Feb 27, 2003 04:59 pm get a USB midi controller ;-)
what is the best way to add keyboards to your project
Posted on Feb 27, 2003 02:03 pm
GutterSlinger
Member Since: Jan 27, 2003
I need to put some keys in my songs, but I don't have a midi sound card. What is the best way to add keys to my home studio?
P4 1.8
Sonar XL 2.0
Fruity Loops
Midiman 2X2 usb
J-station w/J edit
omni studio delta 66 pci card
ship load of diffrent mic
quadraverb 2
line conditioner
I have been looking at a midi module and a Studio Logic SL880 controller.
I have also thought about samples and a controller
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Feb 27, 2003 08:14 pm I agree with dB here. I own a Fatar StudioLogic SL-1100. It is a wonderfull controller. But it is not cheap investment, even for the SL880. If you are looking for asimple alternative for triggering samples and some mild midi key work. Look into the new USB controllers from M-Audio, www.m-audio.com/ they have built an impressive reputation with their first generation of small controllers like the Oxygen 8 and the like. So go take a look, and if ya see something ya wanna buy. Come back here and link to Musicians Friend through the banner on this site. It will help support the community.
Feb 28, 2003 07:51 am hey man.. im in the same boat you are. almost the exact same set up... well at least computer wise. at any rate.. i have found that taking a REAL synth/piano... and using what we call a patch cord.. go from the signal out of your keys to your interface and presto, beauty. i got talked into changing my set up to all digital recording... and i love it. but to tell you the truth all these soft synths and computer programs just dont beat the real thing. your better off just saving your money and buying the real things .. cause what happens when you have to perform live? ya know? be creative, original.. go to your pawn show and find a moog, or a sequential circuts... hell i even know a few up and coming bands that use casios (like 100-200$ keys,, not bad at all) but i mean.. its just am idea! good luck dude.
Mar 01, 2003 10:24 am I can see that my procrastination relitive to midi is starting to bug me. I can't put my finger on it, but I have a huge mental block. If it does not come out of the keyboard, I am lost! So yes Mogel, I am in your camp. However, I am real frustrated with the selection of sounds that my keyboard produces, so I need to get more involved in midi. I am affraid that I will need to find someone who does midi to "walk me through it" the first time per my perception of confusion. Where I am unwilling to go is to program in notes in lou of playing or performing. My results with that are OK fine for less than real serious work. But that is primaraly a mental orientation as well.
Music is utterly too phylisophical....I love it!
Mar 01, 2003 10:26 pm Walt, I will be there for you when you are ready to jump into the midi pond. I am turning dB on to the wonders of midi as we progress through this movie and I think he is actually liking it. Maybe I got really lucky because I have used it since its birth, but I find it utterly fantastic and could not live without it. It has made so many of my jobs in the studio so much less painfull, and even much faster. When I got my first sequancers, I went as far as to write a mini symphony, with a complete orchestra of synthisized instuments. Some where in this mess, I have the audio of it. I think I will try to dig it up and post it at NWR just to show what you can do with midi and a couple of synths.
Mar 02, 2003 11:51 am Noise, thank you!, and I trust that. I have seen and heard such wonders, although not a full symphany. I can, however, envision you doing that! I will no doubt make the jump fairly soon and probably become an increadable pest. But I know you will follow through, hate it or no! My extent of midi is alowing my computer to "auto" score something I play in. Insta-sheet music for the one who wants a written sheet in front of them. The possibilities do excite me. I am probing more into SX while negiotiating to purchase it. Steinberg has moved toward Sonar in approach and have adoped many of the features you have spoken of. When the SX transaction is complete, then I will dive into midi....promise!
Mar 02, 2003 01:21 pm I just read something that sounds as if they have implemented something simaler to the draw in envelopes that are available in Sonar. If that is the case, then it will all be good. I hope that is what they have done. I too, will be doing the upgrade to SX soon. I hope I am not wasting my hard earned cash, but I think I will get my moneys worth out of it. And dont worry, I will be there when ya need me, midi is easy once you dive in. And I do love sharing the wonder of it all with everyone.
