Playing with sounds from a purchased library

[SteveK]

I am a relative beginner.  I am really enjoying my CGP-700 that I've had for five years.  I sometimes got to real brick and mortar music stores and check out other keyboards but I always learn that I like the way the CGP-700 feels.  I guess I'm just used to it, but that is to say that I want to keep my CGP.  I also have found plenty of CGP sounds that I like, including the standard 01 Grand Piano sound, and a lot of the electronic piano sounds.

 

I have laptop running linux mint and an external monitor next to the keyboard so that I watch youtube lessons and learn stuff.   (Also a big fan of musescore and recently paid for a year of access to their library of music, and to support the free musescore notation program.)

 

I have the 1/8" audio headphone output of the old linux laptop plugged into the external input on the back side of the CGP so that I can hear the youtube lessons playing from the CGP's speakers, mixed in with my sounds generated by the CGP.

 

I've watched some youtubes about sound libraries.  There is a product out there called Keyscape that appears to have really great acoustic piano sounds.  It's not cheap but it seems it would be a significant upgrade to the CGP piano sounds (although as I mention I do find the standard CGP grand piano sound very pleasant).   

 

Do any of you guys use external sounds and what does it require to get them working?   I assume I take a MIDI output from CGP's USB port and put it into the laptop.  And have the laptop loaded with the Keyscape sounds.   Not sure what software I need to run.  My experience with Linux audio is that it can be tricky.  Do any of you guys do this?

 

And does the CGP have the degree of midi output that would allow me to hear the expressiveness of the Keyscape sound libraries?

[Brad Saucier]

It will work well for that.  A standard USB printer cable is all you need to connect it to your computer.  The computer should automatically install the CGP-700 as a Casio USB MIDI device.  All you have to do is open the software you want to use, look for the MIDI/audio settings/preferences page, make sure Casio USB MIDI is set up as input/output, and away you go.  

[SteveK]

My experience playing around with this a few years ago with a sequencer program was confusing and unsuccessful because I am stubbornly using Linux and there are layers of complexity to setting up the drivers and the audio that are probably not there on a mac or windows machine.  I was new to Linux at the time and maybe it's getting easier.   But that's my problem.

 

Do all keyboards put out the same MIDI info that allows the software to work with the expressiveness of the sounds?  Maybe that's a strange question, but do more expensive keyboards have more dynamic qualities to the MIDI data they put out?  Will my CGP sound as good as a $2000 keyboard when it is played through something like the Keyscape software?

[SteveK]

I've been trying to learn about the question I asked above:  I really like the feeling of my Casio GDP-700.  I've gotten used to the weighting of the keys and prefer it to other keyboards that I have sat at for a minute at a time in music store, including some $2000 keyboards.  If I were to buy a sample package like Keyscape would my GDP-700 sound the same coming my Casio as it would from another keyboard?  I think Keyscape advertises that it uses 32 level samples so i would imagine that you want keyboard that is outputing 32 level midi data.  Does the Casio output that?  and does a more expensive keyboard do that in ways that can be more expressive? 

 

So again, would a high end keyboard sound better than a cheaper keyboard when played through Keyscape or something else?  

 

Pretty much the same question I asked last month but I'm asking again in case someone new here sees this that can answer it.

[Casiofun]

The sound from Keyscape comes from your computer not the Casio. The Casio is used as a midi controller to trigger the virtual instruments in Keyscape. You need a capable computer to work in software like Keyscape.

 

 

 

 

 

[Brad Saucier]

The CGP-700 is an excellent MIDI controller for virtual piano instruments.  It transmits high resolution velocity, which is over 16,000 levels of velocity, more than anyone would probably ever notice.