How to play piano again

June 29, 2007 3:27 PM

Trouble with sound module - I just want to play piano!

When I was in high school (1997) I bought a Studiologic midi controller. 88 keys, hammer touch. It uses a Midi Art GS1000R sound module.

Recently the sound module died.

I've tried to find a used Midi Art GS1000R on the internet, and have had no luck.

I bought a midi-USB converter hoping it would be a simple matter of downloading some freeware that would take the midi and turn it into piano sound. Yeah right.

As you can tell I'm a complete newbie, know nothing about MIDI, and all I want is to be able to play classical piano again. Nothing fancy.

Anybody know what I can do? I would prefer something cheap, because, as I said, all I need is to be able to play classical piano. Anybody know where I can find another GS1000R? And, barring that, anybody know how I can run the midi through my laptop and get piano sound that way?

Any help would be appreciated! I'm getting phantom pains because I haven't been able to play in months...

posted by mammary16 to media & arts (5 comments total)

You have a lot of options for replacing the module with another hardware module:

* Get a used P-330.
* The JV series modules and keyboards have decent piano sounds (at least, they should be as decent as a General MIDI module that was made in 1995 like your GS1000).
* It's old and won't be fooling anyone into thinking it's a grand piano, but the MKS-20 is a classic digital piano module.
* This very cheap P-55 would definitely do the trick.

Or you could buy a copy of something like TruePianos, plug your USB MIDI interface in, and play it with any VST host software.
posted by cmonkey at 3:51 PM on June 29, 2007

Actually, the P-330 and MKS-20 each only have 16 voice polyphony, so you might want to go with the P-55 (28 voice polyphony, and you can buy more and chain them) if that could be a problem.
posted by cmonkey at 4:00 PM on June 29, 2007

Um, pardon the Luddist answer, but you could could actually buy an old German/ German/American-made, upright, hardwood, low-tech piano. They're super cheap right now, and you get a better sound (speaking from years of classical piano training) from them. You get weighted keys with 'stick', too, which are waaaay better to play on.
posted by solongxenon at 6:21 PM on June 29, 2007

I would love to buy a real piano, but I live in an apartment and noise is an issue.

Thanks cmonkey!
posted by mammary16 at 6:43 AM on June 30, 2007

Great point, cmonkey -- better than 16-voice polyphony is definitely important for classical music. In fast-moving, pedaled music (like most of Chopin, Brahms, ), it's easy to accumulate more than 16 notes before the next pedal change. When that happens, the notes that get cut out are often the lowest (i.e., the ones you least want to lose) because those were struck first, right after the preceding pedal change.
posted by allterrainbrain at 5:47 PM on June 30, 2007