You have to start over each time you boot it. Unfortunately, one of the other limitations of the demo is apparently there is no place to save your piano. I'm using Ivory as my model, and doing everything I can to program PianoTeq to sound like it. I'd give anything to have such control over Ivory. I was especially impressed with all the settings. By then, I'm sure we'll be able to kiss the heavy bloat of Ivory goodbye. Think of what this is going to be like in 5 years. There's just no comparison from a horsepower standpoint. In the end, there is no question in my mind that Ivory is the superior instrument by a lenghty margin, especially for solo work, but I am thoroughly blown away by PianoTeq. From PianoTeq to Ivory, and back and forth, again and again. I played piano all evening, and all night. It is unfortunate that the dollar is so weak right now, but at least it is priced in euros and not in Sterling! has anyone been watching currency rates lately to have a measure of whether the conversion between euros and Dollars is fairly stable, going up, or going down?
I think it is clear that this program will be with us for a VERY long time, and that it will generate its own support base even if computer platforms come and go, or if the company doesn't last forever. No need to replacing a sample set later on. The advantage of pure 100% physical modeling is that you can model any piano you want, using the same program and base data. The closest I have ever come to this is with General Music's DRAKE technology, which combines sampling with physical modeling. With Pianoteq 2, I really feel that I am at a grand piano. Aside from its upper register problems (which presumably can be partially corrected if loaded into Kontakt 2 and then edited), the notes sound disconnected from each other no matter how much I tweak the MIDI to try to improve the articulation. Akoustik Piano using a variety of settings and styles, and Akoustik sounded like a toy in comparison. I compared a tracking session of Pianoteq 2 vs. Quite simply, this is the most musical and expressive digital piano yet, and has no major flaws that cannot be corrected through programming/tweaking. Very frustrating, as I have tracking sessions these next two weeks and can't use the demo for that due to the missing notes! I would buy it right away if I could, but I am in cash-only mode for two weeks until all my replacement bank cards and credit cards arrive.
I was so blown away by the Pianoteq 2 demo last night that I never found time to post my review here.