master keyboard advice

Welcome Theolonius

but if nobody responds, what am I even doing on this forum?

Anyway, hello theolonius,.

Maybe it's too many topics in one. For questions about mechanics, for example, I would post in Piano Technology

http://www.pianoconc...del-pianoforte/

an ad hoc topic.

There are those who only visit that section

As for the rest, I had taken it as a "descriptive" topic; from what I understand, you would like to be confident that you won't have problems using VST libraries via Sequencer and with the hardware requirements you describe.

It seems to me they are a bit low, in the sense that nowadays, for example, 2GB of RAM is not much in the audio world...

The site offers tutorials on the world of Logic; you could try a few things and see how the machine reacts and if the performance satisfies you... and above all, if you don't have too many "blocks" due to system resource exhaustion.

For the digital piano, I would try to take a look at the Kawai MP6

http://www.kawai.de/mp6_en.htm

anyway thanks for the welcome....I'm sorry I didn't want to be polemical, it was a way of saying "come on, step forward, give me a hand".

i "need" this forum. greetings...

I apologize, but I had missed this topic, though it was promptly pointed out to me.

So... Let's start from the beginning.

Digital pianos that have the same keyboard as grand pianos do not exist. FOR ME, those that come closest to acoustic piano keyboards while remaining at a contained price are Kawai, as you have already rightly pointed out. The fact remains that these are my impressions, so there may be differing opinions. One thing is certain: double escapement in digital pianos is a "simulation" of the double escapement of grand pianos; in my opinion, it doesn't even come close to true escapement, the sensation of which under the finger arises from a certain key transmission mechanics. So, do not expect to find digital pianos that have escapement like real grand pianos (at least in that price range); then, of course, if we go higher, there are Yamaha models like the VPiano that have true piano mechanics with all the resulting touch consequences.

Coming to VSTs.

You can use any DAW you want, if your intention is only to play them with a VST via MIDI protocol. Certainly, if you decide to do things seriously, there are choices to be made. The European standard is ProTools; in America, Logic is also used a lot and is gaining larger and larger market shares precisely because it is developed by Apple and can only run on Apple computers. This guarantees great system fluidity and stability. Logic is a DAW more oriented towards the musician, while ProTools is more oriented towards editing. Both allow you to do the same things, some easier in one than the other.

Let's get to latency. Certainly, your system is a bit weak if you decide to produce music; it might be fine if you only want to play the piano. Obviously, the more samples and libraries you load, the more the processor, hard disk, and RAM will suffer from the workload. In fact, normally samples are loaded from the hard disk into RAM (faster) to then be sent to playback upon receiving a MIDI command, with the consequent workload on the processor. Latency therefore depends on how much the RAM, Hard Disk, and CPU are stressed. All of this obviously depends on the type of libraries in use. E.G., loading the East West Quantum Leap Pianos (a library of 40 GB of samples per piano - and there are 4) your system certainly would not be able to keep up. If we move to more modest libraries, such as Galaxy Steinway 1920 or similar, you would surely be able to play them without problems.

I would recommend an upgrade, especially regarding the RAM. 2 GB is truly very little to run an operating system and a DAW. Normally, the operating system sucks up at least 500/600 MB to load the libraries it uses to allow you to perform basic operations like opening windows, creating folders, etc.; another good 300/400 MB are taken by the DAW. For samples, barely 1 GB remains, which is decidedly very little. For now, if you don't want to spend money on a new computer, you can opt to expand the RAM (at least 4 GB, 8 GB recommended) and perhaps ease the synchronization work by opting to replace your Hard Disk with an SSD, which you can always reuse on a new PC. In this way, data transfer is favored as well as the exchange of information between hard disk, RAM, and CPU.

I hope I have been exhaustive. If you still have any doubts, do not hesitate to ask.

Regards

hi... more than exhaustive. I was thinking of changing computers. I would switch from Mac to PC, which costs less and I would use it only for music; I would need to find someone to optimize it properly. I am used to using and creating MIDI files using many tracks (on the PC) which I then transfer to GarageBand because I don't have a multitrack suitable for interacting with audio (I use an old Cakewalk and I want to go beyond that..), using VSTs I would need a PC that works well.

so far I have used an old FP8 which unfortunately gave out due to age, and I was thinking of getting the VPC1 because of the keyboard; I have a Bechstein grand piano and I know well that I would never get close to its touch, studying on the digital in the basement with headphones on (so as not to disturb) I would like to reduce that huge difference as much as possible (then for serious study I use the acoustic piano, but at least for learning pieces... or for studying a concerto with the orchestra in MIDI). then, for playing and recording tracks I settle for much less; to use the pitch bend and modulator in synth solos or to imitate the sax I use a small MIDI keyboard, then I do the rest from the PC.

a warm greeting and thanks again for your availability

I would never replace a Mac with a PC for music production; in any case, it always depends on the level at which it is used. Working with a large number of tracks, the Mac presents far fewer problems, and the performance is brilliant, something I have never encountered with any Windows PC.

Have fun in the world of VSTs