Need help capturing a midi keyboard performance and applying a vst plugin

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penneyworth1

New member
I am looking for the most inexpensive way to accomplish the following tasks:

1) Record a midi performance including pitch bends into a sequencer program (pc or mac) that provides a click, has the ability to quantize as it records, and allows me to move notes around later with some kind of GUI.

2) Apply a vst plugin to this midi performance with the pitch bends intact. (and then of course render a wav or mp3)

I have the following and software: pc, mac, several keyboards that can be midi controllers, several vst plugins.

I would like the absolute simplest solution, but I'm willing to buy some software.

Thanks so much for your advice.
 
Sounds like the only thing you need to buy is a MIDI-to-USB adapter or similar. For ~$40 you get that, GarageBand is free if your Mac is recent, and it comes with a bunch of VSTs. That should be all you need I think. I use that same setup except my keyboard came with a USB out so the MIDI adapter was unnecessary.

Isn't this an awesome time to be recording?! :D
 
Reaper may be fine for the PC.

Not sure about real time quantization. But since it's midi it's very easy to quantize whatever you want afterwards (and still keep the bends in place). There's of course manually nudging the midi notes too, in case you only flub a few spots and want to keep the natural feel of the remaining take.
 
Maybe I am missing something but I cannot see any form of audio interface in that list?

Don't know about macs but relying on the built in sound card of a PC is not a good idea.

Choice of AI is a no-brainer for me of course! NI KA6. You will love the blindingly low latency and it comes with "Made 4 MIDI" Cubase.

Dave.
 
When you're doing just MIDI you can get away with a USB adapter. It basically is a very basic audio interface. No need for a preamp since it's all digital.
 
easlern said:
When you're doing just MIDI you can get away with a USB adapter. It basically is a very basic audio interface. No need for a preamp since it's all digital.
Click to expand...

I know there is no need for a pre amp but I still cannot see a low latency D/A converter unto which to harken? Or decent, controllable outputs to monitors and/or cans

Dave.
 
ecc83 said:
Don't know about macs but relying on the built in sound card of a PC is not a good idea.

Choice of AI is a no-brainer for me of course! NI KA6. You will love the blindingly low latency and it comes with "Made 4 MIDI" Cubase.

Dave.
Click to expand...

Agreed. With the one exception where the OP has a keyboard that can generate audio on its own. Then the need for an interface is moot as he'll have realtime monitoring available and can substitute with a VSTi later.

If all he has are midi controllers, then he'll need an interface to minimize latency. The onboard sound cards just won't do. For comparison, when I use a midi controller and piano VSTi and listen with my onboard soundcard, I get about 45ms of delay. That's a lot. When I switch to my Apollo Duo, I get about 3.5 ms of delay. Undetectable.

I also 2nd the suggestion for Cubase.
 
Oh I see what you mean, I can hear a slight latency with my stock card. It hasn't been a bother for me personally though, I can do jazz piano around 120 bpm and it's not noticeable.

I remember having to buy an ASIO interface years ago but my laptop now has a solid state hard drive so maybe that obviated the need for the latency correction. It's very playable in my case but if you're gonna do some speed metal or something I guess you might run into trouble.
 
easlern said:
Oh I see what you mean, I can hear a slight latency with my stock card. It hasn't been a bother for me personally though, I can do jazz piano around 120 bpm and it's not noticeable.

I remember having to buy an ASIO interface years ago but my laptop now has a solid state hard drive so maybe that obviated the need for the latency correction. It's very playable in my case but if you're gonna do some speed metal or something I guess you might run into trouble.
Click to expand...

It does depend on what you are doing. My son (he the musician, I soldered and earned) found latency was ok when playing a sampled instrument* but if adding a keyboard part to say previously recorded guitar chords, the latency needed to be really fast to keep in time. The setup was a Delta 2496 card in a 2.7G 2 core Intel, a combination not to be sniffed at latencywise even today, and that was fast enough running Cubase EL 6. Point of order! The NI KA6 is even faster than the PCI 2496 and 3dBish quieter.

I has been found (KAFKAT Sound on Sound) that by far the biggest factor in getting low latency is the interface and of THAT, its drivers are vital. Having a Deep Blue PC will not help you if you have a crap AI and crumbly drivers!

*"We" still have a tiny sampler prog' that came with an Evolution Ekeys 49 keyboard yonks ago and that is well fast enough with the right kit. Another goody is Pianoteq.

Dave.
 
Yeah I still have a Delta 1010 in the closet, it really squashed the major latency I had on my PC. I could absolutely not play with the stock card in that PC. For whatever reason now, I've lucked out and the stock card in this new laptop is very tolerable. It's a Mac so lord knows it ought to work well, I paid the Apple tax after all haha.

Anyway you're right, OP will need to watch out for latency, he may need a real interface.
 
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