Yamaha E433 and iPad

[Pete Russell]

hello folks

This is my 1st post and I hope you can help me.

My young daughter has a 433 and loves it. She is only just beginning having recently passed her Grade 1.........

She is a MASSIVE Kaiser Chiefs fan and has set herself the task of leaning some of their music.

She is learning and doing very well with ‘Cannons’ and ‘Coming Home’.......

Her music teacher has told her it will help to have the songs playing in the background.

She has also been told that she should consider using apps such as ‘Garage Band’ from her iPad..........

How do I connect her iPad 2 Air to the keyboard......and how would she use Garage Band with her keyboard?

Can she play the music from her iPad through the keyboard?

I imagine I may need a cable......

Please keep answers simple, as I don’t have a musical bone in my body

Thanks in advance

 

[Biggles]

You need to buy an Apple Camera USB 3 connection kit, these cost £39 in the UK.

This gives you a small box with USB and a lightning socket and a short lead with a lightning plug.

The lightning socket allows the iPad to be kept charged whilst in use.

Also needed is a standard USB cable.

Plug the USB cable into the keyboard then into the connection kit, finally plug the connection kis lightning plug into the iPad (this is allways the last connection).

Garage Band is a free app from her iPad’s App Store.

There are plenty of videos on Youtube showing how to do this.

Tip
There is a cheaper USB socket to lightning connector available, please ignore this and get the one I advise otherwise she will not have a method of charging her iPad when using the system.

 

[Pete Russell]

You need to buy an Apple Camera USB 3 connection kit, these cost £39 in the UK.

This gives you a small box with USB and a lightning socket and a short lead with a lightning plug.

The lightning socket allows the iPad to be kept charged whilst in use.

Also needed is a standard USB cable.

Plug the USB cable into the keyboard then into the connection kit, finally plug the connection kis lightning plug into the iPad (this is allways the last connection).

Garage Band is a free app from her iPad’s App Store.

There are plenty of videos on Youtube showing how to do this.

Tip
There is a cheaper USB socket to lightning connector available, please ignore this and get the one I advise otherwise she will not have a method of charging her iPad when using the system.

THANKS for taking the time to reply. Can she not use her lightning to USB lead that came with the iPad directly?

I’m just doing a google search how to use Garage Band.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

No, the cable that comes with the iPad is for charging, although it can also be used to connect with a computer for data transfers. The problem is that it has the wrong kind of USB plug on it-- the kind that you plug into a USB port on your computer, or into a power adapter for charging. For connecting the keyboard you need to plug the end of the cable that has the squarish type B plug into the keyboard and plug the end that has the flattened type A plug into the iPad. The Camera Connection Kit essentially gives the iPad a type A port just like a computer has. I have an older iPad 2 (not iPad 2 Air) and I use the older Camera Connection Kit (30-pin adapter rather than Lightning adapter) to connect my PSR-E433 to it.

Garage Band is fine for playing virtual instruments with the keyboard, or for recording its audio (which by the way requires a different type of connection-- audio rather than MIDI), but it has limitations as far as sequencing MIDI to a connected instrument, or saving to a MIDI song file. If you eventually find yourself needing a more full-fledged DAW app, you might want to look into Cubasis.

Also, Yamaha makes a few apps that can be used with the PSR-E433, such as the Sound Controller app. But when you look for it in the App Store, be sure to switch to the "iPhone Only" apps, because for some reason it shows up there but not under the "iPad Only" apps, even though the app works for either device-- its display is optimized for the smaller screen of an iPhone, but it does work perfectly fine on an iPad.

 

[Doctor Blue]

Hi Pete,
Does your daughter want something like a backing track of a Kaiser Chief's to play along with? Or is she more interested in creating her own tracks via something like Garage Band?

I have a Yamaha PSREW400 hooked up to my Ipad with the camera connection kit and USB cable. It works great and allows me to run You Tube videos (and any song I want via Spotify) through the speakers on the keyboard. Another thing I have done is purchase some songs through Yamaha's NoteStar application. Songs are a few dollars and what you get is a full-fledged song with vocal, piano, and backing track that you can control (slow down, remove a track) and play along to. I imagine there are lots of other ways to access backing tracks for songs.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

Unfortunately, I don't think the PSR-E433 will be able to do all of the things you mentioned, because it doesn't have USB audio like the PSR-E453 and PSR-EW400 do, nor does it have an AUX IN connection like the PSR-E443 does. So it can play MIDI data that's being sequenced to it, but it can't play audio data. You would need to use the iPad's headphones jack to connect a pair of external speakers for that.

 

[Doctor Blue]

Indeed, the lack of an AUX IN is necessary to have the Ipad play through the keyboard's speakers. It can be quite frustrating to find out the keyboard you just bought doesn't do what you intend. I found that out myself. As a result, I often review the online manuals beforehand so I can see the back panel connections.

 

[telecode101]

she can get iKeys Pro. It comes with a cable that connects the midi keyboard to the lightning cable. i picked one up for about $100.

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigkeyspro/

I believe there is also keyboard bluetooth connectivity but i havent used it yet.

as others have say, you can get the camera adapter

https://www.apple.com/ca/shop/product/MD821AM/A/lightning-to-usb-camera-adapter

 

[Pete Russell]

Does the E433 really have bluetooth connectivity?

As the speakers arent very loud in the keyboard, she wants to connect it to a BOSE external bluetooth speaker

Is this possible?

 

[SeaGtGruff]

The PSR-E433 doesn't have built-in Bluetooth connectivity, but you can buy Bluetooth adapters.

For Bluetooth MIDI, Yamaha has the UD-BT01 adapter. You still need to connect a USB 2 cable to the keyboard's USB TO HOST port, but the other end of the cable goes into the UD-BT01 instead of directly into the computer or other device. Then the adapter transmits data over Bluetooth between the keyboard and a Bluetooth-equipped computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone, or other device.

UD-BT01 - Overview - Yamaha USA

Bluetooth wireless MIDI adapter for connecting instruments with a USB TO HOST terminal to your iOS devices (iPhone/iPad/iPod touch) or Mac

usa.yamaha.com

For Bluetooth audio, you could try something like the Aluratek Universal Bluetooth Audio Transmitter. You would connect the adapter's 1/8" stereo plug to the keyboard's PHONES jack. Then the adapter transmits the keyboard's audio over Bluetooth to Bluetooth-equipped headphones, speakers, or other device.

Universal Bluetooth Audio Transmitter

Aluratek's Universal Bluetooth Audio Transmitter is the perfect solution to add Bluetooth transmitting functionality to any audio output device with a 3.5 mm AUX OUT, headset output or RCA output jack. Transmit audio wirelessly from a TV, stereo, desktop computer, laptop, walkman, CD player, MP3...

aluratek.com

Note that I have not used either of these adapters myself, nor any other Bluetooth adapter, so I cannot say how well they work. And there are similar Bluetooth adapters from other companies; these two are not the only possible solutions.

EDIT: Also, note that latency can be an issue with Bluetooth, so if you're shopping online for a Bluetooth audio transmitter then you might want to pay special attention to any customer reviews regarding latency.