Connect digital piano with plug and play

[amc252]

Hello,

I'd like to connect my old Korg c-15s digital piano to my Toshiba Satellite laptop using a plug and play cable (midi > usb).
I have never done this before, tried a few tutorials but couldn't seem to succeed.
I'm not interested in using the piano as a midi controller or anything fancy, just record it using Audacity or some other similar software.

Here some information.
System Devuan Chimaera kernel 5.10.0-21-amd64
alsa and alsa-utils installed
qjackctl installed
audacity installed
This is a screenshot of what appears on qjackctl connections where I assume 0:CH345 MIDI 1 is the piano interface.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MFI60n ... share_link

here's some more information

Code: Select all

$ aseqdump
Waiting for data at port 129:0. Press Ctrl+C to end.
Source  Event                  Ch  Data

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$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13d3:5652 IMC Networks TOSHIBA Web Camera - HD
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1a86:752d QinHeng Electronics CH345 MIDI adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

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$ lsmod | grep usb
snd_usb_audio         319488  2
snd_usbmidi_lib        45056  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi            45056  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_usbmidi_lib
mc                     61440  5 videodev,snd_usb_audio,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
snd_hwdep              20480  2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm               143360  11 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec,soundwire_intel,snd_compress,snd_pcm_oss,snd_soc_core,snd_hda_core
usbcore               331776  5 xhci_hcd,snd_usb_audio,snd_usbmidi_lib,uvcvideo,xhci_pci
snd                   110592  29 snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_intel,snd_usb_audio,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_timer,snd_compress,snd_pcm_oss,snd_soc_core,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_mixer_oss
usb_common             16384  3 xhci_hcd,usbcore,uvcvideo

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$ aconnect -i
client 0: 'System' [type=kernel]
    0 'Timer           '
    1 'Announce        '
client 14: 'Midi Through' [type=kernel]
    0 'Midi Through Port-0'
client 20: 'CH345' [type=kernel,card=1]
    0 'CH345 MIDI 1    '

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$ lshw
            *-multimedia
             description: Audio device
             product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller
             vendor: Intel Corporation
             physical id: 1b
             bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0
             version: 0e
             width: 64 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0
             resources: irq:95 memory:d0810000-d0813fff

Thanks for any pointers or suggestions.

[sysrqer]

Maybe I'm missing something but if you just want to record the audio then you don't need to do anything with midi, just connect the audio ports to wherever you want to record it into.

[amc252]

Hello, I tried that at first, connecting the RCA audio out to the microphone/headphone jack of the laptop (and also to the usb port) but the computer still record from the built-in microphone. I can get sound from the computer to the piano speakers, but not from the piano output to the computer.

[sysrqer]

Ah ok, I guess that's an issue in Audacity then, I seem to remember that it defaults to that behaviour. If you are using jack then make sure audacity is set to use that as the recording source and disconnect anything going into audacity that isn't the inputs you want. If you still have trouble then post a picture of your qjackctl audio routing and maybe the audacity audio settings.

[amc252]

I just found out that the laptop's jack is TRRS, thus does not work with the microphone TRS jack. I hope an adapter will solve the problem. Recording from the microphone input will be a whole lot easier than setting up the piano to play as a midi.

[amc252]

Well, I bought the TRRS adapter and but the external microphone does not work.
I installed pavucontrol, and when I insert the adapter it correctly show the speakers turned off and the headphone as working output.
But the internal microphone is still workinginstead of the external one.
This is baffling.
It would seem strange that it is a fault in the computer jack itself, and the specifications are quite clear that i should work both with a microphones and headphones.

[sysrqer]

I don't really understand what you mean about internal and external microphones, or why a microphone is involved at all.

Are you using a sound card of some kind or just the standard mini jack inputs on your computer/laptop?

I assume your piano has a jack output that you can plug a cable into so that it can go to an amp/speaker? You can plug this into your computer/sound card and then it's just a case of choosing the right input in your recording software.

You mentioned qjack so I assume you are using jack. If this is the case then forget about pavucontrol and pulseaudio (you don't have to use jack but it seems you already are). Please show a screenshot of your audio tab in qjackctl with the piano plugged in and your record software open. You should see your inputs which can be routed to your software to record.

[amc252]

The laptop has a built-in microphone and a 3.5 mini TRRS jack to connect a headphone/microphone. Supposedly, connecting an external microphone to this jack (or sound card if you wish) should disconnect the built-in microphone and use the external connection by default.
My piano has two RCA output and I have a cable to connect fro RCA to 3.5 mini jack (plus an adapter from TRS jack to TRRS).
On my other laptop I didn't need to do any setup at all, just plug the jack in.
On pavucontrol, for example, if i connect the headphones to the computer jack, it shows a new out put source is being coneccted immediately (and the speakers are muted). If i connect the external microphone however, nothing happens.
Perhaps the question is that the laptop uses either CTIA or OMTP standard and the jack uses te other.
I'm trying to figure this out but cannto find the specifications.

[sysrqer]

Perhaps the question is that the laptop uses either CTIA or OMTP standard and the jack uses te other.
I'm trying to figure this out but cannto find the specifications.

In 20 years of making music and recording on various computers I've never heard of either of those standards or any incompatibility like you mention so it seems unlikely to be the issue.

[amc252]

Then what else could it be?
It's not a software issue since I have both Fedora Jam and Ubuntu Studio on the same laptop and the propblem is the same.

[Impostor]

Won't you get a mono recording from your digital piano if you use a mic socket for recording? Maybe it's better to use a usb audio interface?

[amc252]

I tried to connect from the piano RCA output to the laptop USB port but couldn't figure oit the way to make it work either, perhaps because I used a simple RCA > USB connection cable.

[Impostor]

I tried to connect from the piano RCA output to the laptop USB port but couldn't figure oit the way to make it work either, perhaps because I used a simple RCA > USB connection cable.

That way you're sending analog audio into an usb port. I don't think that works. You'd need an interface which converts the analog signal into a digital one first.

[amc252]

yeah, that makes sense

[amc252]

I tried again connecting a different digital piano, a Yamaha CLP115, using the same MIDI > USB cable but on Linux Mint.
lsusb gave me the same output:

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$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13d3:5652 IMC Networks TOSHIBA Web Camera - HD
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 1a86:752d QinHeng Electronics CH345 MIDI adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

I started by trying to setup qjackctl using the following parameters:
Using these Settings
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oCMc7K ... sp=sharing
and these Connections
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11e70FS ... sp=sharing
But, when i started qjackctl i got the following Error
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R13bCe ... sp=sharing
And the Warning
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m-Grbp ... sp=sharing

If i change the Interface to the first selection, qjackctl starts fine, but I understand i should select the midi interface here.