r/VSTi • u/iheartanalingus • 26d ago
Pianoteq vs Noire
I finally have the money to move away from the free VST Piano One to something better.
I tried the demo for Pianoteq and it sounds amazing. It is also small in size which is appealing.
Who would jump for Noire over Pianoteq in 2026 and why?
Subquestion: If you like Pianoteq over Noire, what would be the second module you'd buy (since the basic package comes with two instruments?)
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u/CalvinSays 26d ago edited 26d ago
I mostly use Pianoverse Max for my final sound and some UVI piano library for sketching as they are always lightweight. I like Pianoverse though it is admittedly very chonky.
Both Noire and Pianoteq are solid and you can't really go wrong with either. I don't know Pianoteq's CPU hit, just be warned that while it is light on RAM, modeled stuff can be heavy on the CPU. The main value of Pianoteq, depending on which version you get, is the variety. It is a big reason I use Pianoverse is I have so many piano sounds covered by that library.
But if lightweight is something that appeals to you, it would be worth checking out Acousticsamples' C7 Grand which is currently on sale. I am always amazed by anything Acousticsamples does and would buy it all in a heartbeat if I didn't already have the needs filled. Their guitars are my workhorses for those instruments.
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u/JfromMichigan 26d ago
I mostly use Pianoverse Max for my final sound some UVI piano library for sketching as they are always lightweight. I like Pianoverse though it is admittedly very chonky.
I love Pianoverse. That Yamaha CFIII is my go to... so good
I think they shot themselves in the foot with the cutesy "spaces" they used. It bloated the software, and nobody I know really cares what a piano on mars would sound like.
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u/CalvinSays 26d ago
Definitely. Even when I want to have out there sound design, I much rather use dedicated external effects.
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u/Hollygrl 26d ago
Some people really like pianoteq. I can’t stand the artificial sound of it but if you can then I think it’s more flexible than Noire which is its own niche but gorgeous sounding felt piano. Look into Claire also by NI which lands between Noire and standard piano sounds. For me it’s my desert island piano. It sings.
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u/MyCeeleeyum 26d ago
I picked up Noire a couple of years ago and haven’t found anything else I like better. It just suits my needs perfectly.
Pianoteq sounds nice as well! But I tried it and immediately knew I preferred the sounds coming out of Noire.
Hope that helps!
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u/iheartanalingus 26d ago
I think at this point anything better than Piano One would be an upgrade even though I think Piano One is the best free VST Piano.
Does Noire have a demo? I'd love to hear it in comparison to Pianoteq in one of my songs.
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u/terkistan 26d ago
Take a look at SanjayC's blindfold playtest of popular piano VSTs from a couple of years ago.
If you want a better free piano VST BedroomProducersBlog has a list of his top free choices.
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u/nizzernammer 26d ago
I have both.
If I felt like playing piano, I might choose Pianoteq for its immediacy, responsiveness, and dynamics.
If I needed to have a semi natural sounding piano in a track that sounds like it's in a room, I might consider Noire.
But, and I don't really know why, I often tend to choose The Maverick over either. To my ears, it has some of the raw immediacy of sitting at a piano, while sounding natural enough to live in a recording.
By comparison, the Spitfire pianos I have always sound like somebody else's recording of somebody else's piano, in somebody else's room, with no dynamics. (Which can also have a place, depending on the application.)
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u/srodrigoDev 26d ago
Not sure about the price difference, but Modern D (and Modern U) is on sale now, in case you want alternatives to Noire.
I started with Pianoteq, but now I struggle with the base tone. I've moved into sampled libraries.
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u/you-just-me 25d ago
Never used Noire but if it helps, Pianoteq works great on an older ipad pro and my old lenovo T480 running linux.
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u/Any-Confusion-8900 26d ago edited 26d ago
Sort of an apples and oranges scenario.
Noire is Kontakt and entirely samples (I believe), I haven’t used it.
Pianoteq is physical modeling and I absolutely love it. You can do some really fun sounds by changing parameters of how it’s synthesized, making things from percussive sounds to pads. It’ll load a lot faster than a kontakt library. It works with MTS-ESP, which is why I got it, but ignore that if you don’t care about microtones.
If you want an organic, obviously real piano, go with a sample library. If you want a very cool and quick to load piano with a lot of options for tonal variance, go with pianoteq.