Using iPad with PSR EW400

[randelph]

Hi, new poster here.

Am considering getting a used EW400.  It checks most of my boxes, but I'm not sure how i'll use it with my iPad, which is an essential part of my sound.

So... the iPad connects to the EW400 thru the Apple camera connection kit.  The iPad receives the MIDI information from the keyboard, but what happens then?  Does the audio play simply thru the iPad headphone out?

If it does, then I could connect the headphone output to the line in of the EW400.  But how do I control the volume of the iPad sound coming into the keyboard?  Does the knob A function "Volume Balance" do that?

Thanks for any help with this!

[vbdx66]

Hi Randolph and welcome to the forum.

If you go into the Function menu, there must be a function to adjust the volume of the audio coming through the Aux In input. Just go have a look in the manual, if you don't have the Ew400 yet you can download it freely online.

Hope this helps,

Vinciane

[SeaGtGruff]

The volume of the audio going into the PSR-EW400 is going to depend on two things— the volume of the audio coming from the iPad, and the volume setting of the "USBInVol" function on the PSR-EW400.

And the volume of the audio coming from the iPad could depend on the volume setting(s) within the app, soft synth, or other audio source, as well as the volume setting of the iPad itself.

For instance, if you're using the PSR-EW400 as a keyboard controller to play a soft synth on the iPad, most soft synths have knobs or other controls for adjusting the volume or amplitude of each individual oscillator's output, as well as a control for the soft synth's overall volume, and then the DAW might have a volume control for each track, plus a volume control for the final mix or master track, and on top of everything else you've got the volume control for the iPad itself.

[randelph]

Thanks for the replies!

Having an actual volume knob to change the volume of the Audio Input is very important to me.  Of course you can adjust this from the iPad, but in the heat of the moment, any precise iPad volume adjustments is very challenging, it's not a solution for playing live. With my previous keyboard, it had MIDI jacks, so I could use a Korg PlugKey, which gave me a VERY handy volume knob that i used all the time.  Otherwise, some keyboards have a volume knob on the back panel associated with the audio input, less handy than the PlugKey, but still better than trying to fuss with volume on the iPad itself.

Page 36 of the EW400 manual (referring to use of Knob A):
- Adjust the volume balance between the audio device and this instrument.
- Adjust the audio playback volume on the audio device, then adjust the entire volume by rotating
the [MASTER VOLUME] control of the instrument
- If you  want to adjust the volume balance between the audio input from the external device and Song/Style/Pattern,
use the [ASSIGN] button to select Function number 5, then turn Knob A (page 46).
- The audio input volume from the [AUX IN] jack can also be adjusted in the Function Settings
(page 58, Function 004).

I also see  on page 47:
- Knob A: Connect an audio device or a computer (page 36), then turn this knob while playing audio on the external device. You can adjust the volume balance between the performance on this instrument and the audio input


OK, this is not clear to me at all.  I THINK they're saying that the audio input volume is controlled by a combination of Knob A, the Master Volume, and a Function setting (#4).

Does anyone have any idea how the Audio Input volume is controlled?


In my experience, combining on-board sounds with an iPad makes for glorious sound combinations, but it really doesn't work well at all if I have no means of controlling the iPad volume, every patch on the iPad is at different volumes, there's no way to get the hundreds of iPad sounds to be perfectly at the same volume.

Thanks!

[SeaGtGruff]

A few comments:

1) Changing the balance between the audio input and the keyboard doesn't alter the audio input's volume per se. It lets you give more of the overall (combined) volume to the audio input, but in so doing it gives less of the overall volume to the keyboard. If you use that balance control to "boost" the audio input's volume for a particular patch, you may also want to increase the Master Volume at the same time to try to keep the keyboard's sound at a fairly stable volume-- unless you're exclusively playing a patch from the iPad, in which case you could temporarily give 100% of the volume mixture to the iPad.

2) The various volume function settings can be saved and recalled using the Registrations, so that might be another way you can adjust the volume of the audio being received from the iPad.

3) I should think you'd still want to set up the patches on the iPad ahead of time so their volumes are adequate, since turning up the volume on the keyboard side won't produce the same quality of results.

4) I wonder if there are any other devices, such as a small amplifier or mixer, that can be used between the iPad and keyboard (iPad audio to device to keyboard), giving you an actual volume knob to adjust on the fly as desired? You'd want something of a certain size and weight that you could keep close at hand, or possibly even "mount" on top of or very close to the keyboard.

[randelph]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Yes, either a volume pedal or a small mixer might be called for.  I've considered a volume pedal in the past (not an expression pedal that hooks into the keyboard), I often make volume changes to the ipad sounds, esp the synth patches can get very shrill and clangorous at the top end of the keyboard, like extremely so.  Embarrassing!  A small mixer would be a royal pain- probably need a power supply, very few run off batteries.  On the plus side though the EW400/410 do not have mic inputs, so that would help there.

I do my best with the iPad apps, but its a challenging target.  I already spend a ridiculous amount of time picking favorites and fine-tuning those sounds, getting volume consistency from patch to patch is difficult.  I have yet to encounter a keyboard (I've had about a dozen so far) that had consistent volumes from the factory from patch to patch, oftentimes they're wildly different, go figure.

My ideal board would be a step up from the EW400/410 in terms of sound quality, would have MIDI jacks, mic input, and even more powerful speakers. Unfortunately very few offer 76 keys. This is available from many boards, but then we're talking 2-3 times the price point.  I was surprised as heck when someone gifted me a PSR E243 to find the keybed was really good, the feel was very playable, and the amount of effort needed to play it as you moved to the back of the keys is not bad at all.  Which is what inspired me to seek out other PSR boards.  Unfortunately its not touch sensitive, which of course is a deal breaker.

I guess I'll post in the PSR s970 board, see what people recommend for a used board. 

Thanks again

[SeaGtGruff]

I do my best with the iPad apps, but its a challenging target.  I already spend a ridiculous amount of time picking favorites and fine-tuning those sounds, getting volume consistency from patch to patch is difficult.  I have yet to encounter a keyboard (I've had about a dozen so far) that had consistent volumes from the factory from patch to patch, oftentimes they're wildly different, go figure.

The preset voices on the PSR-E models are definitely like that. It wouldn't be so bad if they would let you modify the presets and save them as "user voices" like the PSR-S models do, but the only way to save and recall customized voices is to save them in a registration. And that wouldn't be so bad if there were eight registration buttons and the ability to load registration banks from a USB flash drive, but there are only four registration buttons and eight registration banks. You can save up to 100 "User Files" on a USB flash drive, with each one having 32 different registrations, but it takes a few minutes to load a User File.

[randelph]

Yeah, that's the problem with the low end of the market, some basic features are oftentimes missing.  Which is why, beyond the PSR EW400/410 and the Casio CT-X5000, I'm looking mostly at higher end arranger boards that are older but well built and likely to be still in good running order.

Thanks for all your replies!