# Kontakt: Keyboard in Kontakt vs Playing on piano?



## Viegaard (Dec 15, 2016)

Hello.

Say I load in Albion One, Strings. And pick Pizzicato (but this happens with anything loaded into Kontakt), when I hit a note lets say "C" with the mouse on the "virtual" keyboard inside of Kontakt. It plays it very loud.

When I then hit the same note on my Yamaha P-115, then no matter HOW hard I hit it, it plays it waaaaay more silently than when I hit it with the mouse.

Infact when I play Pizzacato (on the piano, hitting it as hard as possible) it barely makes a sound, and the volume in Kontakt is way up.

Please advice.


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## Puzzlefactory (Dec 15, 2016)

What's the dynamics (modwheel) level?


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## Viegaard (Dec 15, 2016)

Puzzlefactory said:


> What's the dynamics (modwheel) level?



The sound played on the Piano ofc gets higher when I turn up the modwheel, but so does the sound I can produce by mouse clicking on the virtual keyboard.

I tried loading Keyscape and the Yamaha C7 Grand, this runs outside of Kontakt. When I play a chord on my piano its exactly the same loudness as if I click on the virtual piano in Cubase 9.


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## Viegaard (Dec 15, 2016)

Puzzlefactory said:


> What's the dynamics (modwheel) level?



If I set the modwheel at midpoint.

1. Play the Yamaha P-115. (Pizzacato) I still get various volumes depending on how hard I hit it, but its far from what I get when;

2. I hit it with the mouse on the virtual keyboard.

The hardest hit on the piano, should be the same as the hardest push with the mouse, like it is in Keyscape.

This is problem is for all my Kontakt stuff. Why doesn't it register the hard hits on the piano as when I hit it on the virtual keyboard, that I do not know :|


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## Viegaard (Dec 15, 2016)

Puzzlefactory said:


> What's the dynamics (modwheel) level?



Actually not all go higher and lower with the mod wheel when played on the piano, for example Spiccato.

Im just trying to figure out why it doesnt play the same volume when played on my actual piano, than when its played on the little virtual thingy.


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## Puzzlefactory (Dec 15, 2016)

When you record yourself playing, does the recorded parts register the different velocity levels? Does hitting the piano keys hard produce maximum velocity in the sequencer?


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## d.healey (Dec 16, 2016)

Kontakt keyboard simulates velocity - the closer you click to the front of the key the higher the velocity


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## Viegaard (Dec 16, 2016)

Puzzlefactory said:


> When you record yourself playing, does the recorded parts register the different velocity levels? Does hitting the piano keys hard produce maximum velocity in the sequencer?





d.healey said:


> Kontakt keyboard simulates velocity - the closer you click to the front of the key the higher the velocity



Okay.

When I use the virtual keyboard I get a velocity value of "127" when I play it on my Yamaha P-115 the value is around "95" to "105".

I then tried doing this with my Roland A-49 Midi Controller. Here I get "127" aswell, like with the virtual kontakt keyboard.

But, but, but.

When I play my Yamaha P-115 with Keyscape (a VST that runs outside of Kontakt) then the volume on the "Cubase keyboard" is the same as on the Yamaha P-115.

Is there anyway I can get my Yamaha P-115 to act better and hit the max velocity of "127" when I hammer down the key?


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## MarcelM (Dec 16, 2016)

http://www.pianorent.dk/digitalpiano/yamaha-p115/dokumenter/p115_en_om_b.pdf

page 16 in the manual.


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## Rex282 (Dec 16, 2016)

Viegaard said:


> Hello.
> 
> Say I load in Albion One, Strings. And pick Pizzicato (but this happens with anything loaded into Kontakt), when I hit a note lets say "C" with the mouse on the "virtual" keyboard inside of Kontakt. It plays it very loud.
> 
> ...



..uhh..don't do that...


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## Viegaard (Dec 16, 2016)

Heroix said:


> http://www.pianorent.dk/digitalpiano/yamaha-p115/dokumenter/p115_en_om_b.pdf
> 
> page 16 in the manual.



What about it? I have already tried; Fixed, Soft, Medium and Hard - None of them can make my piano hit "127".


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## Viegaard (Dec 16, 2016)

Rex282 said:


> ..uhh..don't do that...



uh. dont do what?


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## MarcelM (Dec 16, 2016)

weird. when set to "soft" you should reach max velocity easy. i dunno to be honest. you cant get 127 no matter how hard you hit?


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## Viegaard (Dec 16, 2016)

Heroix said:


> weird. when set to "soft" you should reach max velocity easy. i dunno to be honest. you cant get 127 no matter how hard you hit?



Nope. And if I set it at soft, I cant fully take advantedge of the weighted/sensitive keys, cause the sound is the same no matter how hard/soft I hit.

Even if soft did help, that would limit the dynamics of playing soft and hard.


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## MarcelM (Dec 16, 2016)

well, i know you are using cubase so you can use the input transformer (midi insert) on a track. iam pretty sure this thing can increase velocity but i dunno exactly how to set it up the way you need it. give it a try.


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## Viegaard (Dec 16, 2016)

Heroix said:


> well, i know you are using cubase so you can use the input transformer (midi insert) on a track. iam pretty sure this thing can increase velocity but i dunno exactly how to set it up the way you need it. give it a try.



Sorry if I come off as arrogant, but I am tired and Ive tried to fix this all day.

I see no point in using the Yamaha P-115, if I have to edit everything I play to get the desired velocity.

I am buying a Roland A88. It was designed for being a midi-keyboard, the Yamaha P-115 wasnt.


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## MarcelM (Dec 16, 2016)

Viegaard said:


> Sorry if I come off as arrogant, but I am tired and Ive tried to fix this all day.
> 
> I see no point in using the Yamaha P-115, if I have to edit everything I play to get the desired velocity.
> 
> I am buying a Roland A88. It was designed for being a midi-keyboard, the Yamaha P-115 wasnt.



no worrys. i know it sucks running into problems. its not a cheap solution you are aiming for, but its a good one. a cheaper master keyboard would do it aswell. iam using an old m-audio axiom for example and iam pleased with it... but iam not a good piano player as you


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## elmus (Oct 1, 2019)

Viegaard said:


> When I then hit the same note on my Yamaha P-115, then no matter HOW hard I hit it, it plays it waaaaay more silently than when I hit it with the mouse.
> 
> Infact when I play Pizzacato (on the piano, hitting it as hard as possible) it barely makes a sound, and the volume in Kontakt is way up.
> 
> Please advice.



My Yamaha P-115 does the same. MIDI note-on velocity, that it sends, is never more than around 100 (or maybe a little more, but I don't want to brake the keyboard).
This is a hardware limitation of the keys matrix scanning circuit in this particular piano. Many keyboards have similar issues with velocity. In fact the more keys the keyboard has, the more possible it is that the velocity detection is poor. In 80's keys were organized into a matrix that was than scanned by a micro controller. But since MCU-s were not fast enough, designers accepted a compromise reducing the velocity resolution and/or range.
Typically for a key that makes two switch transitions in 1ms when hit the hardest, one would have to sample it's state 128000 times/s to resolve all 128 velocity levels, but since there are many rows of switches in a matrix, the scanning freq. can go up to few Meg. samples/s. And then samples have to be processed and converted into v=1/t . So obviously this is not a task for a simple MCU. Still many companies seem to use an MCU for this purpose and hence mentioned compromises. There are few ways to solve this problem, but I guess this would get too technical.


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