Noob here. I have a Kawai es110 that I use to practice piano, and as a MIDI input into Reaper through a MAudio One MIDI to USB converter. Using the MIDI hardware output in Reaper, I've had it play the piano track through the es110. However, I wondered if it is possible to have reaper access and play other es110 sounds at the same time? Organ, Elec. Piano, Strings, Drums. Any idea if this is possible and if so how?
Can I have Reaper Midi play multiple instruments in my Kawai es110?
- Thread starter Kaiso
- Start date
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
It should be easily doable as long as the ES110 is multitimbral.
You would, however, require a cakewalk INS file for your instrument.
Reaper uses cakewalk script files to assign instrument voices to each track same as cakewalk does.
In the meantime you can assign GM voices to the board until you locate an INS file for your board, but you'll only be able to use the 128 GM instruments.
Be advised that Track / Channel 10 is reserved for drums and percussion.
EDIT >>> I just hunted down the Kawai specs and am sorry to say it won't even do General MIDI. It's anybody's guess if it can handle multitimbral voicing as well.
It's a beginner's instrument lacking a lot of basic MIDI functionality.
You'd probably be better off using it as a controller for VST instruments in Reaper instead.
Gary
You would, however, require a cakewalk INS file for your instrument.
Reaper uses cakewalk script files to assign instrument voices to each track same as cakewalk does.
In the meantime you can assign GM voices to the board until you locate an INS file for your board, but you'll only be able to use the 128 GM instruments.
Be advised that Track / Channel 10 is reserved for drums and percussion.
EDIT >>> I just hunted down the Kawai specs and am sorry to say it won't even do General MIDI. It's anybody's guess if it can handle multitimbral voicing as well.
It's a beginner's instrument lacking a lot of basic MIDI functionality.
You'd probably be better off using it as a controller for VST instruments in Reaper instead.
Gary
Disappointing. I'm not sure what you mean by multitimbral. Not polyphny? The es110 has 192 polyphony. I believe it does/can play multiple instruments at once Strings/organ/Piano but it accessed from a combination of keys and buttons. I was hoping the was a way to access them from reaper. Thanks.
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
Polytimbral or Multitimbral means the ability to play multiple instrument voicings on multiple MIDI channels simultaneously.
Most basic electronic keyboards can at least do GM or General MIDI voicings of 128 patches or instruments using up to 16 instruments or patches at a time.
The polyphony of 192 notes is actually quite good, but since the ES110 only contains 19 different instruments it cannot play the full range of GM instruments. Whether or not it can play two or more of those instruments simultaneously under MIDI remains moot, but in reality you're probably better off using the Kawai's voice as a single instrument while playing the backing tracks and percussion using the computer's VST instruments in the DAW.
Also Kawai's website is suspiciously absent of any decent specs on the product page so I imagine any MIDI compatibility will probably only support a few basic functions.
It's basically built to be a home entertainment unit, not a studio workhorse.
Gary
Most basic electronic keyboards can at least do GM or General MIDI voicings of 128 patches or instruments using up to 16 instruments or patches at a time.
The polyphony of 192 notes is actually quite good, but since the ES110 only contains 19 different instruments it cannot play the full range of GM instruments. Whether or not it can play two or more of those instruments simultaneously under MIDI remains moot, but in reality you're probably better off using the Kawai's voice as a single instrument while playing the backing tracks and percussion using the computer's VST instruments in the DAW.
Also Kawai's website is suspiciously absent of any decent specs on the product page so I imagine any MIDI compatibility will probably only support a few basic functions.
It's basically built to be a home entertainment unit, not a studio workhorse.
Gary
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2010
- Messages
- 1,660
- Reaction score
- 585
ES110 actually is multitimbral. If you enable that mode, any of its 19 sounds can be placed on any of its 16 channels, as illustrated on page 44 of the manual at https://www.kawai-global.com/data/manuals/ES110_EN_R103.pdf
So yes, you could use Reaper and address up to 16 of the Kawai's sounds at once, on separate channels.
There are, btw, many many boards that do not have GM compatibility (or even the ability to play 16 sounds at once, GM or not), including not just other ES-110-like digital pianos (i.e. competitive models from Korg, Roland, Yamaha), but even many higher end boards, including Korg SV1/SV2/Grandstage, I think most (all?) Yamaha CP models, and every Nord ever made, among others. Lack of these capabilities does not equate to being a home entertainment unit!
In fact, these days, I'd say GM is of more interest to home hobbyists than to professionals. And while "workstation" and "arranger" style keyboards are 16-part multi-timbral, probably the majority of boards sold as pianos, organs, or synthesizers are not, regardless of whether they are low end or high end models.
So yes, you could use Reaper and address up to 16 of the Kawai's sounds at once, on separate channels.
There are, btw, many many boards that do not have GM compatibility (or even the ability to play 16 sounds at once, GM or not), including not just other ES-110-like digital pianos (i.e. competitive models from Korg, Roland, Yamaha), but even many higher end boards, including Korg SV1/SV2/Grandstage, I think most (all?) Yamaha CP models, and every Nord ever made, among others. Lack of these capabilities does not equate to being a home entertainment unit!
