Frequently asked questions

You can use any MIDI keyboard such as a digital piano, a stage keyboard or a synthesizer. To be able to play with detailed expression, you need a keyboard with a good velocity sensitivity. Most stage keyboards and digital pianos have that, more or less. There is everything from light stage pianos with optional stand to heavy grand models with real grand piano action built in. Useful advice on what keyboard to use can be found in the Pianoteq user forum and in the Piano World digital piano forum.

Connect a MIDI cable from the keyboard's MIDI OUT port to the sound card's MIDI IN. Recent keyboards can also be connected to the USB port. Older keyboards may need a MIDI to USB converter. You can find more information here: hookup diagrams. There is also a video tutorial on how to get started, here.

Digital pianos usually have a sufficient pedal set built in. Stage pianos usually need to be complemented with a pedal accessory kit, such as Yamaha FC-3A or Roland RPU-3.

You can use a modern laptop or a desktop computer, PC or Mac. See the hardware and software requirements below.

Just 256 MB (megabytes). Most modern computers are equipped with at least 8 GB (gigabytes) of RAM. In contrast to many other virtual pianos, there is no need to invest in any additional RAM sticks to achieve maximum performance.

No. Since Pianoteq does not store any samples on the computer, there is no need to invest in a dedicated disk drive. Pianoteq occupies just 50 MB whereas other virtual pianos need to frequently access many sample files (usually several gigabytes) from a fast and stable disk drive.

Pianoteq is CPU intensive software for it computes the sound in realtime. Many modern computers already offer a fully sufficient CPU. We recommend any multi-core CPU, listed on this page: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
By restricting the internal sample rate in the Options menu, you can work with less powerful CPU's. The Linux version of Pianoteq 7 and later lets you work with ARM RISC based CPU's used in smaller Linux based consumer electronic devices.

Many bass notes in combination with the sustain pedal require lots of computations for the CPU. Most modern CPUs can handle this fine.

If using a PC, you need a soundcard that supports ASIO drivers (most soundcards do). You should be able to use the built-in soundcard on your computer. If you have high demands on the audio quality, you should use an audio device which is adapted for music production. We recommend visiting the Pianoteq user forum for further advice.

This is one of the great advantages of Pianoteq. You can use any modern laptop successfully without any need to add external disk drives. The low system requirements and rock stable software make it optimal also for live performances.

Although we will help you out as much as we can, it is your own responsibility to check the recommended hardware/software requirements before purchase. By evaluating the trial version you will know if everything works fine for you.

If using a Bluetooth compatible digital piano, or a MIDI over Bluetooth adapter, you can connect by wireless. You can otherwise connect a USB to USB-C adapter to your iPhone/iPad. On older iPhones/iPads, connect a USB to Lightning adapter instead. Then connect a standard USB to USB-B (a.k.a. "printer cable") to your USB audio device. From there, connect a USB or MIDI cable to your digital piano.

Below is an example of a MIDI over Bluetooth adapter for connecting an iPhone or iPad to a digital piano with MIDI ports. Connect the two MIDI cables on the adapter to your digital piano's MIDI IN and MIDI OUT port. Ensure that the adapter is powered in case your digital piano does not emit any power via the MIDI ports. In the Pianoteq app, go to Options > Devices. There, click on the "Bluetooth MIDI" button and connect to your Bluetooth adapter. It will be recognized as active MIDI input.

We recommend a recent iPhone/iPad model, but Pianoteq runs well also on older models using iOS 15 or higher, such as iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, iPad Mini 4 and iPad 5.