Topic by danito

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  • danito
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Topic: Pianoteq-Clavinova setup help appreciated from a newbie

General question:
Does the sound generated by hitting the keys on the pianoteq onscreen keyboard differ from the sound generated from hitting the same keys on your digital piano?

I use a pair of headphones on my macbook where a trial version of pianoteq (v3.5) is installed. When I press a few keys on the pianoteq's onscreen keyboard, the sound I hear is clear and piano-like. However, I when play the same few keys on my digital piano - the sound coming out of the headphones is muddled and entirely different to the sounds generated using the onscreen keyboard.

Is this normal?

I'm an utter newbie and would greatly appreciate any help from users who have experience in setting up a Yamaha clavinova with Pianoteq  installed on a macbook pro. My current configurations are:

- CVP-301. USB cable connected to the [USB TO HOST] jack

- Pianoteq (trial) installed on MacBook Pro. USB cable connected to usb port. Headphone connected to headphone jack.

The midi aspects of the above works. When I hit the keys on the digital piano, I hear the sound coming out of the headphones. It's just that the sound just doesn't sound right.

I've watched the setting up videos from Mr. Hugh Sung and I notice he uses an USB audio interface box between the computer and the digital piano.

Will this resolve my problems?

Reply by jgarnao

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Re: Pianoteq-Clavinova setup help appreciated from a newbie

Assuming that you have set up the MIDI to work correctly, there should be no difference in the sound when striking the keys at the SAME velocity levels.

My hunch is that you are clicking the keys on the Pianoteq GUI at a place farthest from the "fallboard", which gives a hot velocity, therefore a bright sound.  Then, when you strike the key on the Clavinova, it spits out a lower velocity, hence the more muffled sound.  I know this because I have a Clavinova which you have to pound with a jackhammer to get a velocity above 110.

To check and compare velocity levels, on the Pianoteq GUI, go to the Velocity screen.

Reply by m.tarenskeen

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Re: Pianoteq-Clavinova setup help appreciated from a newbie

danito wrote:

General question:
Does the sound generated by hitting the keys on the pianoteq onscreen keyboard differ from the sound generated from hitting the same keys on your digital piano?

Is this normal?

Try clicking on on a key on the onscreen keyboard on several locations. It has a way to simulate touch sensitivity: Clicking on a white key somewhere between the black keys or higher will give a low velocity, clicking at the edge of the white keys will give high velocity. Pianoteq, unlike sample players with only a few velocity layers - has a very advanced velocity sensitivity which both affects timbre and volume.

Also try playing with the velocity curve that can be edited very easily in Pianoteq. You might want to pull the curve a little bit up for lower velocity values until you have the touch, feel, and sound you are used to from a hardware digital piano or real acoustic piano that matches your masterkeyboard.

Before investing in expensive hardware, first experiment with the velocity curve in Pianoteq. You willbe amazed!

Last edited by m.tarenskeen (09-02-2010 10:20)

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Reply by danito

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Re: Pianoteq-Clavinova setup help appreciated from a newbie

Many thanks for the advice offered to my queries. After posting my question here, I contacted Yamaha for a possible solution (and to ask if I need additional hardware).

Yamaha suggested that I perform a reset on the digital piano (by pressing and holding on to the last key of the piano and switch on the unit). The support staff also gave me a set of instructions to turn off local control on the clavinova.

After both the above were performed, the audio output improved dramatically.

Once again thank you all for your time in helping me out.