Recording Keybords

Are you running a line from the keyboard straight into the computer?

I think if you run it into an amp and mic that, you might get a fuller piano sound. That's about as close to "the real thing" as you can get.
 
Tjbogin, seeing that your keyboards are midi compatible you can also go the route of a software sampler app, like the Steinberg Grand piano of GigaStudio. The piano sounds are so realistic it hurts!
 
tjbogin said:
Some of the sounds and records are clearly MIDI and I want them to sound like the real thing.


Can you clear up what you mean when you say "the sounds [sic] are clearly MIDI?"

MIDI dosen't sound like anything, it isn't audio.

Carl
 
When I hear MIDI, I imagine sounds of an electronic keyboard. Or MIDI files on a computer.

I say that because I've never used SoundFonts before. I guess that's where you could get confused.
 
sometimes if i'm recording an "embarassingly digital" sounding piano, i'll run it through a PA amp/speaker and use a room mic only several feet away (say, 6 ft or so). natural reverb kinda covers up a cold, digital keyboard nicely.
 
Some keyboards sound better than others. What you want to do is start out with the best sounding keyboard you can afford. Usually, the more you spend, the better it will sound.

Anyways

You can make anything sound better, but what "better" means to you is subjective. Try recording through a DI into a good audio interface to get the best sound into the computer as possible. Then layer the tracks to make the sound not as cheap sounding. Process the tracks making them sound more alive. Mix and pan the tracks and before you know, the sounds will be so much more better than they were, regardless of the keyboard.

I know nothing about the keyboard you are using, so I'm not bashing it at all. BUT some of the keyboard brands spend a lot more time creating the pre sets making them sound great!

Its kind of like us as musicians trying to make the best quality sounding songs as possible and the process we take to achieve it. Some of the brands spend a lot of time trying to make their stock sounds sounds as great as possible, while many don't. But with quality, come higher prices in most cases.

My advice to you is to buy a keyboard that has awesome sounds already. Then make them sound even better! Why buy something with soso sounds to make them better sounding when you can start off with better and make them sound greater?
 
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