Topic by miguelgoncalves

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Topic: Roland HP605 and Pianoteq

Hi all!

I've recently started learning how to play piano and bought a Roland HP605 to practice at home (my classes are on a Yamaha C3).

I really like the tone of my HP605 but being a engineer I find it much less limiting to use my HP605 as only a keyboard and use Pianoteq to get the sound of, say, a Steinway :-)

So, at the moment, I have my Roland connected to my MacBook running Pianoteq and I am listening to the sound through a set of not so good headphones connected to the computer.

What is the best approach to have a good sound out of my MacBook? A USB sound card with external speakers? Can anyone share their setup so I can get some pointers to where to look up to for my configuration? I am just confused with balanced, unbalanced, TRS, XLR, active/passive speakers...

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Miguel

Reply by Beto-Music

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Re: Roland HP605 and Pianoteq

Well, if your macbook have a decent soundcard with asio driver, It will probably be quite good with pianoteq.

My advice:  Take your mackbook with pianoteq instaled and some MIDI of piano performances you made with pianoteq, go to a music shop, and connect it to some speakers and some headphones, and play the MIDI with pianoteq.  You need to ytry before buy, to be sure what you likes more and what is more Worth for your Money.

Headphones are only worth if it's a very good, professional model. You need to try.
Good speakers are very expansive, so you need to check how much you want to pay, to judge if it's worth.

Last edited by Beto-Music (19-02-2016 19:03)

Reply by SteveLy

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Re: Roland HP605 and Pianoteq

Your HP605 should already have a half decent speaker system built in. And it must have a line input. Try that. If you're not happy with your laptop's soundcard output, Behringer UCA202, UCA222, UFO202 make for inexpensive but very capable and clean external stereo soundcards.

3/2 = 5

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Reply by Celdor

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Re: Roland HP605 and Pianoteq

Hi,

I have bough Roland LX-7 and have exactly the same situation. I bough Pianoteq to have some Steinway sounds. I have PT installed on MacBook Pro (from early 2010) to which I have also connected the DP via USB-B to USB_A. I also use Focusrite Saffire Pro 24DSP as an external audio interface.

I have managed to have clean sound when connect headphones to the interface but i found some problems when connect the interface back to the Roland via Audio In--Roland LX-7 doesn't have Line In. I suffer from I think it's called ground loop noise, some sort of buzz which depends on what I do on the laptop.

You may or may not find the same problems. If you sort everything out and manage to have sound on piano, I would be grateful if you report if you have any problems or not, such as high or low frequency noise, buzz, hum etc. and if you have managed to get rid of it.

Thanks

Reply by SteveLy

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Re: Roland HP605 and Pianoteq

Celdor wrote:

I have managed to have clean sound when connect headphones to the interface but i found some problems when connect the interface back to the Roland via Audio In--Roland LX-7 doesn't have Line In. I suffer from I think it's called ground loop noise, some sort of buzz which depends on what I do on the laptop.

I'd assume the "Audio In" is a Line In just via a small stereo jack instead of the usual RCAs. You could try an external USB sound card (I have no personal experience but I'm getting a Behringer UCA-202/222 on recommendation from an audio engineer friend, inexpensive but very clean sound I'm told). However, that may not necessarily fix your ground loop problem. I'd try better quality cables for starters: for the audio and for the MIDI via USB. You can also transmit audio to the LX-7 via bluetooth (though I'm yet to find a bluetooth audio system that does not have some residual "digital" noise; but if Roland did it properly the sound should be clean).

Last edited by SteveLy (18-02-2016 15:34)
3/2 = 5

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Reply by Celdor

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Re: Roland HP605 and Pianoteq

SteveLy wrote:
Celdor wrote:

I have managed to have clean sound when connect headphones to the interface but i found some problems when connect the interface back to the Roland via Audio In--Roland LX-7 doesn't have Line In. I suffer from I think it's called ground loop noise, some sort of buzz which depends on what I do on the laptop.

I'd assume the "Audio In" is a Line In just via a small stereo jack instead of the usual RCAs. You could try an external USB sound card (I have no personal experience but I'm getting a Behringer UCA-202/222 on recommendation from an audio engineer friend, inexpensive but very clean sound I'm told). However, that may not necessarily fix your ground loop problem. I'd try better quality cables for starters: for the audio and for the MIDI via USB. You can also transmit audio to the LX-7 via bluetooth (though I'm yet to find a bluetooth audio system that does not have some residual "digital" noise; but if Roland did it properly the sound should be clean).

I have confirmed that when I disconnect power mains from laptop, the noise disappears. I have tested two power supplies for this laptop with and without mains earth. As to Blutooth, I am afraid I cannot carry audio signal from the interface to DP via Bluetooth--it would probably sort out everything, though!
Thanks SteveLy

Last edited by Celdor (19-02-2016 02:41)