A total newbie question

[Dayral Wong]

Hi,i'm a keyboardist/Pianist with a little experience on my hands to starting to get myself laid for recording equipments and post on youtube. I planned my budget wisely,very very wisely.
So,here the question:
As far as i know,people who home recording studio relied on their notebook or laptop,
and,a really important equipment..."USB AUDIO INTERFACE".
Do we really really need to have one of these? Are there any other solution?
i had a Clatronic Pro logic digital karaoke and intergrated AMP AV-611S to collob with.
And my netbook have only mic in and headphone out. So,i've been wondering maybe i can purchase a mic with XLR to stereo jack 6.5mm and stick into a socket or adapter to 3.5mm so that i could fit in my netbook mic in. Is it possible? Or solution number 2,midi to usb from my piano to my usb and record midi by using a piano VST software to make my recording sound like playing with a grand piano. Any other possible solution without USB Audio interface or i should really really get one for standard equipment quality recording?
USB AUDIO INTERFACE is the most expensive item in my list besides than buying audio jacks and midi for home studio recording.

 

[mjbphotos]

The simple answer is if you want decent quality audio, then an audio interface is necessary. Yes, you can adapt to the 1/8" mic input on your netbook (by the way, it may not be CPU-powerful enough for most recording software), but the soundcards that come with computers are not made for audio recording use and have inferior A-to-D conversion.
Yes, you could USB MIDI to the computer and record that, then use a VSTi piano program - note that a good-sounding VSTi for piano is likely to cost as much or more than a low-level audio interface ($149 is the lowest you should expect to pay for a good new AI - much lower than that the quality may suffer accordingly, unless you find a good (or used) deal.

 

[xbxrxixtx]

If you want to use a mic, get an audio interface if you want decent sounding results. I would never, NEVER, use the little mic input on a computer. Can you? Sure, but for good results, I would try to avoid it.

The cheaper option would probably be recording with a keyboard you can connect to your computer. I have a simple midi controller that I can load garageband and play whatever instrument I load into it. If you aren't trying to record vocals or anything additional away from the keyboard this would probably be the route to go. However, if you did want to add vocals, or something else like a guitar, then you would still end up with the same problem.

It really comes down to the quality you want, and what else you want to record. Strictly keyboard, just connect it to your computer. Using a mic or anything else, use an interface. If you want to get into recording in gneral, getting an interface is a good place to start. You can find interfaces fairly cheap. You wouldn't need anything big with a lot of inputs.

 

[ecc83]

Hi Dayral and welcome.
If you want to record acoustic piano you definately need an interface. The piano is a difficult thing to record even with a "pro" setup. Think about it? It's big. Treble out of one end, bass out of the other and all the middly stuff in the middle! Trying to get a balanced sound with one mic is a nightmare (yeah, if you have a "nice" big, v quiet room and you can "back off".......?)

You must get an interface but you can go second hand and the best unit IMHO is the M-Audio fast track pro. Tough as OBs and very solid drivers that work on any computer on the planet. They seem to average around 80 UK pounds on The Bay but you might get one cheaper. The pro is also a MIDI interface so you can record data as well as audio.

To record two audio channels plus MIDI you need very little computing power. I have used my pro with a V old HP laptop, 850MHz! 512ram and that would record 24bits (must do) at 44.1kHz for as long as the dinky 20G hard drive allowed.

For piano software checkout Pianoteq.

So, get an AI and then come back with more questions.

Dave.

 

[mjbphotos]

Well, he''s not recording an acoustic piano, because he mentions USB-out fro his piano to record MIDI.

Depending on his specs, a netbook probably is not going to be too satisfactory for recording, just scanning the sales for Best Buy and Walmart, they seem to have no more than 2G RAM and speeds of no more than 1.7GHz. Yes, you can get away with 2G RAM (I did until earlier this year), but that's real slow processing speed.

 

[ecc83]

Well, he''s not recording an acoustic piano, because he mentions USB-out fro his piano to record MIDI.

Depending on his specs, a netbook probably is not going to be too satisfactory for recording, just scanning the sales for Best Buy and Walmart, they seem to have no more than 2G RAM and speeds of no more than 1.7GHz. Yes, you can get away with 2G RAM (I did until earlier this year), but that's real slow processing speed.

The OP started out talking about a "mic into XLR>1/8" adaptor?

Then, if 1.7G and 2G ram is borderline how do you account for my success with 1/2 that processor speed and 1/4 the ram?

But there is no point in getting into a cow here. The guy needs a usb Audio Interface WHATEVER he plugs it into and the Fast track pro is likely to be the most reliable and readily available option. If his netbook don't work with that, it will work with nothing else!

Dave.

 

[JimmyS1969]

The OP started out talking about a "mic into XLR>1/8" adaptor?

