Hello everyone,

Spoiler: I am looking for a new PC

I am looking for a beautiful-sounding new electric piano that can serve as a classical grand piano as well as an emulation of rhodes/wurlitzer pianos. Now I have heard a lot of people say that Kontakt libraries and/or Pianoteq/Keyscape have better sound quality than e.g. the Nord Stage.
So I thought maybe I could just do that on a newer and faster pc.

Comparing to the common requirements for a DAW-pc mentioned here I really only want to play (and code) on my computer. I don't need 60 tracks to use orchestral libraries, I need maybe 5 for a small vsti piano-drums-centered combo. But it needs to feel like a real piano - I am thinking of keyscape/pianoteq with close-to-zero latency. (and I use edrums)

My latest ideas were like
Ryzen 3600-3700x (latency?) + better cooler
Asus Prime X-470 Pro Mainboard (latency?)
Hyper-X Fury 2666 CL15 4x8GB RAM (latency?)
AMD RX-Vega-56 videocard (affordable)
some 1tb pcie-ssd
RME hdspe AiO audio interface to run with 16-32 samples buffer hopefully (should make thunderbolt unneccessary)

Does that make sense? I am not really sure about this setup and I have just read that AMD cpus (also ryzen supposedly) have higher latency than intel (though only a few nanoseconds I guess - but it seems to make a difference in gaming?). I have built my last pc like 10 years ago and it was for gaming

Also if anyone enjoys playing with vsti (especially keyscape/superior drummer) rather than with an actual integrated e-piano/e-drums and without feeling any latency I would be really interested in your setup.

Thanks a lot to everyone who read this and any feedback is welcome

 

Last edited: Dec 1, 2019

Then a good Midi Controller would be important low price class Studiologic SL88
high Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88 MK2,
funny thing both use the same key mechanics (hammer action like in a real Piano) from the same factory called Fatar
Studiologic SL88 Grand would be the best for you because" New programmable Key-Balance function" imho


About the Setup of yours

PC Ryzen 3600 is more than enough (Sample base work is not heavy on the CPU side)
Asus Prime X-470 Pro Mainboard (latency?)
Hyper-X Fury 2666 CL15 4x8GB RAM (latency?)
AMD RX-Vega-56 videocard (affordable) Only if you want this PC for Gaming too
some 1tb pcie-ssd maybe more like 1*2 or 2*1 or more (KOMPLETE 12 ULTIMATE full 600 GB Keyscape 80 GB )
RME hdspe AiO audio interface to run with 16-32 samples buffer hopefully (should make thunderbolt unneccessary) (If your Setup gets bigger it´s nice to have the possibility to do 18 in- und 20 out )

About the latency
https://www.scan.co.uk/3xs/info/audio-pc-processor

Keyscape got only 1 Piano (but many presets) (and some real crazy old instruments like the toy piano)
KOMPLETE 12 ULTIMATE many (5+) Alicia Key,The Giant,The GRANDEUR,The MAVERICK, The GENTLEMAN and some I don't know atm.
By the way many of the sound great
I like Keyscape a bit more but that´s very individual I think


On sale
KOMPLETE KONTROL S88 MK2 und KOMPLETE 12 ULTIMATE
1498,50 € till 9 dec

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 5, 2019

Hi, thanks for the advice

For the moment I planned on staying with my old electrical piano which also has hammer action, to save some money after spending that much on a computer.

Great link, thanks!

I think I will start another thread concerning the general issue of building a minimum latency pc that is affordable

 

Last edited: Dec 8, 2019

I am thinking of keyscape/pianoteq with close-to-zero latency. (and I use edrums) emi calculator gst login ifsc code

 

Last edited: Jan 2, 2020

Get the b450 MSI Tomahawk and you can update the bios without older am4 chip.

Also go with 3200mhz ram, i heard it runs the processor much better

 

Last edited: Jan 2, 2020

The latency thing is bit weird. You can get low latencies with asio4all as with rme, with that rme aio card that was recommended you cant go really down deep in the end anyways because you get artifacts. Atleast this is what i remember.

The latency just grows bigger when you add plugins and i mean the whole focking thing is a mess you cant avoid. It will always take time to process the signal there will be no way around it


Soundcards are about d/a converters ,mic pres ,midi ios and stuff like that in my opinion.

Depending on channels ,9900k overclocked seems on paper to be the best choice beucase the single core speeds great. Personally for the price i would go with 3950x because its just so much better deal on every other sense. Nothing wrong with 3600 or 3700x, i think the 3600 is the best value chip out there. I would go with 3700x though if the difference is just 100€/$/whatever currency

 

I've got an old Yamaha digital piano which I only use for midi and it's weighted keys. I track through Pianoteq for low latency, and replace the sound with better piano sample libaries later on. Regarding computers, I always go for the best that I can afford, cos they last longer that way

 

Last edited: Jan 3, 2020

Freeze the tracks as you go, your CPU will love you for it

 

I have a Korg Stage Vintage SV1as E-Piano. It has a nice keyboard to play. When I played it in the store over headphones I just had to have it and went back.

Now I always play on a keystation mini 32 mk3. for 50 bugs. Don't ask me why. It's actually redicolous.