Super Solution for Gigging (and I have tried very many)

I have been using my Arturia KeyLab88 MKII to drive Pianoteq for three years doing gigs. It is 32 pounds and is powered by my laptop, a M1 MacBook Air. I directly send the audio out into 2 Bose S1 Powered Speakers.  This combination permits me to do entire gigs with no AC power needed.

This really does sound like a great solution for gigging without power supply. Thanks for sharing.

larrycalame wrote:

My Roland FP-90X has a built in USB audio interface, so with just a singe USB cable I connect it to my Microsoft Surface tablet running PTQ standalone. The Roland also has built-in speakers of the Roland which are great in a small venue, but can also be enhanced with mono or stereo line outs to external amp/speakers if desired. It also has a built in 3 stage EQ and two midi sliders that I can map to any desired PTQ parameter, and features a large array of "registrations" (user presets) that can each send program change to PTQ for selecting various pianos, e-pianos, vibes, and layers. It also has great piano-like key action. The only negative is that it weighs about 50 lbs.

Thanks Larry.  Yeah, 50 lbs is pretty much a deal breaker for me. That said, I tried another Roland, the RD-88, that was supposed to do this.  Even after I downloaded the drivers, neither I nor the store's employee could get it to work.  I'd like to know what, if anything, we did wrong.  Frustrating!

I use an RD-88. Works fine with MainStage and PTQ on my MacBook Air. MIDI over USB to the Mac. Audio over USB back to the Roland, combining with the Roland's internal sounds as required. Audio output from the Rolands ¼ inch jacks. There is one setting that has to be changed from "Generic" to "Vendor" to get this to work.

I have been using my Arturia KeyLab88 MKII to drive Pianoteq for three years doing gigs. It is 32 pounds and is powered by my laptop, a M1 MacBook Air. I directly send the audio out into 2 Bose S1 Powered Speakers.  This combination permits me to do entire gigs with no AC power needed.

It is a very rapid setup, just a foot pedal, USB-C cable, and stereo audio out into Bose.
There is no need to search for power or run extension cords and a five-minute setup.
When I need more inputs and outputs, the M1 Air can also power my MOTU M4 USB interface.
This is still entirely battery-powered!

I have played indoors and outdoors at wineries, weddings, art shows, farmers markets, restaurants churches and jazz clubs over 100 times using this setup and I can not tell you how much time, effort and heartache not needing external power has saved me.

The 32-pound Arturia is a much better master controller than the Yamaha P121 / 125 family, which I still own as backup, and used for years all of the way back to the P105 and before that the PC88.

These new Yamahas are 26 pounds, with much of that weight being powered speakers, and of course, you need a power source.  All of the weight in the Arturia is in the vastly superior action. Using the built-in speakers on the Yamaha is inadequate for a gig in terms of both volume and bass.

The small Bose S1s are loud, battery powered, and have lots of bass -internal reverb and easily work for outdoor gigs with hundreds of people. And  I have been told to turn it down on occasion when I get carried away.

After gigging for many years, being able to set up and play in five minutes is a godsend. Also, only requires a single trip from the car, one speaker in a backpack, the other in one hand, and the keyboard in the other. Or if the distance is too great, I put the two speakers in a small wheeling case.

One last thing: I love being a split keyboard duo, and I use Spectrasonics Trilian Bass Module Virtual Instrument to supply a super high-quality bass sound, but I wish PIanoteq had a really good physical model of an upright string bass; then I would not need to fire up Logic or MainStage.

I have an excellent large Mason Hamlin baby grand in my living room, yet find myself playing and recording using Pianoteq more because it not only sounds really terrific but it has a headphone jack and volume control and is so much less hassle to record especially using the Pianoteq built-in recorder.

There are very few options for 73 hammer-action keys (and I think Yamaha discontinued this model without any 73 key replacement). 88 is too big to fit in the trunk (sometimes too big to fit on a tight stage with the rest of the band).  The StudioLogic Numa X 73 is supposed to have a terrific key action, but it costs 2x the P-121.

The StudioLogic SL73 is about the same price as Yamaha P121.
Maybe the same action as the Numa 73??

sigasa wrote:

The Yamaha P525 has just hit the retail market. I had a P515WH which had two way USB audio via an internal audio interface. I'm not sure if the new P525 retains the internal audio interface though. I'll check.

I use the Yamaha P-121, a 73 Key Stage-Piano with a built in Audio-Interface and built in speakers. I connect it via a single usb-b to usb-c cable to my iPad Pro which runs Pianoteq, either standalone or within either AUM or Camelot pro (if I need additional synth sounds or backing tracks). That is a very portable setup.

For very small solo gigs (10-15 persons) I use just the built in speakers. They don't sound great but they do the job. If the audience get's bigger I add an external stereo keyboard amp, but still use the built in speakers as well. I put the keyboard amp on a high stand and direct it at the audience while using the built in speakers as monitors for myself. Very handy. The keys are weighted, and even though they aren't as good as on my Kawai VPC-1 (on which I practice at home), they're absolutely sufficient for gigging.

