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Hi Everyone,

When using Playground Sessions and/or Smart Pianist ( or apps in general connected to a DP ) do people connect DP to the app using Bluetooth or a MIDI cable?

I am using Clavinova CLP 775.

Your experience would be most welcome,

Steve

Sorry I meant to say USB cable (currently fitted and attached to an iPad Pro)

Rave

Always usb cable for me. I’ve tried Bluetooth midi and the little latency it adds annoys me greatly. Also the recording function on Smart Pianist doesn’t work with Bluetooth.

Agreed. Use the midi cable. The midi bluetooth can have noticeable latency, and that can make it to hard to connect with your playing.

Thanks guys.....

Bluetooth midi adds very little delay. For those learn to play apps or piano configurations apps, it is fine.

Give it a try.

The delay isn't as high as bluetooth audio, but for many VST players, it's unacceptable. If you're a complete beginner (and don't know what you should be expecting from response time), you may not even notice it. But anyone who has used their DP for MIDI output and has struggled with ASIO drivers, external USB interfaces, buffer settings, sample frequency, RAM allocation, OS updates, and task manager tweaking to improve playability, using BT MIDI and introducing an inherent 20-30ms of latency completely washes away any and all effort of optimization. All to eliminate one cable.

Everyone can decide what is worth it for them, but this is one where the advantages really have to be weighted against the disadvantages!

I’ve seen 10msec more delay from bt midi versus usb midi.

For those learn to play apps or piano configurations apps, it is fine.

Which is what the op was asking.

I think all of the struggling with drivers, ram etc. speaks to issues with virtual instruments.

But here is the really cool thing, it costs you nothing to try out blue tooth midi.

I'm not a piano teacher (and I'm not sure how much experience most teachers have with this situation), but my thought is that for beginners who are getting to first know the instrument and have it "click" in their brains how the touch response should work, starting with a completely unnecessary artificial latency might amount to a handicap, however minor, that has to eventually be compensated for. And yes, it costs nothing to try BT MIDI. But most everybody also has a USB-A to USB-B cable, and if they don't, it's a $5 accessory, and instantly gives you the ideal connection for whatever application you need. So to me it seems worth starting off right, or at least making it known that there potential impacts/consequences down the road with a "no cost alternative" they might just default to and forget.

In the end, probably not a big deal (but when do we ever stop at minutiae?)

I take it you have never used a program like playground sessions? I don’t believe there is anything where 10 msec will make any difference.

And smart pianist doesn’t come in a Mac or pc flavor and it ain’t hugely time dependent either.

So now maybe a lightening or usb-c to usb-a is required.

And it still costs nothing to try bt midi. Even if usb midi is free or nearly free too.

Yes, we do tend to talk about minutiae. .

Thanks for the replies.

So I just connected with BT MIDI to compare. I don't notice the latency per se. But the sound is wayyyy better (AKA Much louder) using USB MIDI and the added benefit is my iPad gets charged in the process

Which sound are you talking about?

Is it coming out of the piano?

Because now you are talking about usb audio or Bluetooth audio.

That is entirely a different thing from midi.

You shouldn’t have any difference in sound level but Bluetooth audio definitely has more delay then usb audio.

Charging your iPad is definitely a plus. My Roland and inexpensive Yamaha do not charge through usb connection.

Your iPad gets charged? Wow! I have the 785 and my iPad doesn’t charge. Do you know if you’re using a particular setting?

Just to clarify...

If using USB from Piano to tablet ( in my case iPad ) then its with the apple adapter. These are available with just a standard USB connection or with the additional charging port. So DP is connected into the iPad thus using 'USB MIDI' and the iPad gets charged using a standard lightening cable, ( the other end of the lightening connector is fitted into my piano lamps USB port ) thus providing constant power.

Handy as the iPad is a few years old, and playing the DP through as an example, Playground Sessions, quickly drains the battery.

Rav