Midi help
I guess this isnt really "home recording" specifically, but i am using a keyboard that only has a few voices - just the basics, piano, organ, etc - and i am wondering if its possible to use midi to essentially add voices, while still playing through the line out on the keyboard?
Re: Midi help
No. Midi is basically just data that represents the keys that you play with your hands. Which keys and how how hard you play each (velocity). With a midi cable can send that data out to another device (another keyboard or tone module) or a computer and that device can play the notes using other sounds (e.g. strings, drums, etc.) but the sound will not come out of your current keyboard. The sound is originating from another device so the audio signal will have to come out of that device.
- Sparqee
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Re: Midi help
What you describe is commonly referred to as "latency" and the greatest source of latency when a computer is used as a tone module is the audio interface. If you're using a common computer sound card as your audio interface then you're pretty much stuck with a lot of latency. If you get a more pro level interface then you can get the sound to come out of your computer fast enough so that you don't hear or even feel a delay between when you hit a chord on your keyboard and when you hear the sound. Plan on spending at least a couple hundred bucks.
The Tascam US-122 is a popular external audio interface and I find it barely passable for live playing. The delay is short enough that you don't really hear it but to me it feels as if the keyboard were slightly sluggish (because in fact the sound is ever so slightly delayed). There are many to choose from, read up on the reviews in this site and others.
- Sparqee
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Re: Midi help
Hi, I posted a message in the intro thread earlier but should have looked here first...
I use Reason 3.0 for receiving midi inputs and can actually get *pretty* close to no latency just by tweaking some of the settings of my comp's audio card inside Reason (mainly, the buffer rate setting). However, there is still a noticeable delay in this setting... something I tried to get used to and can sometimes manage well, depending on what piece I am playing.
Then I purchased the Line 6 Toneport UX1 to record voice and guitar and found that I can also run my keyboard's midi signal through its ASIO instead of my own computer, and this practically eliminates any latency for me.
So, I guess what I'm saying is... if you can find a way to tweak the buffer rate settings on your existing soundcard, you might be able to get close to no latency without totally ruining the sound. Otherwise, if you are looking for a better solution, you'll probably have to look into getting other hardware. If you want a lot of bang for your buck, I recommend the combination of Reason and the Line 6 Toneport. They seem to work well together and open up a million other opportunities if you want to get into recording or sequencing.
Re: Midi help
Don't know if this will help you at all, but when I was still using my onboard soundchip years ago I used the ASIO4ALL driver - its basically a low latency driver that will run on pretty much any soundcard; that should take your latency down to the point where you barely notice it (I think I got mine to about 13ms using an internal intel sound chip on a PIII).
You should be able to find it easily enough on google and it'll bridge the gap in between this and getting gear lust and upgrading the soundcard :P