The P-121 also has a bigger brother called the p-125 which has 88 keys. However, in its newest version they ditched the Audio-Interface. You would have to get the P-225, P-223, P-145 or P-143 (all 88 keys) to have an Audio-Interface. All of these keyboards have built in speakers and are very lightweight (around 11 to 11,5 kg).

It is great that the P-121 has a setting to keep the internal speakers active when connecting via the Aux-out. I have a keyboard that omits this option. There are very few options for 73 hammer-action keys (and I think Yamaha discontinued this model without any 73 key replacement). 88 is too big to fit in the trunk (sometimes too big to fit on a tight stage with the rest of the band).  The StudioLogic Numa X 73 is supposed to have a terrific key action, but it costs 2x the P-121.

The Yamaha P525 has just hit the retail market. I had a P515WH which had two way USB audio via an internal audio interface. I'm not sure if the new P525 retains the internal audio interface though. I'll check.

I use the Yamaha P-121, a 73 Key Stage-Piano with a built in Audio-Interface and built in speakers. I connect it via a single usb-b to usb-c cable to my iPad Pro which runs Pianoteq, either standalone or within either AUM or Camelot pro (if I need additional synth sounds or backing tracks). That is a very portable setup.

For very small solo gigs (10-15 persons) I use just the built in speakers. They don't sound great but they do the job. If the audience get's bigger I add an external stereo keyboard amp, but still use the built in speakers as well. I put the keyboard amp on a high stand and direct it at the audience while using the built in speakers as monitors for myself. Very handy. The keys are weighted, and even though they aren't as good as on my Kawai VPC-1 (on which I practice at home), they're absolutely sufficient for gigging.

The P-121 also has a bigger brother called the p-125 which has 88 keys. However, in its newest version they ditched the Audio-Interface. You would have to get the P-225, P-223, P-145 or P-143 (all 88 keys) to have an Audio-Interface. All of these keyboards have built in speakers and are very lightweight (around 11 to 11,5 kg).

Jocar37 mentions the Numa piano, I’m responding in part because I use a Numa Stage piano as a controller for Pianoteq 8 on gigs. I went in that direction as soon as I turned on the Numa - I hated it’s piano sounds. I believe the Numa has the same keyboard as the StudioLogic 880(? I think that’s the model). The keyboard is solid and in an aluminum housing. The 25lb weight with a built in power supply were the key features for me.
It controls P'teq 8 which runs in stand-alone mode on a 2012 MacBook Pro i5 dual core 2.5. I also run bass and drum tracks on Logic X. Both applications run simultaneously with no problem. Drums are what’s in Logic and I’m using the AudioModeling SWAM bass. While the system does handle the load, I freeze the bass part to give me more cpu headroom.
That goes into a small stereo pa directly from the laptop's audio output.
Here's what the virtual trio sounds like: https://www.reverbnation.com/robertsteinberg

Nice jazz tracks, Robert!

Studiologic SL88 Grand

Pianoteq 8 on Raspberry Pi 4   (with a WiFi AP running, to use the remote app from robert-rc2i)

MACKIE Onyx Artist 1•2

Regards,
Martin

The keybed has been upgraded to a wooden (white) key GrandTouch S.

I'll post some links shortly,

Warmest regards,

Chris

EDIT:

From what I can glean from the official site, it appears that Yamaha has chosen not to include a built in audio interface.

Luc Henrion wrote:

There are two different things here: MIDI via USB is very common, almost all new pianos, and even older ones allow it. Audio over USB is a different story. Do you want to hear the sound of Pianoteq (and other plug-ins) through your piano's line outputs and/or speakers? Then this is the feature you need to check out. Example of the first: my old faithful Casio PX350 (bought in 2012 I think...), example of the second (but without speakers): my Yamaha MX88. Depending on the type of concert, I use one or the other.
NB: for MIDI only, any $10 MIDI to USB converter will also do the trick, if your piano does not have a USB port.

I'm not sure I understand.  Are you sayhing the Casio does MIDI only, but the Yamaha does audio USB?  That's interesting, because Casio had previously been identified to me as a brand that supports audio USB.

It depends on the model. As I wrote, my PX350 is already old, audio via USB had not yet been implemented. You need to check for each model.

larrycalame wrote:

My Roland FP-90X has a built in USB audio interface, so with just a singe USB cable I connect it to my Microsoft Surface tablet running PTQ standalone. The Roland also has built-in speakers of the Roland which are great in a small venue, but can also be enhanced with mono or stereo line outs to external amp/speakers if desired. It also has a built in 3 stage EQ and two midi sliders that I can map to any desired PTQ parameter, and features a large array of "registrations" (user presets) that can each send program change to PTQ for selecting various pianos, e-pianos, vibes, and layers. It also has great piano-like key action. The only negative is that it weighs about 50 lbs.

Thanks Larry.  Yeah, 50 lbs is pretty much a deal breaker for me. That said, I tried another Roland, the RD-88, that was supposed to do this.  Even after I downloaded the drivers, neither I nor the store's employee could get it to work.  I'd like to know what, if anything, we did wrong.  Frustrating!

The FP90X did not require any drivers - just worked out of the box, as it was a recognized audio device on my Microsoft Surface (Windows 10).   Perhaps the lighter weight FP30X, which uses the same audio interface as its big brother, would work for you