18
votes
Accepted
Is the number of keys on a controller keyboard important in music production?
An instrument is a set of easy-to-do vs. hard-to-do factors. The instruments and tools you use for composing and arranging - just like your personal skills as well - are bound to affect the actual ...
11
votes
Accepted
Recording with midi/synth vs actual instrument?
[are there] any guidelines as far as recording a mechanical instrument versus using a midi controller or synth?
No, only pros and cons. It all depends on what you want the finished product to sound ...
- 2,420
9
votes
Recording with midi/synth vs actual instrument?
The real instrument will sound more real, but as you note, there are many challenges to recording acoustic instruments or anything with a microphone that are completely bypassed when using a virtual ...
- 56.1k
8
votes
Cheap way to make sound from a MIDI keyboard, without PC
If you're willing to do it DIY, single board computers like a Raspberry Pi have enough processing oomph to act as (simple) synthesizers. They come with a USB and sound ports, it's just a matter of ...
- 17.8k
8
votes
Cheap way to make sound from a MIDI keyboard, without PC
Firstly, does your USB keyboard have MIDI out (DIN) sockets as well...
...or is it USB only?
If it is USB only, then it is possible to get a hardware converter (from USB to traditional 'DIN' MIDI) ...
- 45.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Cheap way to make sound from a MIDI keyboard, without PC
If you want to go really cheap, I found this little sound module on Amazon that costs only £50. Haven't tried it, but it should get the job done. Accepts both USB and MIDI as an input and in the ...
- 186
7
votes
Pedalled sounds disappear if many are played
You're probably running out of voices of polyphony. You haven't clarified what virtual instrument or synthesizer is the sound source, but most of them have some sort of voice limit, ranging from 1 to ...
- 56.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Does using a portable keyboard with slim or mini keys mess with muscle memory, as a pianist?
can you switch easily between normal and mini key sizes like it was
two different instruments, or do you feel that your playing on a real
piano is badly impacted with the bad habits you constructed ...
6
votes
Yamaha P45 Digital Piano - Can it be made MIDI compatible?
Yes
You have to download the USB MIDI drivers and then you can connect the P-45 to a computer to control software synthesizers and/or record and play back MIDI data. If you want to control other ...
- 56.1k
6
votes
Do Virtual Synth Softwares need any physical buttons? Do I need to have any extra buttons on my MIDI keyboard?
TL;DR Extra knobs and buttons are not absolutely necessary, but then again a MIDI keyboard is not absolutely necessary either, because you can just use a mouse. But since you're buying a MIDI keyboard,...
6
votes
Accepted
Pedalled sounds disappear if many are played
Hardware instruments (e.g. digital pianos) have a limit on the number of simultaneous notes that they can produce - this part of their spec is called "polyphony". As Todd explained, once you exceed ...
- 45.9k
6
votes
Accepted
At what rate does the volume (velocity) of a note decay?
You needn't calculate or estimate or do fancy math. Others have measured piano string decay rates, and they're messy:
Measurements have been made on a high‐quality spinet piano to determine the ...
- 5,850
6
votes
Is the number of keys on a controller keyboard important in music production?
Regardless of the genre of music you’re interested in or your proficiency level on keyboard the difference between the two is 163mm or less than 7” in length. I’m pretty sure you will at some point ...
- 25k
6
votes
Is the number of keys on a controller keyboard important in music production?
As an erstwhile pianist, you will probably regret not having a full size keyboard for when you decide to be a pianist again. Trouble is, there aren't that many controllers that have weighted keys, ...
- 190k
5
votes
Accepted
Is a 32-key midi controller enough to aide in learning music theory?
One way to think about it is:
a single staff spans about an octave and a fifth, i.e. about 20 notes, so if your exercises/experiments fit within a single staff (treble or bass) 32 keys should be ...
- 17.8k
5
votes
Midi keyboard problem: some notes trigger two different notes
The solution to this problem is to send your Midi keyboard back and buy a new one. It is faulty. The common denominator here is your keyboard's hardware. Not the settings, not the DAW. The keyboard.
- 347
5
votes
Accepted
Tuning a keyboard
I can't speak to the logistics of connecting your particular keyboard. But one piece of software that is useful for this (and has been around forever) is Scala. Depending on the abilities of your ...
- 12.4k
5
votes
aux line in as midi controller
There IS software that claims to generate MIDI from audio input. 'Imperfect' would be too kind :-) Use a keyboard that DOES have a MIDI output. Life's too short to do it the hard way.
- 90.4k
5
votes
Accepted
What do shorter-than-thirty-two-note MIDI pedalboards bar you from playing?
One octave keyboards make smooth voice leading impossible. Sure, you can play any chord, but if you want to go from F to Dm, you can't just move the high C up to a D because you don't have that key. ...
- 176
4
votes
Live Midi Controller Setup
MainStage is the standard, especially in musical theater pits. Another option, if you don't have a MacBook, is Ableton Live, though it's expensive and I think it's hard to use.
I personally prefer ...
- 22.3k
4
votes
What does mod wheel on MIDI keyboard do?
It does whatever the patch is designed to interpret it as. For '80s style synths, it's usually controlling the frequency or amplitude of the LFO, or perhaps the distortion amount. For an organ patch ...
- 22.3k
4
votes
Accepted
It's possible to connect a usb midi controller into a midi synthesizer?
I run a Akai EWI-USB into a Yamaha vlm-70 sound module using a raspberry pi and a usb-to-midi converter cable. The linux aconnect utility connects the usb midi input from the EWI-USB to the usb side ...
4
votes
It's possible to connect a usb midi controller into a midi synthesizer?
Yes there is, it's called a computer :-)
Like you said, you have an USB MIDI controller. This type of device is designed to be connected to a USB host, i.e. (in general) a computer and used with a ...
- 4,224
4
votes
Accepted
MIDI keyboard action for harpsichord practice
Harpsichords pluck the string with a (now) plastic plectrum, as opposed to hitting the string with a hammer. The physical nature of feeling the space between pressing the key down and hitting the ...
- 838
4
votes
Are there keyboards that you can import sounds into for each key?
It's called Sampling.
I think the very first was the Akai, or possibly the Bel BD80, but they had no keyboard.
The Emulator was the first widely available keyboard sampler.
They cost about 5 grand ...
- 27.6k
4
votes
Accepted
Can I play other digital sounds (e.g. flute, trumpet) off a digital piano? How?
The answer is no. The reason is that the two keyboards you have mentioned (Casio AP10 or Casio Privia 110) have no audio in. They can still be useful of course.
First you need to get a midi interface ...
- 2,052
4
votes
Recording with midi/synth vs actual instrument?
For most instruments (apart from piano), if you have access to the real instrument and a real player, and cost isn't a factor, and realism is seen as a plus point, then you'd probably go for the real ...
- 45.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Is there a difference between non-weighted and semi-weighted MIDI keyboards?
They are different.
Non-weighted keyboards are based on springs, so the feel is very different from the keys of a piano. Weighted keyboards have counterweights or resistance on the spring to mimic ...
- 16.2k
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