New to keyboard / piano

Sound Explorers Corner Free speech
#1

Hi there,

I have just bought a Arturia KeyLab MKII 88 from a friend because i always wanted to learn to play keyboard / piano, i have installed all the software, Analog Lab V and Piano V2 and some other software that came with the KeyLab MKII 88, but i can’t get it setup right.

I’m trying to learn to play by following different YouTube videos, but can’t get my keyboard to sound like there pianos.

Everytime i hit a key on the keyboard the sound of the node just die instant after releasing the keyboard, tried to use the release slider in Analog Lab V and i keeps the tone longer but it still not sound right.

i would like it to sound something like in this video:
Piano Video

Hope someone in this community can guide me to how i configure my keyboard and Analog Lab V to make i sound like that.

BTW i do not have any pedal connected to this keyboard, but i hope this can be achieved without using any.

Sorry for my poore english, but i’m from Denmark :slight_smile:

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#2

Hi Dakar2008 and welcome to the new forum :grinning:

As you have already identified, the best way about this is to use a pedal, it doesn’t have to be a highly expensive one, pretty much any non-latching pedal will do.
I can think of another couple of ways around this.
If you are using Piano V2 in a DAW you could just try inserting a CC message on a midi track on the same MIDI channel as Piano V2. This would mimic the action of a sustain pedal being kept on. Piano V2 uses CC64 for this.
The other, not quite as much sustain though, method, would be to load Piano V2, click on the ‘Action’ tab on the left hand side, then increase the ‘Damping Duration’ to full.

Your English is just fine BTW! :grinning:

Hope that’s of some help to you.

PS, as an after thought, if you enjoy progressing in your piano studies, it’s well worth getting yourself a proper teacher in real life, YouTube is great for picking up tips and tricks, but it’s no substitute for the proper learning experience.

3 Likes
#3

I use a quite standard (old) pedal on the Keystep 37 for Sustain or Hold (choice given in the Midi Center).

There are many sustain pedals on amazon (France) for 16 to 19 euros.

I don’t remember having to specify the pedal’s polarity (Nostalgia for the old folks as F.Zappa would say?).

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#4

If you “always wanted to learn to play keyboard / piano”, then you really need a sustain pedal.

The one I use is an M-Audio SP-2

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#5

The SP-2 is quite reasonably priced.
There is also the M-Audio Triple pedal. The KeyLab MKII has three input jacks (Sustain, Hold and Aux). Probably expensive.

#6

I think that you just need to find the right sound and that you need to learn how to browse sounds in the softwares (Analog Lab V and Piano V2) ! (use PC keyboard for fast browsing!). And in Piano V2 when you have found best piano then you can click the ‘Advanced’ (in top right ?) and then select respectively ‘Model’ and ‘Effect’ to bring the tweaking settings that you need.
Else , in worst case if the above advice still do not satisfy you though it should then you can try other software or other plugins (the Arturia KeyLab MKII 88 is also an advanced Midi-controller) .
Free software to try :
KOMPLETE START : Free Komplete Start
SampleTank 4 CS and Syntronik 2 CS : Free IKM Software