Hi everyone, I'm 36 and enjoy rock music - especially Rush, Poison, Bon Jovi, Journey, etc. I played in a rock band in high school (years and years ago) and it looks like I have the opportunity to join a band that is just getting started. I saw them play last night and they were pretty amazing. My best friend is the drummer and they want a keyboardist. I've been playing keys since grade school, but mainly piano. I have a Yamaha PSR-E313 that I bought from GuitarCenter.com last summer. It has some decent sounds, but I can't really even pull off Journey's "Separate Ways" or Rush's "Tom Sawyer" and I don't want to have to buy another keyboard. I've seen some live shows where keyboardist have a laptop sitting next to them. Back in the high school days, I needed a piece of equipment to hook up to my keyboard to get midi sounds. I'm wondering if there is software I can use these days? Can I plug my MacBook directly into my keyboard and get midi sounds that way? If so, I'd be in good shape if I can figure it all out. Help! Thanks! Also, what's the best site for sheet music, particularly rock music? - Jeff
I don't think the PSR E313 has midi on it. To use laptop, you need a midi keyboard controller, a midi interface for the computer, software instruments + a software host for those instruments. I have a laptop set-up for VSTI's, but wouldn't use it as my only source for instrument sounds. A dedicated pro keyboard workstation is a better choice than a laptop in the long run. B3
Apologies for diggin up such an old threat. Is it even possible to play on stage with a MIDI-controller + laptop i real-time without an audible delay?
Yes it's possible if you use and ASIO driver. Try ASIO4ALL it's free and it works nicely, but unfortunately you can't use also play a song in winmap to jam along.
Good to know. Does this only apply to Winamp or to Windows media player, too? BTW: do samplers have more delay than synths or are both delays insignificant?
