Hugh Sung's Pianoteq setup tutorial

[JOELJW23]

Brilliantly explained. Exactly the tutorial I was looking for. Thank you very much

[Mathview]

BIG NEWS! ASIO driver (as Hugh said!) from “ASIO for all” made a huge improvement in the Latency problem. I download and installed the ASIO driver. Then opened pianoteq MIDI setup menu and selected the ASIO mode. Running Pianoteq in ASIO mode allowed me to reduce the buffer to 512 or 728 bits. This solved the latency problem AND the sound quality was very nice. The ASIO driver for Vista 32bit works great. My situation with Pianoteq is much better, enjoyable instrument.

[Mathview]

My first attempt to set-up pianoteq was with my old laptop (INTEL T2060 Core-2 Duo 1.6GHz 32bit cpu 2GB ram Vista 32). It worked! I could produce piano tones running pianoteq. But there was a latency problem. Latency is a noticeable delay between key stroke and sound. Very disconcerting. To reduce the latency the buffer size must be reduced. If your drivers and hardware are inadequate, the sound quality decays as you decrease buffer size and sounds "crackle-crackle."

[Mathview]

Downloaded trial verison of pianoteq-play on my old backup laptop. Vista 32bit, INTEL core-2 duo 1.6GHz 2GB ram and some kind of Toshiba onboard sound card. The latency was unacceptable unfortunately. Buffer reduction helps but it goes crackle crackle before reaching good latency. Guess I need a better soundcard and cpu.

[Mathview]

Excellent Tutorial Video! Much appreciated. Thank you for posting. Looks like I have to get my own copy of Pianoteq. BTW I tried to download the demonstration version of Pianoteq 3 from the website, but the download failed after about 19MB. Maybe their server is overloaded? Looks like the Sam Ash stores carry Pianoteq here in the US.

[auggiedoggy]

This is all new to me so bear with me. My questions re going to be pretty basic.

I like the Muse Receptor hookup concept but I'm not 100% clear on what it is is exactly. It seems to me you are replacing one computer with another. What is the main advantage of the Muse receptor? There is no mention of low latency soundcards so is this something built-in to the receptor? Are these receptors expensive? Thanks. The video is very helpful!

[andromeda20]

Hello Hugh Sung, Just a quick question, what program do you use for make this tutorial?, i want to make a video tutorial in this kind of style. Thanks in advance!

[xkuruma]

Hello, i was just watching this set up video..

so what if i have a kawai digital piano, with midi output, on the other hand i have my desktop pc with Pianoteq installed, can I connect them both with a "MIDI USB Interface Cable" and make it work??

Thanks!

[hughsung]

I believe this depends on the Kawai piano itself, and whether or not it has a MIDI USB interface port. My Roland RD-700SX has such a port and it's supposed to work like a regular MIDI interface (though i haven't tried it - i'll see if i can play with that a bit and let you know if it works with Pianoteq)

[ksgant]

Thanks for the set-up advice on your system Hugh. I was wondering though, is USB 2.0 have enough throughput to carry the audio without drop-outs or lag or anything like this? It's just that I see some interfaces that are Firewire. But of course USB 2.0 outnumbers it by quite a bit.

[hughsung]

USB 2.0 is plenty fast, the only speed limitations are really CPU-based (ie, the speed of your computer). Another interesting problem i've been coming across is "dirty electricity" - most of my PC's seem to do a lousy job as audio conduits when plugged into outlets, causing lots of electric hum and buzz that only goes away when you unplug them and run on batteries. My Muse Receptor is the best option for plugged-in clean audio.

[ebolamonk3y]

Hmm... Okay...

Well I have a Razer Barracuda AC-1 (gaming sound card) that just so happens to not have a internal ASIO. I am using the ASIO4ALL and pianoteq lags like crazy.

My interface for midi is just a regular MIDI - USB converter.

The key strike shows up on Pianoteq with no lag but from the time the key is hit until I hear it there is about a (1) second latency.

What is up with that?

Pianoteq forums was not of much help. Only problems listed with no steps for solutions.

[hughsung]

Sorry for the 3 month lag in responding to this! ASIO4ALL is awfully slow - i remember giving it a try and not finding it helpful at all. The ASIO driver that comes with FastTrack Pro is plenty fast for heavy MIDI traffic - i think these dedicated MIDI hardware interfaces are the best route to go, but that's just from my limited experience.

[HellSucker45]

tnx

[ijoan]

I believe a dedicated digital piano using pianoteq would be a great product. This would add the proper action that "midi controllers" never offer, even ones with 88 keys.

[majin2912]

I use a StudioLogic SL990XP which has graded hammer action to play through the Pianoteq pianos and it totally sounds and feels great. This is a fabulous product. I have played on a Kawai 6ft grand and so I'm pretty finicky about sample-based pianos and I love the fact that this VI is modelled not sampled thereby achieving more flexibility of timbre and response. The best money I have spent on a VI since Vienna SE.

[zzzxtreme]

there is GEM which uses somewhat piano modelling. They recently released GEM RPX module. I guess software is more profitable !

[maxmodelos]

What is the best way to connect my RD700sx to my PC with the lowest possible latency? USB (700sx) to PC or MIDI (700sx) to PCI card or Firewire interface? I would also like to be able to hear my KB without having the PC turned on. I can either use my laptop or desktop, both have plenty of power

[Fakkan]

Hi Hugh, thanks for the video.

If you don't mind I'd like to ask you a question. My Kurzweil SP2X has a usb midi input/output usb port and the Roland RD700SX has that same usb port as well. Is it possible to connect the stage piano directly to the laptop without the use of a external midi interface box? If so, are you still able to use the studio monitors that are connected to the stage piano?

Thanks in advance

[hughsung]

Hi Gino - while you can connect the Roland RD700SX directly to your laptop through its built-in USB port, the problem still remains: how to get the laptop's sound ported out to studio monitors or speakers? You still need an audio interface from the laptop to take advantage of unbalanced cables to ensure a clean signal. MIDI signals coming out of the laptop would only trigger the Roland's internal sound library, not the Pianoteq sounds. Thanks so much for the great question!

[Fakkan]

Hey, thanks for the video. I have a question though. My Kurzweil SP2X stage piano has a usb midi input/output. Is it possible to directly link the stage piano with the laptop without the use of a midi interface box? I've downloaded a virtual instrument demo and the sound came out of the laptop speakers instead of the external studio monitors I connected to the stage piano. Is that the reason why a midi interface box is needed?

Thanks in advance

Gino from the Netherlands

[hughsung]

That depends on the type of speakers you're using - i use QSC self-powered loudspeakers, so no separate amp is needed, but essentially you're correct - the Muse Receptor is a MIDI-in/audio out box

[zzzxtreme]

muse only feature audio out right? so it still needs amp to power speakers?