Topic by Pin

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Topic: Little bit of advice needed

Hi everyone,

I've been playing piano for few month and recently got hooked by pianoteq, I'm still using the tryout but will buy full version today!

I needed some advices regarding my setup, I'm a complete beginner. As of today I'm using :

Keyboard : Kawai KDP90 (Midi port only so i'm using roland UM-ONE mk2 to plug it to the usb 3.0 of my computer)
OS : Ubuntu (can switch to windows if needed)
PC (laptop) : I5 with integrated soundcard  (~5ms to ~10ms)

Sound and latency are decent, but I think I could boost a little bit the quality of the sound by buying an external sound card. I've been digging some affordable sound card and the Focusrite scarlet seems to be great (2i2 or 2i4). 

The questions are :
Will the sound improvement will be really noticable ?
Will the latency will be enhanced or roughly the same?
Should I buy a sound card with midi port only (2i4) or an USB+midi to usb would be equivalent in term of performance (2i2+roland UM one mk2) ?
Is there any other equivalent soundcard that could be better in term of price or quality?

Thank you in advance for your help and your Expertise!
Pin

Reply by herrb

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  • Registered: 15-09-2016
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Re: Little bit of advice needed

Hi Pin,

If your latency is not adequate, try Ubuntu Studio. It is geared to the audio use case and might improve on what you see now. But is your latency a problem at all?

Regarding your sound card: what do you play the sound through? Speakers? Headphones? Are those decent?

A friend has a Focusrite and a pair of Adam near field monitors. He loves his setup, but does not play piano through it.

I am a starter myself and currently use a borrowed FATAR master keyboard (many many years old), connected to a Dell laptop with a cheapo MIDI-to-USB adapter. Ubuntu Studio. Also tried standard Ubuntu. No latency issues that I would notice on either of them (I think I set buffers to something that amounts to about 10 ms latency in Pianoteq). I use good quality Beyer Dynamics 990 headphones and can for now live fine with the Dell's headphone out.

My main problem is velocity settings for the keyboard: my attempts at playing pianissimo often yield silence...

Cheers,
Joerg

Reply by Pin

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Re: Little bit of advice needed

Hey Joerg,

Thanks for your insight, The latency is not an issue atm, almost unnoticable. The aim is basically to keep it that way (or better)!
I use mostly an headset for the moment but why not using external speakers to share my skill at some point ( skill that i have yet to acquire).

The quality of the sound is currently acceptable, even if I consider it a bit too low on the volume side. I like to play loud in the headset to get a better control on my velocity (I want it to be unpleasant when played forte and fortissimo when I shouldn't)

I'm just trying to enhance the quality of the audio as much as i can without losing on latency. Regarding my velocity, it's fine if I use one of the four preset proposed in Pianoteq. I guess your problem come from the age of the keyboard (a lack of level of velocity maybe).

I'm currently renting a the piano myself, but planning to get a kawai vpc1 in the following month!

Cheers,
Gerard

Reply by sjgcit

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Re: Little bit of advice needed

I use Linux Mint 18 and 17 ( both essentially Ubuntu at core ) with Pianoteq and just the built-in sound system and it's fine.  No latencies I notice, no issues with performance.  Like you I'm a beginner playing.

I think what you're doing at the moment is looking for a problem to fix, and trying to fix the problem with hardware.  This is very common with new users of any device or software.

What you probably need to do is focus on being happy with what you have until you actually come across a real problem.  This is about mindset, not equipment.

I use standard distributions and feel no need to go to RT kernels ( which is one way to deal with some latency issues ).  Most people should not need these and they're really for people managing more complex sound engineering setups ( like studios or audio workstations with multiple MIDI devices ).

I think if you intend to use speakers then you ideally want a 5.1 output sound card with a speaker setup to match.  However if you're using headphones then 5.1 makes no practical difference and built-in is probably all you need.  In practical terms I suspect even with two speakers most people could find a setup that works fine.

Decent ( but not necessarily expensive ) headphone or speakers are a good idea, whichever you prefer.  And sound is a very personal thing.  Some people never seem happy unless their headphones are a grand each, but most people seem fine with a lot less.  I got a freebie headphone set from Thomann.de with a keyboard and, honestly, of all the headphone I've used it's fine.  Sennheiser HD 202's are well regarded and cheap as chips as well.  Speakers I'm no expert on, but I've heard that M-Audio do a nice set that's reasonably prices ( and I've seen mentioned on the forum ).

But I'd really suggest you give it some time and delve a bit more deeply into how it's all connected together before you go crazy with your wallet.  You'll be surprised, I think, by how a proper understanding of reverb and the sound recording models work in different presets will improve what you can get to your ear.

StephenG

Reply by herrb

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Re: Little bit of advice needed

Hi Gerard,

Pin wrote:

The quality of the sound is currently acceptable, even if I consider it a bit too low on the volume side. I like to play loud in the headset to get a better control on my velocity (I want it to be unpleasant when played forte and fortissimo when I shouldn't)

I did not realise that your sound output lacks volume. My personal opinion: go sort it out and get a better headphone amp or USB audio out.

Not being able to get the volume right can be annoying. I find it makes a difference to practice on a setup where the velocity you are playing at can be reproduced to a realistic volume by the speakers/headphone. I noticed this when first playing on an old old old Yamaha Clavinova at home and then going to the teacher's Steinway grand piano. Following that, I turned up the volume on the Yamaha at home. That was better. Obviously, this volume adjustment did not transform that Clavinova 153s to a Steinway grand. Nor did it make me a better player. Bummer, it could all have been so easy.

If you need a MIDI-to-USB interface also, then get something like the 2i2. But do you actually? You say there is a VPC1 on the way and that one comes with MIDI over USB. So you strictly speaking don't need a MIDI-to-USB interface and could in principle also get a simpler USB-DAC-headphone-amp. However, I don't know how much you can save comparing those two options.

Cheers,
Joerg

Last edited by herrb (26-10-2016 08:59)