Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Digital Pianos - Electronic Pianos - Synths & Keyboards VPC-1 to Yamaha PSR-E413 without computer

Hello,

Is it possible to get a Kwia VPC-1 to drive a Yamaha PSR-E413 keyboard directly?

Normally it would be Kwia VPC-1 controlling a virtual piano on a PC/Mac which is a bit of pain for a quick practice as I need to bring the laptop and setup. I was thinking about getting a sound module but as I have a spare Yamaha PSR-E413 already, I was thinking could this be controlled by the other device?

Not sure if this is posible or if I need an interface of some kind to convert from MIDI/USB to USB plus associated cables?

Many thanks in advance,

Obviously the sounds will not be as good as a virtual piano but if it could come out the headphones of the Yamaha without needing a computer it would be worth it for quick practice.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Both the VPC and the PSR have USB connections. But both of these devices are USB slaves. Either can be connected to a USB master (host), such as a PC. But you cannot directly connect these pianos together using USB.

You could instead connect the VPC's conventional MIDI output jack (DIN socket) to the corresponding MIDI input on the PSR. But if I read the manual correctly the PSR has no such input. It only does USB.

So I think that what you want is not possible.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

Yes, there are a number of companies who make USB Host boxes that will take the USB connection of a keyboard like the PSR and give it 5-pin MIDI In/Out compatibility. Here are a couple:

Kenton

midiplus

I had a psr630 which I used with a trio in addition to the piano. But i could never play it through my Yamaha CLP; it had to go thro' a separate amplifier, controlled by its own pathetic ghastly rattly plastic keys.

Note that a proper USB host will cost you more than the value of your PSR-E413.

Thanks for advice - much appreciated.

The Kenton looks good but it keeps on making reference to "Class compliant" - is this the feature needed to allow the MIDI device to take input and trigger sounds rather than provide keyboard output? Any idea if the model of Yamaha I have is "class compliant" (can't see any reference in the manual).

An alternative as I need to to buy a sound interface with XLR support is it possible to get something that provides both these fuctions (MIDI interface with a computer) but can also work without as a MIDI interface to hook the two devices up without a PC?

It seems the Focusrite is a recommended manufacturer but not sure what models they do and if this is a possible to cover two with the one purchase?

Thanks in advance

"Class compliant" here means that the device must not require any manufacturer specific driver for the USB-MIDI to work.

Those drivers are usually available only for mainstream operating systems like Windows and OS-X and a mystery box from e.g. Kenton can't talk with the PSR-413 if it isn't "USB Class Compliant".

Why don´t you just buy a cheap piano expander? The sounds are not very fine but certainly better (or equal) than the sounds of the PSR-E413. You can connect your VPC1 directly with the MIDI in of the expander.

I believe you missed my point, getting a USB host adapter isn’t worth Ed. All intermediate keyboards have midi IOs. A host is terminal investment. Not the greatest idea.

Why do you need an interface? what do you exactly want to achieve?

I have had a focusrite 8i6 with this features.This interface always need the start of the focus control programm on the pc to route the sound output.

Hello,

Many thanks for all your past advice. I have now saved up enough to consider selling the e413 and getting a Yamaha PSR-SX700. Would I be able to do achieve this using the new keyboard - ie play the Yamaha using the VPC-1 keys?

It seems to have MIDI in/out which is what I think I need?

Thanks again for all your assistance.

I started this post to tell you about another alternative USB Host to MIDI adapter box (quite a lot cheaper than alternatives)....

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I recently received and started to use a "DoReMidi" USB MIDI host. Available various places but this gives you an idea:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOREMiDi...IDI-Converter-Adapter-F9W2-/114429557110



It does exactly what it says. There are TWO USB connectors on it. On one side is a USB-B connector (like the one on a printer or something like that) and that is only used to provide power to it. So you can just connect a USB lead from any old power adapter (such as as your mobile phone charger) that has USB B on one end. In fact I even used a USB battery pack at one stage.

On the other side is a USB A connector - that is a "host" connector. You use this to connect to the MIDI device that will be providing the input. The output is the 5 pin MIDI DIN "Out" which can then connect on to a device that has 5 pin MIDI In.
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HOWEVER, to see how these would work for you, I then went to look at the IO connectors on all of VPC-1, PSR-E413 and PSR-SX700.

Both VPC-1 and PSR-SX700 have 5 pin DIN MIDI already (each has In and Out). So if you want the VPC-1 to drive the PSR-SX700 you don't need any "fancy converter box" to do the job of an intervening PC or anything like that. You simply need a $2 5 pin DIN to 5 pin DIN MIDI cable from ebay. Connect it from the MIDI Out on the VPC to the MIDI In on the PSR and you are good to go.

Trying to find details of the PSR-413 is a bit more complex as it appears to be discontinued. However I downloaded the user manual which seems to confirm that it's only MIDI connection is USB. If that is the case then for that one you do need a MIDI host box (to replace an intervening PC). On something like DoReMidi you would connect a USB lead from PSR-E413 to the "USB Host" input on the box then connect the same 5pin DIN to DIN lead that you might use with PSR-SX700 from VPC-1 to "MIDI IN" on the converter box.

In effect these little boxes add the 5 pin DIN ports for MIDI to devices that only otherwise have a USB connection (like the PSR-E413).

For an easier life (and because PSR-SX700 is almost inevitably a "better" sounding device than PSR-E413 anyway) I'd probably just stick to the $2 cable option and "retire" the E413 (or at least forget trying to drive it with VPC-1).

Generally, USB-MIDI adapters need a USB Class Compliant device. I am not sure the PSR-E413 is compliant : it may work only with the Yamaha driver.

Sure, you'll just need a MIDI cable. No need to worry anything about USB and extra black boxes.

Thank you very much for such a complete answer - I really appreciate you taking the time to reply in such detail.

Sounds like the PSR-SX700 is able to meet all my requirement so that's likely the option I will go down. I do like Yamaha but wonder if there is an alternative keyboard model (not Yamaha) that people would recommend as worth considering?

Thanks in advance.

I don't know about these two, but many years ago (over 20!) I tried playing the sounds on an old Casio (which had plenty of different sounds, rhythms etc. with mini keys, I forget how many notes but not a lot) using MIDI from a Casio DP with with more keys (76) but only the notes corresponding to the keys on the mini keyboard sounded. Obvious, once I'd thought of it, a kind of 'doh' moment but......

Thank you for this - I'm hoping that would just be "back in the day" and that modern keyboards would have sounds for all the keys even the ones they not have physical keys for?

That would be a bit of an issue for me if not the case.

It certainly stopped me using the old keyboard, but fortunately the only cost was a pair of MIDI leads.
I don't know, tbh, but can't see why the 'sound chip' or whatever would include the extra notes unless it was designed to act as an 'expander' (or whatever you call it) or was the same chip used in an 88 note model as well, so we really need somebody with recent experience to comment.