My proposed setup for midi

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xiaoken

New member
I have a yamaha psr 280 with midi in/out. I got myself a copy of cubase.

Is this enough for making music with midi? I don't think I'll need any mikes as I'm just one man and I don't know any instruments.

Also, can I eq and add effects from within cubase on midi tracks to create those crazy sounds?
 
You will still need to record the audio outs of the keyboard if you want to add any effects or put the sound on CD.
 
I understand the part about putting the sound on CD, but effects?

I thought I can do it in cubase directly to the midi tracks?
 
xiaoken said:
I have a yamaha psr 280 with midi in/out. I got myself a copy of cubase.

Is this enough for making music with midi? I don't think I'll need any mikes as I'm just one man and I don't know any instruments.

Also, can I eq and add effects from within cubase on midi tracks to create those crazy sounds?
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You need a soundcard that will allow you to use a midi. Once you have the setup then yes you can add effects to your midi tracks in cubase. I also think that you will be wanting a mic at some point for at least adding some vocals or maybe just voice overs.
 
Re: Re: My proposed setup for midi

NYMorningstar said:




You need a soundcard that will allow you to use a midi. Once you have the setup then yes you can add effects to your midi tracks in cubase. I also think that you will be wanting a mic at some point for at least adding some vocals or maybe just voice overs.
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I have a soundblaster live value. Will that do?
 
You need a soundcard that will allow you to use a midi. Once you have the setup then yes you can add effects to your midi tracks in cubase. I also think that you will be wanting a mic at some point for at least adding some vocals or maybe just voice overs.
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There are a few things misleading about your advice here, NYMorningstar.

First off, what do you mean by "a soundcard that will allow you to use a midi?" There are basically three possibilities here -- a soundcard with no MIDI hardware at all, a soundcard with a MIDI interface only, and a soundcard with a MIDI interface and a MIDI synth. (There might be some soundcards that have a MIDI synth and no MIDI interface but I've not seen one.)

Whichever way, the only way that you can normally add effects to the MIDI parts on the computer in the usual sense is to have them recorded to audio first.

The things we usually mean when we speak of effects -- compression, EQ, delay, reverb, flanging, etc. -- can only be applied to audio data. Adding such effects "within Cubase" or in any other recording application is typically done with software plug-ins-- VST or DirectX -- that process the audio data. They can't be applied to MIDI data sensibly any more than they could be applied to a digitized photograph or a Microsoft Word document.

The so-called MIDI "effects" that some applications offer affect the MIDI messages -- for example, making arpeggios by copying and varying exisiting MIDI notes in the track with a tempo-based spacing, etc.

It's possible -- common, even -- that the MIDI synth itself has its own effects that can be applied, and over which you have some control with MIDI messages -- it's part of the General MIDI specification to have chorus and reverb, for example. But again, these effects are added by the sound module to the audio data that's being played in response to the MIDI messages.

So the answer to xiaoken's question that "I thought I can do it in cubase directly to the midi tracks?" is "no, not unless you record them to audio tracks first."
 
I have a soundblaster live value. Will that do?

Another thing is, do I need a drum machine? Or will the drum sets of the keyboard do for now.
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xiaoken,

If you have a SoundBlaster Live, you have many options. It has both a MIDI interface to connect your keyboard's MIDI output, and a very decent onboard synth/sampler that can be your MIDI instrument.

The best thing about it is that it will allow you to use alternative sound sets by loading up sound set files called Sound Fonts. These can sound really good depending on how well they were created, so you are not limited to the somewhat anemic normal set of GM sounds most cheap soundcards provide.

You don't need a drum machine at all, you can use the keyboard's drums or use the SB Live with one of many excellent drum kit Sound Fonts that are available.

First, you need to have the adapter that allows a MIDI cable to be plugged into the SB Live's game port. It has a D-shaped game port plug on one side and two round MIDI plugs on the other. This might or might not already be in your posession. If not, they are readily avaliable and fairly cheap ($20 or less).

Once you have the MIDI interface cabled to the keyboard, you have the following options:
  • Record the MIDI data from your keyboard to a Cubase MIDI track and use the keyboard's sounds (in which case you will need to route the keyboard's audio output into the Sound Blaster's Line In in order to record the sound to Cubase audio tracks).
  • Record the MIDI data from your keyboard to a Cubase MIDI track and use the soundcard's sounds.
  • Record the MIDI data from your keyboard to a Cubase MIDI track and use both the keyboard's sounds and the soundcard's sounds.


Once you have gotten to the point where you want to mix down to stereo and put reverb on the snare drum, for example, then it's time to "render" the MIDI tracks to audio. That is, you simply record the actual sound played by the sound source or sources to an audio track. Once you've done that you can apply VST effects to your rendered tracks 'til the cows come home.

Now, excuse me if I'm off base, but... something about the way you asked your questions causes me to suspect that you don't understand what MIDI actually is. It sounds (no pun intended) like you think MIDI is some form of, or contains some form of sound. It is not and does not -- it is information about sound -- about which notes were hit, how hard they were hit, when they were hit, how long they were held down -- but no sound itself.

If this is confusing, I would highly recommend you read up on it, starting with whatever material you have from Cubase. Here's a good link to a collection of many articles about MIDI (the site also includes every other recording technology topic you can i think of):

http://www.studiocovers.com/articles10.htm

It's hard to tell which ones are the good novice ones and which are more advanced from the titles, but it's worth trawling through if you are unclear on the concepts.

Good luck!
 
Thanks AlChuck. You have certainly clear many doubts about midi for me. I think I will go read up that website you posted.
 
AlChuck said:


There are a few things misleading about your advice here, NYMorningstar.

First off, what do you mean by "a soundcard that will allow you to use a midi?" There are basically three possibilities here -- a soundcard with no MIDI hardware at all, a soundcard with a MIDI interface only, and a soundcard with a MIDI interface and a MIDI synth. (There might be some soundcards that have a MIDI synth and no MIDI interface but I've not seen one.)

Whichever way, the only way that you can normally add effects to the MIDI parts on the computer in the usual sense is to have them recorded to audio first.


So the answer to xiaoken's question that "I thought I can do it in cubase directly to the midi tracks?" is "no, not unless you record them to audio tracks first."
Click to expand...

Sorry to have mislead you AlChuck but I was under the impression TexRoadkill had already answered that part of xiaoken's question. I do respect your need to repeat that however and clarify a few other points that I just didn't have the time to address ( I have a demanding life and can give back only little chunks right now). All I intended was to add that he needed a soundcard that will interface with his midi not knowing at the time that he had one. So what's up with the criticism and what exactly was it I said that was misleading?
 
The criticism was only because I thought it very possible that xiaoken might be confused by it. He seemed to not be clear on what MIDI is and I thought that the way you said what you said could mislead him. Nothing personal.

As to what you said that was misleading, I thought I spelled it out pretty thoroughly... but basically you suggested that "yes, you can apply effects to MIDI tracks in Cubase," when in fact you can't. Perhaps you thought it was clear that you implicitly meant "after recording them to audio," but it wasn't to me, and it probably wasn't to xiaoken either.

Your terminology was a little odd too. You said he needed a soundcard that could "use a MIDI." Use a MIDI... what? Usually MIDI is used as an adjective (as in MIDI file, MIDI sequence, MIDI synth, MIDI interface...) I have seen people use it as a noun when referring to MIDI files as "midis," but not in any other way.

I used to be a technical writer, and once a tech writer, always a tech writer, I guess -- always trying to clarify things. I didn't mean to offend, sorry if I did.
 
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