequencies when we get older”. My set-up is an iMac with a SSD, 16 GB ram, Kawai MP10, ALO the Island DAC/amp, and Beyerdynamic T90 headphones. In my situation it would make the most sense - but to each his own. In the end, if I could only own one or the other, I would chose Pianoteq because it is friendlier. Ravenscroft has been innovative in the use of FLAC files - so that for a sampled database is is relatively small - but of good quality.
And the Ravenscroft product seems to have varying pricing - so you never know when to make the purchase. And those iLok USB keys aren't cheap considering that I can buy one for $10 at the corner store. The whole iLok thing is a pain - although, Ravenscroft allows you to authorize to your hard drive rather than taking up a usb slot like Ivory does. Ravenscroft does not have a metronome - which is a shame - as an intermediate player, I use one quite a bit. I would not get the Ravenscroft if I did not have a SSD. And I have 16 Gb of RAM and a solid state hard drive. The PT interface is easier to use, and you are up and playing much faster. However, Pianoteq uses far fewer computer resources, is easier to install, and loads faster. I like them both very much - but they are very different sound wise - even to a novice. Both have excellent (and similar) ways to tailor your sound. From a sound perspective (to my amateur ears), they both have unique but very good sound - both much better than the sound built into my Kawai MP 10.