Signal path?

FrankD

New member
I want to record myself on sax, playing along with some MIDI tracks, onto my hard disk. For the sax, I'll run a mic into a mixer, into the line in on my sound card, and record the audio via Cakewalk 9. What about for the synth playing the MIDI files? I'm playing the MIDIs thru Cakewalk and out to an external sound module. HOw do I record the sound of the synth, run it into the mixer as well?

Part B of this question is how does this change if I use a software synth instead of an external module?

Thanks in advance - FD
 
FrankD,

Your options depend on what kind of soundcard you have and what you want to get it in the end. I'm assuming you are mixing down to stereo on the PC to make CDs or mp3s. If so, at some point you'll need to commit the MIDI synth parts to audio. If it's a 2-in card, your best bet is probably through the mixer. Unless you're completely happy with your stereo mix from the external synth, you might want to record each part to a separate audio track. For complete control you might want to break the separate drums in the drum track to separate tracks -- that is, one for the snare, one for the kick, another for the ride, and so on. Then you have the greatest possible flexibility in the mixing phase.

Part B -- in Cakewalk, for the output port of the MIDI tracks, switch them to the internal synth rather than the MIDI port you're using for the external box.

Hope that helps a bit...

-AlChuck
 
AlChuck,

Thanks, that helps confirm what I thought was the case. You're right, I want to take the tunes to MP3 or something web-friendly, just to post samples of my work on a web site. Once I get enough experience and am happy with the results, I may commit them to CD, but that's not the immediate goal.

I know I'll need to upgrade my soundcard, so I'm open to suggestions on that front. I had been looking at Event Gina and other prosumer products, hence the interest in SW synths - those cards don't seem to carry sound-generating capability as a rule.
 
Lots of possible choices on soundcards -- I'm using the Delta 66, with 2 pair of analog inputs and outputs + a pair of S/PDIF digital inputs and outputs. I mostly record just guitar, sometimes bass too, on top of MIDI tracks or loops put together with with ACID, but I thought the extra inputs were worth having just in case.

The thing with softsynths is, you're using CPU power to run these, which means you will reduce the number of tracks you'll get or the number of effects plug-ins you can run or some combination thereof.

-AlChuck
 
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