Hi,
So I'm a drummer who used to mess around many years ago with home recording (electronica type stuff) before everything was USB and connections were nice and simple midi ins and outs and so on. Ahhh, good times, the late 90s!
Having left all that, moved on, dropped music, had kids, I've started to feel the itch again and am getting back into things.
Number one - DAW. Cakewalk is a free DAW now? Wow. Heady days. That saved me some headaches. Unreal times.
So, my question. I'm trying to hook up my small batch of gear and really it seems clunky the way I'm looking at doing it so wanted to check if I'm missing some new-fangled, simple fix.
My gear, cobbled together from here and there:
Akai MPK mini
Benringer Xenyx Q502 USB
Modal Electronics Craft Synth 2
Carlsbro electronic drum kit
Cheapo Mic
Windows laptop with 1 USB C port (2 in reality, but the charger needs to go into one).
So, what I want is to use the Akai to control everything, essentially.
Back in the day, I'd take the midi out of my controller keyboard to the in of my synth (sadly departed), midi thru to my drum machine (also sadly departed) then on to my midi interface with my PC. Audio out of the synth to mixer channel 1, audio out of the drum machine to mixer channel 2, mixer out to line input of the PC. Happy days. Simple times.
Back to today - it's all USB and confusing for an old man! Here's my plan; is it terrible and I should bin the gear and take up pipe smoking instead? Or is it more or less OK and I can try and make some "choonz" as I believe today's young folks say?
Akai - only has USB out.
Craft Synth - USB out (for midi and power) and traditional midi out and in (out acts as a soft thru).
Behringer - USB out to take audio into the laptop.
My plan is to plug a powered USB hub into the laptop. Then take a USB to midi in/out cable from the craft synth to the USB hub. Plug the Akai into the USB hub, plug the Behringer into the USB hub. take the audio out of the Craft Synth into the Behringer.
I am aiming to:
Use the Akai to control Cakewalk, then sending midi from Cakewalk to the Craft Synth to control it.
Use the Behringer to take the audio from the Craft Synth into Cakewalk.
Plug a mic into the Behringer so my 4 year old can record some fart noises into Cakewalk.
I suppose what I'm asking is - will this work OK? Is there a neater solution (a cheap, neater solution, kids are expensive and it's only a matter of time before my wife realises there's a 'hidden' purchases section of eBay). Am I missing something stupid that makes this not feasible?
Thanks in advance.
Ah, electronic drum kit can be forgotten about - I'll be hooking it up on its own to the laptop to lay down some "mad beatz" thru midi (its onboard sounds are god awful).
Things were easier when I just turned up with my acoustic drum kit and hit things whilst the guitarist and bassist did their thing.
Cheers!
Rich
So I'm a drummer who used to mess around many years ago with home recording (electronica type stuff) before everything was USB and connections were nice and simple midi ins and outs and so on. Ahhh, good times, the late 90s!
Having left all that, moved on, dropped music, had kids, I've started to feel the itch again and am getting back into things.
Number one - DAW. Cakewalk is a free DAW now? Wow. Heady days. That saved me some headaches. Unreal times.
So, my question. I'm trying to hook up my small batch of gear and really it seems clunky the way I'm looking at doing it so wanted to check if I'm missing some new-fangled, simple fix.
My gear, cobbled together from here and there:
Akai MPK mini
Benringer Xenyx Q502 USB
Modal Electronics Craft Synth 2
Carlsbro electronic drum kit
Cheapo Mic
Windows laptop with 1 USB C port (2 in reality, but the charger needs to go into one).
So, what I want is to use the Akai to control everything, essentially.
Back in the day, I'd take the midi out of my controller keyboard to the in of my synth (sadly departed), midi thru to my drum machine (also sadly departed) then on to my midi interface with my PC. Audio out of the synth to mixer channel 1, audio out of the drum machine to mixer channel 2, mixer out to line input of the PC. Happy days. Simple times.
Back to today - it's all USB and confusing for an old man! Here's my plan; is it terrible and I should bin the gear and take up pipe smoking instead? Or is it more or less OK and I can try and make some "choonz" as I believe today's young folks say?
Akai - only has USB out.
Craft Synth - USB out (for midi and power) and traditional midi out and in (out acts as a soft thru).
Behringer - USB out to take audio into the laptop.
My plan is to plug a powered USB hub into the laptop. Then take a USB to midi in/out cable from the craft synth to the USB hub. Plug the Akai into the USB hub, plug the Behringer into the USB hub. take the audio out of the Craft Synth into the Behringer.
I am aiming to:
Use the Akai to control Cakewalk, then sending midi from Cakewalk to the Craft Synth to control it.
Use the Behringer to take the audio from the Craft Synth into Cakewalk.
Plug a mic into the Behringer so my 4 year old can record some fart noises into Cakewalk.
I suppose what I'm asking is - will this work OK? Is there a neater solution (a cheap, neater solution, kids are expensive and it's only a matter of time before my wife realises there's a 'hidden' purchases section of eBay). Am I missing something stupid that makes this not feasible?
Thanks in advance.
Ah, electronic drum kit can be forgotten about - I'll be hooking it up on its own to the laptop to lay down some "mad beatz" thru midi (its onboard sounds are god awful).
Things were easier when I just turned up with my acoustic drum kit and hit things whilst the guitarist and bassist did their thing.
Cheers!
Rich