Newbie, completely to computer/midi

B

BassK

New member
O.K I need to know can I with a 133 processor, 16 MB 1 gig drive with a 16 bit ampitheather system on a 6 year old Packard bell computer, can this be useful to do anything for recording? I assume I need a keyboard to hook into it but all I have is a 1/8 inch line in.

i have a Alesis sr 16 Drum machine can this be plugged in VIA a midi to 1/8inch adapter?

I know the computer is weak but I have bought all new Equioment(Bass, PA system Mixer 424MK111 4- track, Tascam CD-RW for our anolog studio in the basement, but i was wondering if i could do something on my Computer at Night when the rents are asleep that allows for multi-track recording. i don't want to have it great quality or a great keyboard basically a sketch pad that can be altered and a side prject for myself (drum machine,Bass vocals etc) besides our band. I don't want to unhook the whole studio downstairs to have a 4 track to use with phones at night ,plus I want to eventually learn the computer stuff any way, is it possible or a new computer is a must? PS a cheap MIDI capable keyboard, KNow any?

[This message has been edited by BassK (edited 06-03-2000).]
 
Your setup is very basic indeed and are bound to run into performance problems in a number of areas. But it is worth trying and worry about it when it happens.

If you want to use your drum machine as a MIDI device, you must connect it via a MIDI port. I am not familiar with your sound card, but being Packard Bell it is likely to be onboard (part of the motherboard). However, if it has a joystick port, chances are that you can use this as a MIDI port. That is how it works on the sounblaster cards. If that is the case, you're lucky and can connect your drum machine as a MIDI device.

If not, you will have to use the analogue recording method via the drum machine's line-out. This is where your pc will be tested as recording (analogue) wave files, pushes the performance envelope to a new level.

If you read some of the stuff on this BBS, a minimum requirement would be closer to a pentium II or Celeron. Also your 1GB hard drive will be sorely tested as wavefile recording is expensive on disk space. Even the memory of 16MB is, in today's standards, a minimum requirement just to run Windows, never mind recording software.

But, as I said earlier, worry about it when it happens. Just be aware that the chances are very high.

With regards to the keyboard, the same will apply as with the drum machine. If you don'thave a MIDI interface, you will have to use the analogue output (line-out) of the keyboard to record on the PC.

The 1/8 inch line-in jack is an analogue input. It is normally stereo and you can buy a splitter jack that will split the stereo into two mono jacks. This will allow you to record two instruments at once in mono.

For this you would need recording software. Seeing that you are referring to multitrack, i assume you want to be able to record/playback more than one track simultaneously. I have only worked with cakewalk and Cubase but there are cheaper software packages out there that will do the job for you. Maybe someone else on the BBS can help you there as being in South Africa, we tend to be slightly behind the time and the prices are not at all related to $ prices.

Hope I gave you something to work on or for another member to build on.

Good Luck
 
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