Trying to record with a Casio CTK-691 keyboard

[Mr songwriter]

This is a $200 or so keyboard with some reasonably nice piano and organ voices on it that I'm trying to record with using my M-Audio 2496 soundcard, the only audio out it has is a "Phones/output" jack on the back, but despite trying many things (including putting it directly into the soundcard and putting it through a mixer (cheapo behringer one)) the recorded sound is nothing like as nice as the sound that comes out of it's built-in speakers, so, ridiculous as it might sound, I'm about to try and mike one of them up with an SM57 (the only mike I own) to see if that sounds any better. Can anyone suggest anything else I could try, or explain why the sound from the Phones/output socket is so crap (the manual doesn't say much about the Phones/output socket apart from "When connecting to a musical instrument amplifier, set the volume of the keyboard to a relatively low level and make output volume adjustments using the amplifier's controls")

[mawtangent]

My guess is that the sound coming out of your headphone jack is stereo and you need an adapter plug (going into your headphone jack on one end) that will have two (left and right) plugs (on the opposite end). You will have to record both (left and right) channels at once to get the stereo sound.

[seismetr0n]

does it have MIDI .. you might be better off with some free vsti's from
http://www.kvraudio.com/
youll probably get better sounds..
otherwise the stereo adapter might help... and the sm57 should get a decent sound out of the speakers (adjust angle and position for tone)
gl

[Mr songwriter]

Originally Posted by mawtangent

My guess is that the sound coming out of your headphone jack is stereo and you need an adapter plug (going into your headphone jack on one end) that will have two (left and right) plugs (on the opposite end). You will have to record both (left and right) channels at once to get the stereo sound.

Ta for the reply, I'm using a stereo connection (a ¼" stereo phone plug to two RCA plugs that connect to the soundcard) so I don't know if it's that, I had read somewhere that headphone out sockets usually aren't very good quality.

does it have MIDI .. you might be better off with some free vsti's from
http://www.kvraudio.com/
youll probably get better sounds..
otherwise the stereo adapter might help... and the sm57 should get a decent sound out of the speakers (adjust angle and position for tone)
gl

Yup it does have MIDI out and in, and I have tried quite a few free VSTi's, though I didn't think they sounded as good or as natural as the Casio's built in ones, I will be trying to record it with the mike later on. I guess I could always buy some VSTi's, though I've no idea which the good ones are.

Edit: I miked up one of the speakers, and while it sounded much better than what I got when I use the headphone out socket, it was very quiet, even with the gain turned right up on the mixer, so it looks like I'll probably have to have the speakers on the Casio really blasting to get a decent level on any recordings I make. Meh.

[ssscientist]

What you are probably doing is messing with the stereo digital effects. They are in stereo when you play the keyboard using it's own speakers but you're probably recording it in mono or doing something else in the process of trying to record it that's disturbing the stereo field.

At best you are losing the stereo nature of the effects and at worst causing serious phase problems that can rob a sound of bass from the midrange on down.


.

[mawtangent]

A thought...does your keyboard sound good when you listen to it through decent headphones?...If it does you can probably rule out the keyboard/headphone jack as the problem and work your way on down the recording chain.

[Mr songwriter]

Originally Posted by mawtangent

A thought...does your keyboard sound good when you listen to it through decent headphones?...If it does you can probably rule out the keyboard/headphone jack as the problem and work your way on down the recording chain.

Actually no it doesn't sound particularly good through a decent pair of headphones, not to the point where it sounds as though something might have gone wrong with it, but just as though they didn't spend very much money on that part of the instrument. Guess I'll have to take along a pair of cans next time I want to try a keyboard out.

[Mr songwriter]

Originally Posted by ssscientist

What you are probably doing is messing with the stereo digital effects. They are in stereo when you play the keyboard using it's own speakers but you're probably recording it in mono or doing something else in the process of trying to record it that's disturbing the stereo field.

At best you are losing the stereo nature of the effects and at worst causing serious phase problems that can rob a sound of bass from the midrange on down.

I suppose that's possible, but I have had problems with signals being out of phase with one another before, so I'm pretty sure I know what it sounds like, and what I'm getting doesn't sound anything like that, the recorded sound is both bassier and less trebly than the one that comes out of the speakers.