help with a midisport

[gillon]

HELP
I have just purchased a midiman midisport usb 1x1. I purchased this after consulting many user forums on the web, and it had a great write up. However it is not what I expected, and I hope someone can answer a few simple questions.

1 My spec for using the midisport was for a way to record a simple track which would allow my son to play acoustic guitar and sing at the same time. I thought that the midisport would give me the capabilities for a second input, the first input being from the soundcard. I think I will need some form of converter to connect the midi in port on the midisport a 5 pin connection to a microphone jackplug. Can you advise where I can purchase such.

2 In the manual it mentions a sound module from the midi out port, can you please tell me what a sound module is and if I can utilise the midi out port in any other way.

3 Can I link two midisports or more together if I need to upgrade at a later date for more inputs.

I hope you can help with these queries, the recording set up is a present for my sons christmas, I have no musical talent however I am a computer techie, so any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation
Ray Gillon

 

[AlChuck]

Oh man... I'm sorry to tell you, but MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) is a bunch of messages that tell devices what notes to play, what patch numbers to play them on, how loud to trigger them, etc. It's designed to communicate between computers and synthesizers, drum machines. etc. to synch them up and trigger them. But the actual sounds are produced by the device recieving the messages -- they are not part of the messages that are sent.

Basically it's like a player piano where the roll makes the mechanism that moves the keys go... the roll does not inherently contain any sound -- only instuctions to a device that understands that can then make the actual sounds.

You are confusing digital audio, where a signal from a microphone, etc., is changed into a digital representation of the sound. This is distinct and very different than MIDI.

-AlChuck

 

[gillon]

DOH!!!
thanks for the reply, screwed up this time, looks like i'll have to buy a keyboard to use the midisport.

One quick question to achieve the 2 inputs ie guitar and vocals, could I use a second sound card for this. I
have one spare irq which i can utilise, or do I need what you guys term a breakout box. I am trying to set up this system on a shoestring, so cost is all important
any advice would be much appreciated
Gillon

 

[AlChuck]

gillon,

Do you already have a sound card in the computer? Most inexpensive cards have a stereo line in. You can use this for two mono sources too.