P121 audio recording

[spaceboy]

Hi all,

I am trying to figure out how to record audio over usb on Yamaha P 121. I am only able to record midi on garageband until now through USB connection on my Mac. I have downloaded the yamaha steinberg driver as well, but I've no clue what to do next..

Please help!

 

[b3maniac]

Welcome to the forums.

 

[Biggles]

Welcome.

I also have a P121 but it is not connected to a Mac only a PC so I will be a bit hit and miss in a response.

By recording audio do you mean that you actually want to record an analogue audio track within Garage Band?

I do have Garage Band but it is on my iPad, I will have a play later and see if there is a way.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I don't have a P-121, but I do have a MacBook Air and a PSR-EW400 which has USB audio, so I'll see if I can connect them and get the Steinberg driver working.

 

[spaceboy]

I don't have a P-121, but I do have a MacBook Air and a PSR-EW400 which has USB audio, so I'll see if I can connect them and get the Steinberg driver working.

Thank you so much, looking forward to hearing back!

 

[b3maniac]

I found this on a Yamaha site while looking for info on the Yamaha "Audio over USB" feature. This said ---"

The P-121 is also compatible with the Smart Pianist app for iOS devices, which allows pianists to turn their smart device into an intuitive and rich graphic user interface, making selecting Voices and configuring settings even easier.

The Smart Pianist app also takes advantage of the instrument's built-in USB audio and MIDI interface and on-board speaker system. This not only enables the user to play along with their favorite artists, but it also allows them to record audio and/or MIDI performances into a computer. "

Maybe this will help. Don

 

[spaceboy]

I found this on a Yamaha site while looking for info on the Yamaha "Audio over USB" feature. This said ---"

The P-121 is also compatible with the Smart Pianist app for iOS devices, which allows pianists to turn their smart device into an intuitive and rich graphic user interface, making selecting Voices and configuring settings even easier.

The Smart Pianist app also takes advantage of the instrument's built-in USB audio and MIDI interface and on-board speaker system. This not only enables the user to play along with their favorite artists, but it also allows them to record audio and/or MIDI performances into a computer. "

Maybe this will help. Don

So there's no other way of recording audio over usb except using the smart piano app?

 

[b3maniac]

So there's no other way of recording audio over usb except using the smart piano app?

I would suggest you contact your Yamaha dealer where you got the piano., or continue on the web research based on the implications that you must use Smart Piano. good luck.

 

[Reuben]

I'm looking at getting a P121 and my investigations seems to indicate direct USB recording is possible. Here is a YouTube video which uses USB from a P125 (same connectivity as P121) direct to iPhone. (FF to 8:10 to see connectivity)

But there does seem to be some reports saying the opposite

But someone in the comments corrects him and says it has USB audio!!

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Yamaha lists the Steinberg USB driver as the driver to use for the P-121, so that indicates that the P-121 has a built-in USB audio interface.

 

[Biggles]

Reuben
i no longer have my P121 but when I bought it the keyboard came with three months free Flowkey.

I gave Flowkey a try and connect it via USB to my iPad and Flowkey detected the notes I was playing and if I played a wrong note it would stop and wait until I played the right note.

As I play at home wearing headphones Flowkey must have been getting the notes played via USB.

For the price it is a good DP, it is limited in onboard sounds but they can be expanded via an iPad where the Smart Pianist App can also be used to configure Registrations.

 

[PianoTone]

I have a P125 (P121 with 88 keys) and yes you can record audio without an external audio interface - the USB port transmits audio as well as MIDI in both directions, so you can use it as an audio in and stream whatever to your piano, and you can record audio instead of MIDI.

In Garageband, you need to choose the correct type of track for this to work (choose an audio in not "keyboard"; "keyboard" will always be MIDI - I recommend using the "mic" choice, and in the "fun" section of effects presets, choose "clean" for a non effected track (then you can add reverb etc later on). And this is important: Since it sends audio in both directions, the audio of whatever you are playing along with in Garageband (the other tracks) will be sent to the piano and then sent BACK to Garageband as part of your piano track (so you will hear that in your piano track) - to fix that, look in the manual for the P121 on how to turn "audio loop back" to off, then you won't have that problem).

You can also get really good quality audio recordings using the audio recording choice within Smart Pianist (and you have a really nice volume feature within that app to modify the volume of your piano signal - to a much greater degree than within Garageband), but it is only for recording your piano as a wav file.

I use it with my iPad and with my PC (not a MAC) and it works great with any app/software that reads audio inputs (sorry no idea how to setup the steinberg driver on a mac)

I have a full review on the 125 where I do talk about some of this stuff on my site at Yamaha P125 review if you want to check it out; there's a link to my video version on YouTube in there as well.

Good luck!

 

[Reuben]

Hey thanks so much for all that information - very useful. My P121 arrived a couple of days ago and I'm loving it!
I'm a big user of iOS piano apps and soundfont apps and the connection with the single USB cord was simple as can be. It literally only takes a few seconds to be up and running with the sound coming out of the P121's speakers. The main piano sounds and EP's are way above expectations so am very happy with this purchase.