Keyboard Vs. Midi

  • Thread starter Thread starter Redkid53
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Redkid53

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I want to record some small keyboard parts for a few songs. I record through a laptop into Cakewalk Home Studio. Just wondering if it's better to use the keyboard as a line in, so the actual sound of the keyboard is recorded. Or, since the keyboard has midi capabilities, should I use this. I am a newbie, and know nothing about keyboards or midi stuff, so go easy on me.
 
I don't play keyboard and hardly use midi but:

You could do it both ways.......

one pro of going with the midi direction:

It is possible, depending on your keyboard, that you could record using the midi and that would allow you to experiment and change the midi patches or soundeffects after the fact of recording.........


In otherwords, if you record with the line in then you are stuck with what ever keyboard sound you recorded with....say it's a grand piano sound and you discover that the sound doesn't fit the song very well.......If you went with the midi way, then depending on your midi capabilities, you may be able to change that sound that you don't like after recording without playing it over...........whereas if you recorded it with the line in you are stuck with that sound if you don't like it, either that or you'll have to record it again......


You might want to read your manuals and see what you can do...


Also, I'm sure others here will have good advice for you too...
 
It all boils down to the quality of the l keyboard (it's internal sound).

If it sucks then you can benefit using the midi ability to use an external sound source.

Midi isnt a sound by itself but rather a command.
 
Keyboard / MIDI

Not that I particularly know anything about this, but it would seem that recording the MIDI data is preferable to recording audio from the keyboard.

If you record MIDI data:

When you play back you can change the voice any way you feel like. You can use synth voices from your soundcard. You can use soft synth voices. You can use some other external module (if you have one).

You can edit the data really easily. Velocity of individual notes, timing of notes, speed of piece, key, pitch of individual notes, whatever.

And, assuming the keyboard has a MIDI in (which I would think it would, since it's a synthesizer and not just a controller), you can later produce the same audio you're producing now by sending the MIDI data from the computer to the keyboard with it set to the same patch. So you don't really give anything up.
 
Yah....that's what I was trying to say....Voice is the correct word
 
It is better to record the MIDI performance and then allow the sequencer (in your case Cakewalk) to trigger the sounds from what ever keyboard/module you choose.

There are several advantages. As already indicated you can then change the sounds (voices) as you go along (vs. recording the analog sound and now you're pretty much stuck with it).

Also most software allows various editingof both MIDI and digital audio (but it is normally easier to edit the MIDI data - in particular if you change tempo.

In addition, it it likely that your keyboard can play multiple MIDI channels which again gives you more options than simply recording sounds. A MIDI device transmits and recieves 16 "channels" of MIDI signals through a single MIDI cable.

This means you can record a piano part (into one track of Cakewalk) then a bass line (into a second track) then a drum beat (on yet another track) - repeat up to 16 tracks. Then you can program your keyboard to recieve the piano on MIDI channel 1 and the bass line on MIDI channel 2, etc.

Most modern keyboards are multi-timbral (more than one sound or voice at a time) and polyphonic up to 32, 64 or more notes (polyphonic simply means how many notes can it play at the same time).

Obviously you need to read your manuals - but if you figured out how to load Cakewalk into your computer you can figure MIDI out.
 
MIDI is the answer... You can edit everyrthing latter (eg.Note, controler, sound patch, etc.)... MIDI also take alot less CPU power & disk space used. :)



BTW... Redkid53, are you still there...?
 
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