Help!! Noob questions about keyboard!

[Bougainvillea]

Hi guys im new here and this is my 1st post! Im trained a classical pianist interested in picking up keyboard to play in bands and am still quite confused with all the technologies stuffs even after much reading around the forum for afew days lol, thus raising quite a number of questions. Sorry to trouble and thanks for your patience :lol:

How exactly do u do sampling? You do it externally with something connected to your keyboard/synthesizer am i right? Can u just do all these with just a keyboard connected to a pc? Lets say im not contented with how some of the sounds a Yamaha S03 (currently looking at one), am i able to improve the sounds if i connect it to a pc? If thats the case does it mean 25MB or 36MB of sample space on the synthesizer dosent matter to me anymore since ill me loading samples off my pc and not my keyboard?

Whats does a plugin do?

Can a stage piano do what a synthesizer can do, with loads of different sound samples on board if i connect it and play it through a pc?


Thanks alot in advance for answering my noob questions ahaha and nice to meet you guys

 

[piano_ex]

How exactly do u do sampling?

Sampling is done of course using a mic... Some synth come with this capabilities, so u can just record the thing that u want to sample and then it'll become ur patch, meaning u can play the sound that u've just recorded with a hit of a key.

Can u just do all these with just a keyboard connected to a pc?

do sampling? .... if you have a sampling program in ur PC, why not?

Lets say im not contented with how some of the sounds a Yamaha S03 (currently looking at one), am i able to improve the sounds if i connect it to a pc? If thats the case does it mean 25MB or 36MB of sample space on the synthesizer dosent matter to me anymore since ill me loading samples off my pc and not my keyboard?

you won't be able to improve SO3 even if u connected it to a PC.....
Sampling and Using Samples is a different thing....
If you load a better sample than SO3 in ur PC, of course it'll sound better.

Whats does a plugin do?

can you elaborate more on ur question? .... which plug-in? in which program?
there are so many type of plug-ins .... and each plug-in do different things.

Can a stage piano do what a synthesizer can do, with loads of different sound samples on board if i connect it and play it through a pc?

depends on your stage piano, whether it has only piano samples? or whether it has a MIDI output? ..... samples on board or in PC? .... it's different as well ... if you have a MIDI output, of course u can always connect it to a computer to play samples there .... but Usually a stage piano won't have control such as pitchbend or modulation.

It all depends mate ... =)

 

[Cheez]

1. Sampling. The best way to answer this question is to ask what do you intend to achieve. Sampling comes in 2 forms - multisamples and loop-based. Multisamples = each note of the key of a particular instrument (acoustic or electronic) is sampled. Loops = a phrase being sampled. For multisample sampling, I would advice not to venture into it. It's too much work. Sampling individual notes takes time and effort. You cannot just sample one note and stretch it across the keyboard. And it requires sampling software. For loop based, it is done easily. Just record a phrase and map it to one key of the keyboard. Many software does this - you can do that with hardware as well.

If you're not happy with your synth's sound and want to manipulate it, you should not be doing it as a sample. You should use the internal synth to change the paramenters and edit it. Once you convert it to a sample (wav), you're going to be limited as to what you can get out of it. If you're talking about acoustic instruments multisampling... well there are so many high quality ones out there that you don't really have to reinvent the wheel.

2. Plugin - does anything that it's supposed to do. There are instrument plug-ins (basically you play it like an instrument), sampler plug-in, effects plugin (does various effect from reverb to chorus to vocoder etc) etc etc.

3. Stage piano basically is a ROMpler - it simply produces the sound that exists in the sound bank. You are limited as to how much you can manipulate it. A synth lets you edit the patch to the waveform itself - much deeper. I don't understand what you meant by "playing it through a PC". Can you clarify that? As for mod wheel and pitch bend (and other controllers) that piano_ex is talking about, nowadays you get all these in stage piano as well. It's hard to have anything without at least a mod wheel nowadays, even stage pianos.

 

[Bougainvillea]

So basically i can play multisamples off my pc using a SO3? As long as i got the samples and the software theres no need for a 3rd party hardware needed to play for example the samples of a les paul am i correct? Does a S03 have a midi output to play samples on my computer?

Oh ya these are actually more directed to a S03 lol. To plug in headphones, can i use like normal headphones or do i need those with special plugs?

Whats a decent amp with decent sounds for S03 for home use?

Again thanks alot pianoex and cheeze for your help back there :lol:

 

[zenguan88]

well but playing samples on your software you do need a stable and good CPU, samples might not be as cheap as it seems, those good quality ones usually are more pricey. you do need a DAW too if you want to sequence it.

all keyboards not has midi output ,input, and thru.

for a KB amp, you could consider the peavy KB5 from swee lee.

you might want to get a KOMLPETE bundle from native instrument, that would definately start you off with a wide range of good pads, sythns sounds. an e piano, the 4 grands from akoustik and a B4.

:]

but it still boils down if your CPU could take the load of this virtual instruments

 

[Cheez]

The only "3rd party hardware" is a midi interface to connect your S03 to your PC. And you'll need a decent soundcard to play the sounds off your PC. And yes, S03 has midi out.

As for headphones, you should be able to use normal headphones. I don't understand what you meant by "special plugs".

For home user, forget about getting amps. You're not going to use it outdoors and you don't need to blast your music for all your neighbourhood to hear. You need monitor speakers. They give higher definition.

 

[Bougainvillea]

still abit blur sia ahaha.. So can S03 be considered a mini interface when connected to a pc since it has midi out? So its able to play sounds samples on my pc if my cpu can support it am i right?

Is a Macbook recommanded if i want to play sound samples on my pc using S03? If not which lap top is recommanded? Mostly used for playing sound samples on the laptop in studios/recordings, composing, etc.. Budget have around MAX 2.2k to spare, so was thinking will a macbook with upgraded 160gb of hard disk be good. Can afford to upgrade to 2gig ram if needed.

So ill need monitor speakers instead lol. Again, whats recommanded? Totally know nth along these lines lol. Like what brand or watts and where i can get it from

Sorry for so many questions lol just scared that what i had wanted to buy is not suitable for what i had wanted to do lol. Really really appreciate the super friendly and helpful community here

 

[zenguan88]

i thot i send you a link via pm about a website you could read about such stuffs. please do go read them. if not you can goggle tweakheadz.

i am not so sure if S03 has a usb port, if it does you might not need an audio interface already.

 

[Bougainvillea]

ahaha didnt see that new to the forum ma ok thanks alot! Go readup abit now hee

 

[zenguan88]

sure no problem i bet you will geet engross with that site :]