I just bought my first digital piano and it does almost everything I could ever ask for. However, I see sooo many threads regarding some great piano software to the point where Im now very interested but mostly confused. Please forgive my musical technological ignorance, but can someone easily and simply explain how to hook up a computer to my digital piano? Exactly what does the software do and which should should I buy? How do I hook it up? What cables do I need? Mixers? etc. etc.

I believe I got a good starting point to make this happen, just don't know how.
I have: Kawai ES7(love!)and Sony Vaio laptop 8GB RAM, 750GB w/ Intel i7 processor.

Your thoughts and guidance would be much appreciated.

You'll need:
- PC or Mac. I use a PC laptop. It's old and relatively slow, but still works quite well. Any newer unit will serve even better, so no worries there.
- Sound system. You could plug headphones into the PC, or you can feed the PC sound to an amp and speakers.
- Piano library software for the PC.
- Upgrade sound card for the PC (maybe).

The basic setup looks like this: Piano Wiring 1 This uses a USB connection between the piano and the PC. This is possible for newer pianos that have a USB connection.

This diagram shows additional ways to hook things up: Piano Wiring 2 This shows three possible ways to connect the piano to a PC: USB, MIDI-to-USB, and MIDI. (The latter requires a PC sound card with a MIDI interface.)

This diagram adds a mixer to allow you to listen to either the PC piano sounds or the piano's native sounds, or both: Piano Wiring 3

And this one adds equalizers to tweak the sound, and a DVD player to allow play-along with an audio CD: Piano Wiring 4 This is what I use. I already had the piano, PC laptop, and headphones. I bought the rest of the equipment used on Ebay and Craig's List for around $375.

For piano software, there are many choices. Do an online search for "piano libraries" or "VST pianos" or something similar and you'll find many possibilities.

Also use this forum's search box to find threads in which this topic is discussed.

The easiest: The ES7 has a USB to host, and you need a simple USB cable (like this one http://www.monoprice.com/products/produc...=1&format=2)
This is a typical printer cable, which you probably already have.

Then download this app - http://www.synthesiagame.com, and configure the ES7 as Midi and Midi out, and try it out

Do you also want to utilize the audio input of the ES7 so you will be able to hear the software synths sound through the ES7 audio system ? If so , then there are a few rules to follow. If not than a simple USB to host connection (for MIDI control) will do.

Wow! They must be really special people.

Look what they say about their forums..

"If you have any questions or comments about Synthesia, hop over to the forums and make a post. Everyone is very friendly there and we'll definitely be able to help."

Can you believe it,? "Everyone is very friendly..." that's what it says.

Amazing....never known a forum like that.