Topic by Cyph3r93

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  • Cyph3r93
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Topic: Using Pianoteq with Kawai CA99

Hi, I'm about to purchase a Kawai CA99 and even though I like the onboard samples, I would like the option to use Pianoteq for more sounds. However, the piano is in the living room and I don't want to add external speakers and loads of wires to achieve this.

If I used something like a Microsoft Surface Pro 8 and I plug in a USB MIDI cable (is MIDI over bluetooth a thing without crazy latency?), can I use bluetooth to get the sounds back from Pianoteq to the CA99 onboard speakers?

Reply by Lynn S

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  • Lynn S
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Re: Using Pianoteq with Kawai CA99

Cyph3r93 wrote:

Hi, I'm about to purchase a Kawai CA99 and even though I like the onboard samples, I would like the option to use Pianoteq for more sounds. However, the piano is in the living room and I don't want to add external speakers and loads of wires to achieve this.

If I used something like a Microsoft Surface Pro 8 and I plug in a USB MIDI cable (is MIDI over bluetooth a thing without crazy latency?), can I use bluetooth to get the sounds back from Pianoteq to the CA99 onboard speakers?

I don't have a complete answer for this, but I came across this in the last couple of days. It didn't work for the poster, but somebody told them a Kawai driver was needed. So, that's where you should search.

Reply by Paulo164

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  • Registered: 16-09-2019
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Re: Using Pianoteq with Kawai CA99

Cyph3r93 wrote:

Hi, I'm about to purchase a Kawai CA99 and even though I like the onboard samples, I would like the option to use Pianoteq for more sounds. However, the piano is in the living room and I don't want to add external speakers and loads of wires to achieve this.

If I used something like a Microsoft Surface Pro 8 and I plug in a USB MIDI cable (is MIDI over bluetooth a thing without crazy latency?), can I use bluetooth to get the sounds back from Pianoteq to the CA99 onboard speakers?

Blutooth MIDI : you should consider an additional 6 ms latency + some jitter which can be, for piano-oriented, educated and picky people as are PianoTeq users, a bit out of requirements. I have BLE MIDI and prefer to use a USB cable instead to save this ms of latency and get rid of the annoying jitter. However, it strongly depends on the blutooth device/protocole used in your hardware. Mine is not perfect but others can be much more efficient. Some BLE MIDI dongles claim a 3 ms latency (but no word about the jitter).

As for audio, your KAWAI CA99 has to support both midi and audio thru USB, which is not the case I think.
I don't know for sure but I read somewhere that only some recent Yamaha keyboards support this dual mode.

Best.

Reply by miiindbullets

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Re: Using Pianoteq with Kawai CA99

Paulo164 wrote:

As for audio, your KAWAI CA99 has to support both midi and audio thru USB, which is not the case I think.
I don't know for sure but I read somewhere that only some recent Yamaha keyboards support this dual mode.

Yeah, most modern Yamahas (and a few others) are coming with integrated USB audio interfaces. There's a PianoWorld thread on this if you're curious about more specifics. https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads...rface.html

As I assume you already know, you can send BT audio from your Surface Pro to the CA99. I've not tried it with the CA99 specifically, but haven't had good luck with BT audio latency in general. Personally, I'd connect the Surface to a small USB audio interface, and the interface to the line-in jack on the CA99, if that isn't too much clutter for you.

You could also try using something like ASIO4All and going straight from the Surface to the CA99 with a headphone dongle first, and if that doesn't work well, add the audio interface. Latency is pretty noticeable in Windows without an ASIO driver.

Last edited by miiindbullets (16-06-2022 00:04)
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Reply by psterrett

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Re: Using Pianoteq with Kawai CA99

As always, I'd use a discrete midi/audio interface rather than plugging anything into a tablet/computer.

Kawai MP11SE / Pianoteq Pro Studio Bundle v7.5.2 (includes every Pianoteq instrument - 21 currently)

Reply by nPulse

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Re: Using Pianoteq with Kawai CA99

I use pianoteq with the CA99. Because although I really like the sound from the speakers, I dont like the sound when using headphones on the CA99. Yamaha does this better.

I use a laptop, used a surface pro 6 before that, and a Focusrite Solo 3. I've hooked my CA99 via usb to the laptop and the headphone out from the Focusrite to the Audio In on the CA99. Works perfectly! The ASIO drivers from Focusrite are very very good! I think I've got a latency of 2ms.

Edit: I've tried bluetooth... But the latency is horrible and the connection is not stable.

Last edited by nPulse (24-06-2022 20:48)