Logic and Pianoteq: A question about presets.

[John Isige]

Hi all.

I'm seriously considering buying Pianoteq. I was playing around with the demo, and I've got a quick question.

If you load it with LM, using left and right brackets moves through presets. But it seems that what you get is the initial preset of each instrument, e.g. Ny Steinway Square Original, but I gather from the website that there's a recording preset, for instance.

Are there sub-presets, so to speak, for each instrument? In other words, if I load the classical guitar, do I get presets within the classical guitar? If so, how do I access them?

If you only get them if you buy it, not in the demo, I'm fine with that. I'm just trying to learn about what's going on with it so that if I do buy it, I know I can take full advantage of whatever it's offering. I'm assuming if you get presets under each instrument if you buy it, not in thedemo, then LM will cycle through those as well with left and right brackets?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Daniel Contreras]

Those key commands will take you through whatever the available AU presets are for a plug-in. In order to access all of pianoteq’savailable presets, you have to navigate the actual plug-in interface. It is accessible however. Hope this helps.
Daniel Contreras

> On Mar 30, 2026, at 1:00 PM, John Isige <gw...@tds.net> wrote:
>
> Hi all.

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[Dave Leo Baker]

Daniel is spot on and I’ll add a little bit as Pianoteq is one of my main plug-ins.

So bring up Pianoteq and optionally use left and right brackets to move to the piano manufacturer and model you want to, you don’t have to take that step. Then switch to Pianoteq view from Controls view. Now you’ll find a Juce Application group, Juce is I think what they call a container, go in there and vo right to where it says open preset manager. Now you will be on the presets list, there are more than hundred of them, but if you used the brackets to move to a major instrument you will be focused on the first preset for that instrument, say Steinway Model D or Petrof Mistral. 

Pianoteq calls an “instrument” one instrument by a particular manufacturer, and then the “presets” are the various ways that instrument is set up, or environments. 

The main instrument, say Steinway Model D, is specified by the piano manufacturer or even various mallet and other keyboard instruments including some very convincing harpsichord. 

Once you’ve picked your instrument then you can find the Close Preset Manager if you want to interact with the various other parts of the interface. 

There are advantages to use the editor and also some things in Controls View. I most often go into Controls View and find the Lid setting, and move the slider to 0% which is lid off, but that’s because IRL when performing at a Performing Arts Center or someplace, I always open the lid which is generally practiced. Some styles want that tighter more “squished” sound of a lid closed.

If you have a pianisimo input on your controller, Pianoteq plays oh so very nicely with it, it’s not just a mid / lowpass filter, it’s the real thing. But I’m kind of a Pianoteq sycophant 

Dave Leo Baker,
Your Spa Productions
Gentle rain for thirsty souls
https:artist.link/daveleobaker

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[John Isige]

Thanks, you guys!

One more quick question, when I was playing around with the interface, i.e. the Juice group Dave mentions, when I changed something, I forget what it was now but it doesn't matter, I got kicked out of the interface entirely and put back into Logic's main window. I had to hit 1 and then the dash twice to get LM to open the plugin again, and then get back to the menu to pick Pianoteq,rather than the default controls with Logic's table interface.

Is there a simpler way to get back into it if this happens?

I do like what I've heard of Pianoteq, yeah. Oddly enough I want it more for the weird historical stuff, the thing that got me looking into it was actually the free clavichord because "Book of Ways" which is amazing. But although I'm not super into piano as an instrument, I do like the depth and detail of the piano stuff I've heard in it, So that might make a convert out of me yet! But so far I'm thinking the two sets of electric pianos, their synthesizer, and the historical one with the virginal and Steinway square and all for my instrument packs.

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[Dave Leo Baker]

Try using command accent and see if that takes you right back into the window. 

If piano isn't your main instrument but you like Pianoteq you may want to try out the various instruments used in the wellness / new age spaces, specifically the concert and Celtic harps, even the triple harp, the kalimba, handpan, and even some of the vibes. 

One thing to be aware of when using the Singularity synthesizer, Pianoteq doesn't respond to your expression pedal be it CC7 or CC11. I never thought of that before they released the synthesizer because I don't use my expression pedal on traditional keyboard or mallet instruments. That may or may not matter to you, I still have found presets in Singularity which I have used in projects. 

You will have to pay  for the synth as a separate sound pack. I had bought my way up to the full studio bundle and still needed to buy it. Makes sense since it's quite different from the strings and mallets modeling they do. 

HTH

Dave

On Mar 30, 2026, at 5:51 PM, John Isige <gw...@tds.net> wrote:

Thanks, you guys!

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[Laid Civic]

Hi

That mainly happens with menus in any juice interface. Not sure is it juice to blame or not, but from some reason VoiceOver loses focuses and its focus switches to main window, although you’re technically still in plug-in window, just VoiceOver thinks differently. So you have to hit cmd + accent key twice to get voiceover’s focus back to plug-in window. If there’s better way to deal with it, I’d like to hear it, but personally I’m so used to that behavior now that I even don’t care. 

It sometimes happens only first time you open  menu and select a menu item, sometimes every time you select some menu items.

The workaround can be just to use up and down arrow keys on menu, without opening it. That works with most juice menus.

Cheers

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