cheap keyboards, please respond

NathanM036

New member
i've been lookin at cheap keyboards at wal-mart(lol).
brands like casio and whatnot & brands dont really make a difference when you get down to the $100 range do they?
and some of them have computer hookup capability(midi) but do i have to put it in the keyboard jack or can i put it into the mic input jack as well, because i also record the sounds as .wavs? because i do my beats and save em as wavs. all my drums are wavs and i need to save the keyboard sounds as wavs as well so i can mix them. When keyboards are plugged into comps is a lot of sound lost? Is there a lot of hiss? if so is there anything i can do to reduce it???
please any answers to these questions would be helpful
 
To record audio from your keyboard, you'll need to go from the audio outs of the board into the audio inputs on your sound card. MIDI is a different animal in itself as you will have to connect the MIDI portion of your keyboard into a MIDI interface (that can also be on your card if you have something like a SoundBlaster Live! and the appropriate MIDI connector cable which they sell extra). Of course, completely depending on the quality and capabilities of your sound card, the quality of your recorded audio signal most certainly be affected. The easiest way to avoid lots of noise and hiss at the computer level is to simply invest in a higher quality sound card that is properly sheilded from the yucky noise that results from the guts of the computer.

--
Sonic Control
www.soniccontrol.com
.the on-line interactive community, news and information resource for musicians and composers.
 
ya know if you are going cheap,the yamaha personal keyboards are the best for the buck.they run anywhere from $50 to $1000,and large or small,they get pretty decent sounds and are very easy as far as midi implementation is concerned.so,yes there is a definite difference,although you are looking cheap,do you want cheap?are you just on a limited budget and need something asap?or is it that you specifically need a casio from wal-mart sound?because there is certainly a lot of info out there.
 
my budget is cheap because i don't want to invest a lot of money before i know if i am going to get really into making beats or not

now i'm not sure what kind of sound card i have on my comp there's a sticker that says i have a Yamaha XG 128 VoiceWavatable Sound
i don't know if my sound card is that good but i have a compaq prescario that is about 1 year and a half old so it cant be too bad can it.. plus all the vocals i have recorded sound really really clean and good especially considering i have an $8 comp mic.. lol

i dont know how to plug something into the sound card
i'm confused
there is a jack in the back with a picture of a keyboard above it and then there is a mic jack
can i not use one of these inputs?
he said i have to connect it to the midi interface
so what do i need to do?
thanx for all yalls help respond back again
 
well i found some yamaha personal keyboards at synthony.com and some of them had those built in 3.5" disk drives but i didnt see prices on any of them

well what else do yall suggest for a beginner, besides a keyboard, for making hip hop beats
i know that i'm getting a keyboard and i have a digital comp keyboard but it sucks, well not so much the program but the drums sound kinda fake.. well do you think a used drum machine would be a good idea i saw a casio drum machine in the trading post for $65 or would that be a waste

now here's a question
how much better do those expensive keyboards sound?
is the sound that much richer
is it cleaner less hiss and stuff
what are all the advantages
i want to know it all
much feedback would be helpful
i'm new at this
thanx
 
http://www.fruityloops.com

check it out....listen to the demo...there's also a software keyboard that's easy to use and sounds surprisingly good included in some of the versions.....and you can import other drum samples into fruity loops that you may have access too....gibs
 
I do alot hip-hop production myself. The first thing I got was a yamaha djx, and it sucks! I do not even use it, the more expensive the keyboard the better sounds it will produce. Nowadays, I don't even bother with the keyboard, unless i am paying for studio time, then I rent a trinity. Those are awesome machines. I finally said screw it, got a student loan and copped that mpc 2000xl, got a SB live drive platinum soundcard, and a dps 12. But if you want to save money, save up the $400 hundred bucks and get cool edit pro, it works good once you have the sounds u want to use.
 
you paid $400 for cool edit pro?
man you should have went to rapmusic.com's forums they give out links for the crack, at that site you can get cool edit pro with all the filters and every possible add on you can get, cool edit 2000, and all kinds of drum machines and sound editors that usually cost mad money, i used to post my rhymes mixed in over signed artists' instrumentals cus that's what their forums were originally for, but they used to give all these links to these cracked programs, i could just never get to em quick enuf before someone got in there and disabled the links
 
Er, Nathan... what you do on your own is your own business of course -- but there are some pros (myself included) on this forum that don't look too kindly on pirating software or stealing music, etc.... so I would suggest you not advertise that fact too much!

The reason the software costs money is for the time and effort the companies spent in research and development to give us these tools - it's only fair that they get paid for it. Otherwise we might ALL be recording using gear of the Wal-Mart karaoke machine calibre.........

Just something to keep in mind....

