Embarrassing question about MIDI

G

gilbertneal

New member
I have a nice PC and a MIDI keyboard. I'm recording with Reaper. What else do I need to make the MIDI keyboard make sounds?
 
nothing.

fire up the pc, open reaper, set up your keyboard for midi input, open a synth, and go nuts! :)

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oh wait.......
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you need speakers/headphones.
 
You want to hear the sounds that are built in to your keyboard? You want midi tracks in Reaper to play using the sounds in your keyboard, instead of using the sounds in some VST plugin synth?
 
MIDI is just instructions, not audio. If you want to record your MIDI keyboard's actual sounds, you'll need to take audio out of the keyboard, not MIDI. If you want to use your MIDI keyboard to play other sounds, you'll need to specifiy, in Reaper, which sounds you want it to play, presumably a VSTi synth.

More info required for full diagnosis.... what are you trying to do, exactly?
 
Search for "Free VST" and fins some synth instruments that will play the MIDI information. Very easy to set up in Reaper. I played with lots of freebies before I bought any VST instruments.

Mike
 
Like Armistice said, MIDI is just instructions. In other words, it's a set of commands (this note now, this much velocity, this much aftertouch, etc). The MIDI language records everything you do with your midi device (in this case, your keyboard) and then sends those commands to something that produces sounds.

For example, I've got a very nice Kurzweil--great grand piano sounds. Certainly good enough for live. But I have better grand piano samples in some soft synths on my computer. So I'll often record a track playing the Kurzweil's grand piano sound, but recording midi into my music software. Now I point that MIDI track at one of my other piano samples.

Clear as mud yet? :)
 
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