Then, if 1.7G and 2G ram is borderline how do you account for my success with 1/2 that processor speed and 1/4 the ram?

But there is no point in getting into a cow here. The guy needs a usb Audio Interface WHATEVER he plugs it into and the Fast track pro is likely to be the most reliable and readily available option. If his netbook don't work with that, it will work with nothing else!

Dave.

Oh, you got into the cow alright! lol!

There are many variables that will compromise performance, other than just the speed of (one/multi) processor and ram. Specs don't mean crap if the comp is not setup for recording.

First/best step is to use an external A/D-D/A interface, but even then, the cows may not come home on time for dinner. Cows are slow IME.

MIDI input for an external keyboard does not seem to be your issue. You can find VST's that can make this happen, though these can require quite a bit of computer processing speed to play live without latency. If you need analog (audio) inputs at the same time as your MIDI input, then an interface is the only way you will make this happen simultaneously. Well, at any good level of quality and.....

Express 'exactly' what it is that you wish to do at one time, and we can flock the sheep (cows) together, and come up with a purchase recommendation for you.

Moooo....

 

[ecc83]

Oh, you got into the cow alright! lol!

There are many variables that will compromise performance, other than just the speed of (one/multi) processor and ram. Specs don't mean crap if the comp is not setup for recording.

First/best step is to use an external A/D-D/A interface, but even then, the cows may not come home on time for dinner. Cows are slow IME.

MIDI input for an external keyboard does not seem to be your issue. You can find VST's that can make this happen, though these can require quite a bit of computer processing speed to play live without latency. If you need analog (audio) inputs at the same time as your MIDI input, then an interface is the only way you will make this happen simultaneously. Well, at any good level of quality and.....

Express 'exactly' what it is that you wish to do at one time, and we can flock the sheep (cows) together, and come up with a purchase recommendation for you.

Moooo....

...Errrr?... RIGHT!
FWIIW I also found the pro driven from an Evo Ekeys 49 controller gave quite acceptable latency when used via the Pro's DINs and said laptop. For sure Win Wavetable was slow but the little Evo sampler app' was very fast indeed.

But as you say, untill the op gives chapter and verse, we must wait.

Dave.

 

[JimmyS1969]

...Errrr?... RIGHT!
FWIIW I also found the pro driven from an Evo Ekeys 49 controller gave quite acceptable latency when used via the Pro's DINs and said laptop. For sure Win Wavetable was slow but the little Evo sampler app' was very fast indeed.

But as you say, untill the op gives chapter and verse, we must wait.

Dave.

And again, Moooo.

Yeah, until we know exactly what the OP is wishing to do, and what he has, we are just guessing. And saying cowy things like 'moooo'. Which I believe is Norwegian for 'moooo'.

Maybe we should start a new thread?

Dammit! I tried to rep you. Must spread.....

 

[mjbphotos]

The OP started out talking about a "mic into XLR>1/8" adaptor?

Then, if 1.7G and 2G ram is borderline how do you account for my success with 1/2 that processor speed and 1/4 the ram?

But there is no point in getting into a cow here. The guy needs a usb Audio Interface WHATEVER he plugs it into and the Fast track pro is likely to be the most reliable and readily available option. If his netbook don't work with that, it will work with nothing else!

Dave.

You've only got 500M RAM? I can only assume you don't do a lot of tracks or VSTs that need process power (like VSTis and reverbs). My system used to drag down with 2G RAM @ 2.6G speed.

 

[ecc83]

You've only got 500M RAM? I can only assume you don't do a lot of tracks or VSTs that need process power (like VSTis and reverbs). My system used to drag down with 2G RAM @ 2.6G speed.

Noooo! That was an old HP laptop I had (son has lent it to a mate, whose sddress I do not know then buggered off to France!) . For sure it could do little else BUT run 2 tracks at 24bits/44.1k but it would do so for as long as you needed without a glitch. Son used it with the FTTpro to make acoustic guitar recordings since the wee thing was practically silent, as is BTW my spanking HP i3 W7/64 lappy (4G ram).

This P4 I type on is XP home with 3G cpu and 2G ram and runs quite well (DPC latency checker returns ab max 89mu Secs). The main "music" computer is a 2x2.7G HP with 2G ram running W7/64 premium. Seems fine but I would like another 2G in there but HP want $130 for a second stick?

But you are right in that Son does not run much in the way of plugins, least not whilst tracking. He will slap down a guitar track, acoustic, micc'ed amp or DI Strat and then maybe use a bit of verb and compression later. He also builds stuff up a track at a time with a MIDI dumb keyboard and Cubase LE6.

Dave.

 

[mjbphotos]

OK, that makes sense, didn't want to confuse the OP.