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
alright, i guess you were right about paying, i can see why it should cost money. But right now, i'm trying to find out what kind of sound card i have and if my joystick input converts to midi. all i know is that my comp has a yamaha XG 128 VoiceWavetable Sound
i dunno if that is the sound card but hopefully i will find out with the user's manual, because i dunno what i'm gonna do if i cant connect my keyboard to my comp
 
okay i found out that my joystick thing is also midi input, so that is good. Now i've looked all thru that User's guide and i cant find nothing about my sound card. I dont know if any other manuals came with the comp, but i cant find any
Do i really need to know what kind i have, because i cant find it anywhere.. where would i be able to find out?
help
thanx
peace
 
Dude open u the side of your computer and look at the sound card itself, it probably says it on actual soundcard. Also what audio software came pre-installed on the computer, it should say too.
 
well this comp is my mom's and i dont want to open it while she's home cus she'll probly freak out. But i asked her what kind of sound card it had and she looked on here and she thinks its "ESS AudioDrive Playback(220)"
because that's what kind of device it says i have when i adjust the sound levels on my comp
it also says i have a "ESS AudioDrive Record(220)"
i think this is the sound card do you guys know if thats any good or if thats even a sound card?
well this comp is a year and half old compaq presario
and the only kind of auido equpment it came with was
Yamaha SoftSynthesizer S-YXG50 and a couple other yamaha programs
and i have an fx program called sampled and i cant remember if i downloaded it or if it came with the pc
i have several other audio programs that i downloaded
(acid 2.0, real producer, noteworthy composer, hammerhead rhythym station, stomper, internet audio mix, etc..)
so now what
do you know if that ESS Audio Drive (220) is a good soundcard or not?
please help
 
The best way to find out if it is a good sound card or not is to use to record something. if you have a cd burner burn and cd and check the quality. I for one have not heard of this brand of sound card, but look at the comparasion that this site did between professional and regular sounds...the result was that they both sound similar. Test your sound card and if it sounds good and clear to you use it...I wouldn't suggest buying an expensive soundcard, but rather get a program like cool edit pro and clean up your audio. It all depends on how u like the sound.
 
hip hop.as you already know,the drums are the most important aspect(next to funk,originality,production,blah blah)do you have an extensive knowledge to drum machines and the sounds they made?for example ,roland had created drum machines in 70's and early 80's that were responsible for most thye backing beats to "old school" rap,hip hop.the tr-808 was a monster that you would hear on every recording back in the day.it had that boom subwoofer clipped bass drum,wich ,if tuned right and played with the decay,you could do serious sonic damage on any stereo system.soon after the tr-909,then they got into sequenced bass and drums with the tb-303,alas,you probably know this.but these days most conventional programs,(keys and drum machines)offer these sounds as well as a plethora of there own and of course the companies idea of what a "real" set is.but,if you wanna do hip hop,i suggest you invest in a good updated modern drum machine/sequencer,(boss/roland,have ,to my knowledge,the most extensive libraRIes of drum sounds available)but this is a seperate entity altogether than doing computer stuff,realistically,you could patch a drum machine into the computer and run it all onm the internal midi clock in there,but,you might feel easier actually researching plug ins,and programs that offer a massive catalog of sounds,i know lots of people love the acid drum loop program,they offer a rediculous amount of samples and beats that you could certainly reloop re sample and so on.me,i like to program my own beats,and really work the sound in conjunction with the groove,with the boss/roland stuff(and probably many other companies)they let you fine tune each drum sound to make it more towards your liking,like ,although i am not sure where your musical preferences run,but on pretty hate machine by nine inch nails,this guy trent reznor,is a perfect example of really utilizing drum machine and sequencing to the point of where you can't figure out what noise is what,he seriously tweaked out some sounds.what it comes down to is like the other guy said,buying a korg trinity,(*where there are so many sounds and ,i think an 8 or 16 track sequencer)that youi are unlimited to your production level,or a stand alone drum machine,preferably one with sequencing tracks and midi implementation.or finding some workable computer software that has things to your liking.a cheap casio tone,it can be done ,it requires more work,lots more ,but in the long run ,you might be better off saving up and getting some passable equipment.the cheap keys are limited to only a few beats,thus limiting your songs sounds,material,everything.it might be worth it in the long run to making your own sounds and making yer own grooves.i hope i answered at least part of yer question,or maybe i told you som'thin' ya already knew.i dunno ,good luck
 
well from what i've read i dont even have enuf money for a decent drum machine
How much do good programs cost, like you talked about Acid? I have a free program called Hammerhead, which is good for free but only has 6 channels and only one kit.
so i'm probly gettin the keyboard
but i dont know how decent it's gonna sound when connected to the comp but i'll just get a good sound editor if its too bad and play some keys and sample a bit, and use some fx programs and oscilater programs until i get the desired sound..
i hope this plan works, at least til i get more money for good equipment.
 
FYI-
essaudio are the drivers used with the standard Compaq integrated soundcards.
I know - I service 2500 compaq PC's at my facility.
thx
 
Yamaha makes the best-cheap keyboards. Alot of them are clean, not much hiss, and distortion.

Or go to Ebay, and look around. I've seen a Yamaha DX-7 sell for $200.00

EBAY is DEFINATELY the way 2 go.


Later
 
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