VMPK and sound

[sue]

Hi,

I could really use your help now .
In a nutshell:

I have an older Yamaha keyboard, midi-usb cable and VMPK.
I've managed to set VMPK up and it shows pressed keys nicely. However, - and now I might want something that is not possible - I don't get any sound out of the program.
I haven't installed anything else (used terminal apt install so that it would take care of dependencies). - I haven't wrap my head around that Jack server thing it's way over my skills and knowledge. - so maybe I need it?

Is it even possible to get some sound of it? or am I trying a program which does not do that, although it lets me set the sound.

And what I want:
I'd like to record a tutorial for a friend and I like these gadgets and learning something more in Linux , so I thought I would do it with OBS as they do it on YT. Video camera to capture my fingers and this virtual keyboard on the top. I hope, I can record it without streaming it .

So, could anyone help me how to set it up? or even give me a link, I'll read up on it.

thank you

[varpa]

VMPK by itself does not make any sound, see https://vmpk.sourceforge.io/. If you want to make sound you need to send your midi data from you keyboard (or from VMPK) to a sampler or synth. There are many synths available:http://www.linuxsynths.com. For something that works easily with Alsa I might suggest Yoshimi or Pianoteq (non-free, $, but demo works for 20min). Youtube has lots of linux audio tutorials.

[sue]

Thank you Varpa,
I see I set myself quite a goal
I'll check the links and YT. I've watched some so I figured that I need OBS .. so I need to find a setting to more things than just VMPK.
I so don't want to give up

[sue]

Well, I managed to do set it up
however, I've tried several different soundfonts and all the sounds are somewhat ugly. Nothing like the sample audio plays - could it be because of the programs? it shouldn't.. it all sounds like the cheapest keyboard

[tseaver]

@sue What sounds are you looking to make? If you'd just like a nice piano, and you'd rather just load an SF2 into VMPK, search for "salamander piano sf2". Maybe this link? https://sites.google.com/view/hed-sound ... r-c5-light

[sue]

@sue What sounds are you looking to make? If you'd just like a nice piano, and you'd rather just load an SF2 into VMPK, search for "salamander piano sf2". Maybe this link? https://sites.google.com/view/hed-sound ... r-c5-light

thank you tseaver for your tip.
Yes, I do look only for a nice sounding acoustic piano - the real one
However, I've tried tones of sf2, the one you sent, other Salamander, Yamahas...
and it all sounds the very same - I must be doing something wrong
this is a recording from my PC to a mobile voice recorder
https://voca.ro/17gLFRWUu9I6

it sounds super cheap, nothing like the demos.

I've seen a tutorial, the guy uploaded the file into both programs (the synth and the vmpk) .. so I've tried it, I've tried only into vmpk - which only seems to matter but I still can't get the proper sound.
Any thoughts?

[bluebell]

I have the Salamander soundfont as SFZ loaded into Carla. No reverb, no EQ. Sounds ok for me.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/c3dz3awd15xd ... kytYa?dl=0

[tseaver]

@sue FWIW, the piano I use for everyday work is Modartt's Pianoteq: https://www.modartt.com/pianoteq. It is proprietary software, but runs natively on Linux, and offers a wide range of choices of sampled/modeled instruments, including a number of "big" pianos as well as non-piano instruments.

The "base" price point ($149) gets you two of their "instrument packs." I consider it a steal at that price, but realize that not everybody has the same budget. (I don't shill for them, or get any commission, I just like the fact that a world-class virtual instrument has native Linux support).

You can download the player and try out any of the instrument packs in demo mode:

• 8 notes are disabled (silent): F#1, G#1, A#1, C#5, D#5, F#5, G#5 and A#5.
• Must be restarted after 20 minutes.

[bluebell]

@sue FWIW, the piano I use for everyday work is Modartt's Pianoteq: https://www.modartt.com/pianoteq. It is proprietary software, but runs natively on Linux, and offers a wide range of choices of sampled/modeled instruments, including a number of "big" pianos as well as non-piano instruments.

The "base" price point ($149) gets you two of their "instrument packs." I consider it a steal at that price, but realize that not everybody has the same budget. (I don't shill for them, or get any commission, I just like the fact that a world-class virtual instrument has native Linux support).

You can download the player and try out any of the instrument packs in demo mode:

• 8 notes are disabled (silent): F#1, G#1, A#1, C#5, D#5, F#5, G#5 and A#5.
• Must be restarted after 20 minutes.

I have both: Salamander and Pianoteq.

Pianoteq before v7 sounded kinda "dead" to me. Pianoteq v7 is great. But it's more CPU hungry than a soundfont player.

So I recommend Salamander for big projects with many tracks and effects. It sounds ok in a mix. For solo recordings Pianotec shows its flexibility.

[sue]

So the software does matter.. ? - is it the synth or the virtual piano software?
Right now, I don't really feel like buying anything. It's just an experiment

Just so I know, should I upload the soundtrack into Qsynth and VMPK or only VMPK is enough?

[varpa]

Since you mention you have a Yamaha keyboard I don't see that you need VMPK. Just connect your Yamaha keyboard via USB midi (if it has this) to whatever synth, sampler you have. I only use VMPK if I don't have a real keyboard set up, and I want to test a synth. Concerning Pianoteq it is downloadable as a free demo with few restrictions (few keys don't work, and times out after 20min, but you can restart it indefinitely). Pianoteq is a pure synthesis, so heavier on CPU, but light on memory. Sampled sounds like Salamander are light on CPU and (relatively) heavy on memory.

[sue]

Interesting.
Yes, I'm using midi-usb cable. However, what I need is the virtual keyboard - I want to make a tutorial for a friend and these virtual keys are much better.
I want to use OBS to create a combination of the virtual keyboard and my hands (to see the fingering).
Well, I'm also thinking connecting the real keyboard sound via basic audio cable. But I don't have it with me where I am now, so I can't test it
- with that I would use just VMPK