Mar 02, 2003 06:30 pm Our Pal Noize there is the midi expert, and was supposedly working on an article for us like all about midi and how to get started with it. He's probably thinking really hard about it, which is why it has taken it so long to get done. :P
But no, seriously though, Noize offered to help you with midi, take him up on the offer.
Mar 02, 2003 08:23 pm Its close Loki. I am a very slow writer in all reality. I can come here and wip stuff out in an instant, but when it comes to stiin down and crankin out a whole article, well it is like the music I write. It can take days for me to decide just exactly what I want to put where. I am to dang picky is what it all boils down to.
Mar 02, 2003 08:43 pm Sorry I'm a bit late to this thread.
Just to chip in and say that SX is definatly worth the upgrade. I couldn't stand Cubase 5 VST - I just couldn't click with it, let alone write anything that sounded good in it!
SX is 100% more intuitive and FAR more powerful - I've been using it for a few weeks and it's now become my only audio app (apart from Soundforge for sample manipulation and mastering)
well worth it IMHO.
jues.
Mar 02, 2003 10:43 pm Noize- Yeah I was just pickin on ya bud take your time.
But yeah, SX is great. I was using sonsar and made the jump to SX about a month ago and have been using it since. I'd like to start using the midi features but I, like walt, have no clue where to begin. I know that I've got a card with midi on it, and a keyboard with midi in and out... that's the extent of my knowledge. I am planning on purchasing an analog synth soon so I need to learn midi basics so that I can use a midi keyboard to control the synth
Mar 02, 2003 10:37 pm Oh Loki, I make no idle threats! Noise knows that. I surely will take him up on it. In fact, I started a little reading today. In my confusion, I have a ton of questions however and I do not want to make switching to SX any harder by burdening the process with learning midi also. And I also understand Noise's procrastination, if you want to call it that. Midi is hard to get one's arms around per my perception and most of what I see written just confirms that. It is my estimation that to simplify midi for the reader would be quiet a task.
Jues, You suprise me! I honestly thought being in school that you would be partial to pro tools as that is still a standard of sorts. I must say that your added validation to my decision to stay with Steinberg/Pinnacle is a perk!
Mar 02, 2003 10:56 pm Heh, trust me - I'm not in the "Pro" tools camp :) (just kiddin ninja ;)
As for Midi - guys, it's actually REALLY simple. All you have to do is hook the MIDI out from your keyboard into the MIDI in on your PC and you are away.
There is nothing that complicated about it at all - honestly :) (ok, so I lied, when you have 2 massive digital analouge synths, it becomes a tad complicated - but still :)
jues.
Mar 03, 2003 03:39 pm Loki, I know you are just messin,and besides. I am really hard to offend anyway so dont ever worry about that. And like jues said, midi is fairly simple, OK well maybe the basics, in to out, out to in, thru to in, and so on. There, that was easy wasnt it. But to get started it is fairly simple, just learning the differance between a patch and bank, and how they are controlled are the first steps. Not to be scary or anything, but the hard part is understanding that a single midi note can carry 6 or more messages to a synth. In the case of my Fater SL-1100 it sends (note on, note number, note velocity, key after touch, note duration, and note off), although I can program it to send less information if needed. But midi is pretty fast, so even if a synth doesnt respond to all that stuff, it will simply disregard it if not needed. Most simple controllers send only (note on, duration and note off), and that is fine for most applications. But to control a synth to get the most expresiveness out of it, the other parameters are well worth using. Ok, enough babling. back to work.
Mar 04, 2003 09:21 pm Well after watching this thread and spending many hours in the music store I am going to buy a controller and a module (E-MU). I think the controller will be found on e-bay and the module will be a 2000 series module. I thank every ones input.
Gutter Slinger
aka
Chester Willcox
Mar 04, 2003 10:17 pm OH Chester, you will love the E-MU Proteus 2000. It is one kick hiney module. I have played through them and love the tweakability of it. I have set up some patches for a friend who owns one, but has not got a clue on how to program it. I will probably replace my Proteus FX with one soon. Just have other prioritys right now.
Let us know how it goes, and when ya post some tunes.
Peace
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