What hardware is needed to play piano samples?

[klagga]

I have a 10 year old Yamaha Clavinova CLP-560 with 88 fully weighted keys and have always taken for granted that this is enough to play the most advanced piano sample libraries (like White/Black grand by SampleTekk, Old lady/Emperor by PMI, etc).

Has anything happened that I should know of that has made my piano obsolete, or can I rest assured that it will work 100% with said sample libraries?

Thanks for any help.

[z15]

if it has midi input and output and the computer you connect it to has the sampler software required plus enough power to run those sample libraries, then there should be no problems at all.

[bluedad]

right, I still use my 20 year old clp-200 for playing samples..in this case, the clavinova is just a midi controller.

[klagga]

I´m especially thinking of really making use of the hammer action of the Clavinova, which in this case of course is acting like a midi controller.

As long as my keyboard is fully weighted, everything is set to really make use of the velocity sampling in the high-end libraries, right?

[greendoor]

Weighted or unweighted is totally a player choice - it doesn't affect midi data per se. It just might make you play better, that's all. I use a Roland RD100 piano. Things to watch out for are velocity curve - it's nice if you have options, but problems can be correct in software if necessary. Also, I find that my Roland RD100 has curious sustain pedal output. Instead of giving a definate 0 for off and 127 for on, it gives inbetween numbers, probably based on velocity. Most VSTi can cope with this, but Halion (and probably Halion-based VSTi) has big problems. Sometimes it misses sustain pedal data. You can fix most midi problems with software or midi filters though.