How the hell does this midi stuff work?

[schnozzle]

I play bass, and I'm clueless about keyboards, but I'd like to be able to play a few synthesizer bleeps on my recordings. What exactly do I need to get to do this, apart from a keyboard with a midi out? If I have a computer, can I get software to make these noises? Can I somehow hook said keyboard to my computer to play sounds? Please assume in your replies that I am a technical bonehead of sorts.

Thankee.

[Rick Hunter]

You need some sort of sequencer. A computer or some hardware sequencer. If you use a computer you need a midi interface. Motu makes a great 2 in 2 out unit called the fastlane, thats what I recomend. Also get some software that suports midi. Then the fun begins!

[housepig]

first off, don't panic.

second, think of Midi like an old player piano - you punch holes in a piece of paper, load it into the piano, the paper goes around and the holes tell the piano what to play.

midi is the same thing, the info in the file tells a connected midi device what note to hit, when to hit it, how hard and how long to hit it, and when to let go.

so to play a midi file, you need a sequencer that can read it, and something for the sequencer to control, like a keyboard hooked to your computer.

for a basic sequencer on the free-free, check out Jazz++. Less free and more powerful, go to the local computer superstore and look on their clearance rack for Magix Music Studio 6 (or 5). for around $10, you'll get a 256-track sequencer, with a 24-track audio recording studio built in. And it accepts VST plugins, which means you can tap into the scads of free effects and instruments all over the web.

okay, but I'm getting ahead. in your local computer superstore, you should also be able to find, for $15 or less, an adapter that plugs into your joystick port on your soundcard, and gives you a midi in and a midi out.

You plug your sound device into that, fire up your sequencer, tell it to look for your soundcard's midi out and midi in as it's default devices, and you should be able to get notes in and out from your computer to your sound device and back again.

more later. my pizza just came out of the oven. hope this helps.

[dirty]

hey there. i'm a bonehead too, so don't worry. it can be done.

i have reason, which is a great program. it has a ton of software synths that make great sounds, plus samplers and drums... i really can't recommend it highly enough. all you need to use it is a way to get your midi into the computer.

that means a midi interface of some kind. there are lots of these, and since i use an oxygen 8 (which is kinda a keyboard/interface in one) i don't know much about them. but they're not too pricey and a usb one should work fine.

if you want to do audio recording along with your sequencing, you need a program that can handle audio in (i.e. not Reason). I use Cubase, which is cool because it supports ReWire.

Basically, that means that you can take separate devices in reason (i.e. one synth, one drum machine.) and bring them into cubase as separate audio tracks. then you've got all the effects/mixing capabilities of a DAW, plus the ability to record live audio along with it. (of course, that means an audio interface, which is why i covet something like the Tascam FW1884, which can do both...)

so my two cents is (are?) that if you've got the cash to spring from Reason and a midi interface, do it. if you've got the cash for Cubase, send it to me. (just kidding, get that too.)

hope that helps. and it's only one opinion in a notoriously picky argument...

[dirty]

ummm.... boy. housepig's advice is WAY better than mine. listen to him/her.

[hardLeft]

If all you really care about is a few synth sounds here and there, and you don't already have a keyboard, then get Native Instruments' Pro-53 software (very cheap on EvilBay, especially if it is Pro-52). You can play it with your computer keyboard, i.e. you don't have to worry about getting a piano-like keyboard to control the midi, nor a midi cable nor a midi box. At this point you are DONE, as long as what your recorder's gozintas match you soundcard/interface gozoutas. If not, then you can do something crazy like micing your monitors for those synth sounds.

This approach assumes that you really want cute noises here and there and not necessarily a complex part that establishes or follows closely the melody; if that is the case, then you should probably get a piano-like keyboard to control your midi; any ole keyboard with a midi out will do. For me, the Pro-53 has most of the neat sounds you would associate with a synth, i.e. string, brass, lead, pad, etc. Hours of entertainment.

Hope that's helpful.

[YOUR KONG]

But just to make sure we're not putting the cart before the horse - are you sure you want MIDI? Because you can get synths that will make bloops by themselves and have 1/4" outs, so you can amp them, DI them, etc., and no MIDI is necessary.

Otherwise, yes, listen to these guys.

[thenumber]

okay since no one actually answered yr question, ill shoot

you mentioned that you have a midi keyboard, so ill go from there

you need a midi interface. this allows you to plug a midi cable out of yr keyboard and into your computer. MOST soundcards have a joystick port which doubles as a midi port. If you wanna use this, you gotta get a midi->joystick adapter cable. theyre like 3 dollars or something. This would be your best start, to see if youre into the whole synth shit. If you want something better, i suggest the midiman 2x2 USB interface - its never failed me

next, you need the correct software. SOME soft-synths will open on their own, as stand alone programs. All you do is select your midi input drive in the setup (most likley MPU-401 - thats standard driver for soundcard inputs in Windows), select the channel (every midi connection has 16 channels - for sake of ease, choose channel 1 output on your keybard, and channel 1 input in your soft-synth) and play away. Yr ready to rock

now, there are a shitload of free soft synths out there. most of them come in VST format. VST hosts load VST instruments. youll need a VST host. theyre just big programs with sequencers and shit, kind of the motherbrain of all the little VST instruments. there are tons of them, Orion, Renoise, Buzz, Fruityloops, Cubase, Digital Performer, etc. Do some research on these. Buzz is free, so its rad, but its unstable as all fucking hell. http://www.kvr-vst.com/ for all your vst needs

So now your playing soft-synths with your midi keyboard. YAY. How do you plan on getting the audio out of your softsynth into your recorder? If yr using the same computer to record as you are to play your synth... its harder. But we can get into this once you actually get a synth working

good luck

[schnozzle]

Heyy everybody--

Thanks for the tips, this really helps! I should have been more specific about the kind of sounds I'm looking for and what I planned on doing with them--I want to lay them down as overdubs onto my analog 8-track rtr. So I planned on either running a line from my pc's soundcard straight into my mixer, or running the signal into an amp and mic'ing that. I'm not going to record anything inside my computer, I just want to be able to play my computer/synth as a real time instrument and record that onto tape.

I don't actually have a midi keyboard controller yet but planned on getting one as it seemed the most sensible way to play the sounds I'm after. At the moment I'm basically looking for two sounds: burbling bleepy noises a la "Once In A Lifetime" by Talking Heads, and a reasonable approximation of the organ sound heard on Velvet Underground or Modern Lovers records. I don't intend to play anything complex, mostly just chords to sit in the background (again, like the Velvets).

I'd actually thought about getting one of those faux-guitar synth controllers (since I'm not too experienced with the ivories) but I'm under the impression they don't work all that well, and they seem like they've become kinda expensive lately.