M-Audio Keystation 88 II questions

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mayhempk1
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M-Audio Keystation 88 II questions

Post by mayhempk1 »

Hey everyone,

So I kind of want to teach myself piano, and I don't want to spend like $800-1000 on a piano and I heard that while this isn't the same as a piano, doesn't feel the same etc, you can kind of teach yourself piano a little bit with this and make other cool sounds with it: https://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Keystati ... op?ie=UTF8 and I'd much rather spend like $200 than $800-1000.

The way I understand it is that you use a DAW to produce digital noises with any number of plugins, like piano plugins using that device.

I guess my questions are as follows.

1) What kind of delay would I expect via USB on an 5th gen i7 and a GTX 1070? Is it instantaneous enough that I could somehow monitor sounds via my PC or would I have to monitor the device? I'm a bit new to MIDI itself, so help on this would be cool.

2) Would I be able to use PulseAudio? I have tried using other things like JACK etc but those have always given me issues even as someone with better-than-average Linux skills. For me PulseAudio makes audio on Linux dead simple and I enjoy it.

3) Would that device even be compatible with Ubuntu 16.04?

4) Do I have to use a DAW, or are there applications that are a bit more simplistic and intended for specifically this and only this (i.e. producing sounds from a MIDI device)?

4) If there's anything else you guys think I need to know, please feel free to tell me.

Thanks!
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MattKingUSA
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Re: M-Audio Keystation 88 II questions

Post by MattKingUSA »

I have an i5 7th gen 2.5ghz 16gb ddr4 on m.2 ssd. I have samson midi keyboards, 2 yamaha keyboards and a korg m1. I use lmms with usb samson and usb midi adapter and have experienced no input lag. But even a cheap used keyboard with midi out can be used with a midi to usb adapter. I would suggest not buying a cheap adapter however because you will likely run in to some io issues.

I am currently on 16.04 and using the latest ardour with jack. Using jack as lmms backend and creating audio tracks using lmms output as track input works without issues.

I would suggest a used casio and midi to usb adapter. Likely 90 or less usd investment.

-Matt :D

mayhempk1
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Re: M-Audio Keystation 88 II questions

Post by mayhempk1 »

Good to hear it can be done and without latency issues. I guess I'm wondering is it possible to not have to use JACK and just use PulseAudio instead to input from my MIDI device and monitor it via PulseAudio output through my regular headphones? I feel pretty comfortable with PulseAudio, when I tried setting up JACK a few times in the past it was difficult for me and didn't go very well.
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MattKingUSA
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Re: M-Audio Keystation 88 II questions

Post by MattKingUSA »

I have not personally experienced any issues with lmms and pulseaudio. There are many midi applications to choose from. I personally only have lmms experience. But I have not had issues on any of my systems.

-Matt :D

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