Topic by luckysani

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Topic: Pianoteq 8 playing my digital piano's inbuilt sounds

Hello, sorry if this question has been answered before, if it has, can you please just point me to the right post or web page with instructions, and we can delete this topic.

I am new to pianoteq, I have just purchased it (ver. 8). I connected my Yamaha P-45 to my Macbook Air M1, via the so called printer cable, and the Pianoteq sees my digital piano as the input device, the output is set to my laptop speaker or headphones, but when i press the keys on my Yamaha, i hear the inbuilt Yamaha P-45 piano sounds on my laptop. When I press any  key in the pianoteq app's keyboard on screeen with my mouse, the right sounds play on my laptop.

I want to press keys on Yamaha and get the Pianoteq instruments to play on the laptop speakers, and not the inbuilt yamaha sounds.

Can you help?

Reply by Ferdi

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Re: Pianoteq 8 playing my digital piano's inbuilt sounds

Hi 1luckysani,

looks like you wired and set up things correctly already.

Try to just turn down the volume level on your Yamaha and you should hear the sound of Pianoteq from you laptop speakers.

There's possibly also the option to turn off the Yamaha to not trigger it's in-build sound generation at all (e.g. a setting called "local off" or similar) but unless you can work around it by just turning down the Yamaha's volume, there is no need to go that way.

Anyway, IMHO you will not benefit from Pianoteq's superior sound engine when amplifying it via the MacBooks build-in speakers.
They are very good speakers for their kind of device and suffice for voice audio, video chats and casual enjoying of music listening, but for listening to and playing high quality audio, which Pianoteq is, they while heavily limit your audio experience.

I highly recommend to use good headphones. Connected to your MacBooks headphone jack, they will be good enough in terms of latency and audio quality for non-stage usage.

In case you prefer or rely on a non-head-phone solution, you'd need to purchase an audio interface and decent speakers.
That is connected via USB to your MacBook an you than select it as an output in Pianoteq (or any other audio software) and can connect decent speakers to it (most come with headphone outputs as well).

Last edited by Ferdi (27-11-2023 22:25)

Reply by Luc Henrion

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Re: Pianoteq 8 playing my digital piano's inbuilt sounds

Yes MIDI "local off" is the way to go on your P45, it disables the internal sound generator.

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Reply by luckysani

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Re: Pianoteq 8 playing my digital piano's inbuilt sounds

Hello and thank you for your kind replies ☺️

Yes! Both your comments were correct, but since I cannot turn the local control off on my digital piano (that option is unfortunately not available for P-45), I turned the volume on my piano all the way down, and it works!!

I can finally hear the beautiful pianoteq sounds through my laptop speakers or the headphones that are connected to my laptop. What remains is purchasing some nice and more powerful speakers to connect to the laptop and I'm set to go

Last edited by luckysani (28-11-2023 18:04)

Reply by luckysani

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Re: Pianoteq 8 playing my digital piano's inbuilt sounds

My last reply was cut off for some reason, so I continue below:

Do you by any chance recommend any speaker / amplifier, I heard of Roland KC-80, but don't know if it's too much, and do I need something called a sound card?

Thank you again

Reply by Luc Henrion

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Re: Pianoteq 8 playing my digital piano's inbuilt sounds

"since I cannot turn the local control off on my digital piano (that option is unfortunately not available for P-45)"

I can't believe it (it's such a basic feature for decades...) but I checked the manual and you're right! Shame on you Yamaha...

About amplification: a "keyboard" amp is designed for the stage, to give a maximum of power, but sometimes sacrificing quality: output or fidelity, you always have to choose...

Last edited by Luc Henrion (28-11-2023 20:41)

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Reply by dv

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Re: Pianoteq 8 playing my digital piano's inbuilt sounds

luckysani wrote:

My last reply was cut off for some reason, so I continue below:

Do you by any chance recommend any speaker / amplifier, I heard of Roland KC-80, but don't know if it's too much, and do I need something called a sound card?

Thank you again

You don't say where you are or what your budget is. Since you have a pretty inexpensive basic keyboard, I assume your budget is very low, and since you don't say I assume you are in the USA.

If this is correct, I recommend purchasing from craigslist. There are real gems out there, sinto-ampli and speakers, which you can have for spare change. Bring your laptop with a few MIDI files (yours or otherwise), the appropriate cable and test them.

Where do I find a list of all posts I upvoted? :(

Reply by luckysani

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Re: Pianoteq 8 playing my digital piano's inbuilt sounds

Hello people, thank you for your help and kind suggestions.

I have decided to upgrade my digital piano to kawai es920, because I love kawai sound (not a fan of yamaha), and I think I can have the best of both worlds with kawai and pianoteq. I can play kawai original sounds when I feel like it, and then I can have better options when playing it with pianoteq than I have with my current instrument.

Once I get kawai, I will see how everything goes and if I need anything else, like a separate sound system, speakers etc., then I will look into purchasing those.

I live in Europe and I have a good budget now (unlike years ago when I purchased Yamaha P-45).

Thank you all ance again, and cheers to all