In fact, these days, I'd say GM is of more interest to home hobbyists than to professionals. And while "workstation" and "arranger" style keyboards are 16-part multi-timbral, probably the majority of boards sold as pianos, organs, or synthesizers are not, regardless of whether they are low end or high end models.
Last edited:
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
Fine. If you are going to recommend he takes advantage of the EXTREMELY limited multitimbral abilities of the Kawai in Reaper then I'll leave it to you to talk him thru the process of creating a custom INS file for it and how to set up the individual channels for each instrument.
Considering that most VST plugins will actually produce more realistic voicings than the Kawai's secondary voicings I really don't see the point of setting it up that way.
Way too much work for too little reward.
Gary
Considering that most VST plugins will actually produce more realistic voicings than the Kawai's secondary voicings I really don't see the point of setting it up that way.
Way too much work for too little reward.
Gary
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2010
- Messages
- 1,660
- Reaction score
- 585
I don't know anything about Reaper. I was just addressing the OP's question... yes, indeed, you can put each of the Kawai's sounds on its own MIDI channel, so they can externally be accessed individually.
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
Well unless you want to study up on Reaper and offer him a turnkey solution I don't see how saying "it can be done" is helpful in any way.
Gary
Gary
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
BTW, when you were looking up multitimbrality on the Kawai did you happen to notice how many parts multitimbrality it was? I couldn't even pull minimal specs off of Kawai's website and had to seek them out on third party vendor sites.
Gary
Gary
Last edited:
Guys, thanks for the responses. I've learned much.
AnotherScott, I went through the manual and missed the info on page 44. Thanks for pointing it out.
Happyrat1, I was in the dark about INS files for Reaper, thanks for the introduction. I've had some experience writing code/scripts in the past, so this might be a project for the lockdown. As I'm reasonably new to Reaper, I have been using free VSTs. I've loaded many and just can't get some sounds that I want. Omnisphere and the like have them, but I'm not ready to spend that kind of money while I experiment. Also, besides the great pianos in the Kawai, there are couple other sounds I'd like to acess. Making the Reaper/Kawai connect work seems like it might be a fun frustrating adventure. That said, if you know of any good free warm pad VSTs?
Best.
AnotherScott, I went through the manual and missed the info on page 44. Thanks for pointing it out.
Happyrat1, I was in the dark about INS files for Reaper, thanks for the introduction. I've had some experience writing code/scripts in the past, so this might be a project for the lockdown. As I'm reasonably new to Reaper, I have been using free VSTs. I've loaded many and just can't get some sounds that I want. Omnisphere and the like have them, but I'm not ready to spend that kind of money while I experiment. Also, besides the great pianos in the Kawai, there are couple other sounds I'd like to acess. Making the Reaper/Kawai connect work seems like it might be a fun frustrating adventure. That said, if you know of any good free warm pad VSTs?
Best.
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
When it comes to finding good quality free as in beer VSTs google is your best friend in the whole wide world.
Sadly I can't help you with any personal selections as I'm a strictly Linux and hardware guy when it comes to sequencing.
I do run different versions of Cakewalk under wine and virtualbox in Linux and have written at least a half dozen or more INS files for my gear over the years but there are several tutorials and howtos on the web on how to go about doing that.
As for getting a better handle on Reaper, I'd suggest searching out some video tutorials on the DAW to get a better handle on how things work and what you need to do to set up properly.
It's always a steep learning curve once you begin using MIDI but if you're willing to put in the effort to learn then you should find everything you need with a few intelligent google and youtube searches.
Good luck.
Gary
Sadly I can't help you with any personal selections as I'm a strictly Linux and hardware guy when it comes to sequencing.
I do run different versions of Cakewalk under wine and virtualbox in Linux and have written at least a half dozen or more INS files for my gear over the years but there are several tutorials and howtos on the web on how to go about doing that.
As for getting a better handle on Reaper, I'd suggest searching out some video tutorials on the DAW to get a better handle on how things work and what you need to do to set up properly.
It's always a steep learning curve once you begin using MIDI but if you're willing to put in the effort to learn then you should find everything you need with a few intelligent google and youtube searches.
Good luck.
Gary
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2010
- Messages
- 1,660
- Reaction score
- 585
He asked, "I wondered if it is possible to have reaper access and play other es110 sounds at the same time? Organ, Elec. Piano, Strings, Drums. Any idea if this is possible and if so how?"
For the first question, your answer, telling him it is not possible, was mistaken. (Not so helpful!) At least I gave him the correct answer that it IS possible, and I even gave him some of the info on the second question as well, as to how (showing where to find how to put the different sounds on different channels on the Kawai side). I have no idea what to do on the Reaper side, but since he uses Reaper, he might know that part, and even if not, at least now he only has to keep looking for half the info instead of all of it.
Again, page 44 of the manual (which I provided the link to). It is 15 part. Part/channel 10 is ignored (the board's drum sounds are not available for this purpose, only the 19 keyboard-playable sounds as listed on that page). So yes, that's also worth noting in terms of the OP's original question... it will work for the other sounds he mentioned, but not drums.