Key velocities and damper pedal positions

[peterb]

I am looking into the Privia range before purchasing my next keyboard. What is the number of key velocities can be sent out via midi on the PX-A100 and the PX-5S? How about on the damper pedals?

[cpcohen]

I can answer for the PX-350; check the PX5S manual to ensure correctness.

 

. . . the keyboards on the two models are identical, and I assume the MIDI output is, too.

 

. . . the pedals are different.

 

The keyboard send "high-resolution" MIDI" -- two bytes of MIDI velocity.  The range is (I think!)  1.00 to 127.00 , based on what I see in the Pianoteq "MIDI In"  monitoring window.

 

I _think_ the PX5S has a simple "on/off" damper pedal, which will send MIDI "0" and "127" to "MIDI Out".

 

The PX-350 "SP-33" 3-pedal unit has a three position damper pedal -- "on", "half-damped", and "off".  The MIDI value sent by "half-damped" is set by the function menu on the keyboard -- you can change it.

 

The PX-350 (and I'm sure, the PX5S) responds correctly to _incoming_ MIDI damper values intermediate between 1 and 127.  

 

.       Charles

[peterb]

Thanks, what is the experience of playing the PX-350 with Pianoteq like?

[cpcohen]

After a long delay --

 

. . . Pianoteq 5 is really, really nice.

 

I set up a "custom" velocity curve for the PX-350, and mostly use the Bluthner piano in Pianoteq.   It's not quite an acoustic grand, but it doesn't have the problems of the PX-350 sound generator -- no looping, and the string resonance and damper resonance is quite good.

 

Put on headphones, close your eyes, and enjoy the music . . .

 

.       Charles

 

PS -- reducing "latency" took a bit of time and experimentation.   But my Intel Core i5 laptop is plenty fast enough for Pianoteq, if it's set up right.