Recording digital piano

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi all,

I want to record my digital piano ( Kawai CN25 ) using a cable that goes into my laptop where I plug my headphones in, and goes into my digital piano where I also usualy plug my headphones in. The cable is called CFY 3 WPP ( Y- Adapter ).

However, when I connect my laptop and epiano to record, Audacity just records what is going on outside of the piano ( my voice for example). It seems like it doesn’t recognize my piano. Plus, my piano doesn’t make any sounds anymore when I connect it.

I have no experience with recording but I hope someone can help.

Sincerely
John

2

The headphone-signal from one of the two headphone sockets on the keyboard needs to go to a “line-in” socket on the computer, not the microphone socket, (unless the computer-manual says mic-in can be used as a “line in”).
If your computer does not have a “line-in” socket, there are ~US$30 gadgets which effectively convert the computer’s USB socket into a “line-in” socket.


Plugging anything into the keyboard headphone socket(s) will probably disconnect its internal loud-speaker,
so you’ll need to use headphones to hear what you’re playing, or send the signal to an amplifier.

Your keyboard has a midi connection, but Audacity does not understand midi.
If you have other software running on your computer which converts midi from the keyboard into sounds, Audacity can record those sounds generated by the computer.

3

I have an AKAI LPK25 and haven’t been able to use it for anything. If you turn off Playthrough, doesn’t the computer record the room? So you would not be getting a pure signal, but the noise of the machine and surrounding environment.

4

If the sound of the AKAI LPK25 comes out of the computer speakers / headphone,
Windows users can select WASAPI as the recording-device in Audacity to record their performance.

5

Trebor - Windows doesn’t even recognize that the keyboard is plugged in. This unit came with an editor. Is that needed? I’ve only managed to get sound by using FLstudio, but that’s a demo version and does not record, as far as I know.

6

I have an AKAI LPK25 and haven’t been able to use it for anything.

That’s a MIDI controller only… There is no analog or digital audio output. And, Audacity is NOT a MIDI application.

If you are running a MIDI application and generating sound through the computer, Audacity can record the sound coming out of your computer via WASAPI Loopback*.

You won’t get the sound from the room unless Windows is configured to pick-up microphone sounds and send those sounds out of the computer speakers. However, you will record any “beeps” or other “Windows Sounds”. And you may get “glitches” from running Audacity and your MIDI application at the same time, depending on how much the MIDI application is hogging your CPU.

Or of course, there are MIDI applications that all you to record/capture the MIDI messages. Then you can optionally edit the MIDI before rendering to WAV or other audio file.




*WASAPI only exists on Windows 7 or later.

7

Windows Vista pre-dates Windows 7, but has WASAPI …

https ://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tutorial_selecting_your_recording_device.html

However (we) Vista users are almost extinct these days : ~1%.

8

Hey John, it indeed may seem daunting when trying to figure out how to record your digital piano. There are actually a lot of ways you can go about it depending your needs and they are several reasons why your setup doesn’t work as intended. Here is a link to a really good article that explains all the basics you need to know to record your digital piano “right”. I hope this helps solve your problem and you manage to record your instrument!

Best regards,
Mike