Hello, new to this board. I need some advice. Here's the setup: I have two keyboards, a mid-80s analog Roland Juno-106 (one of the first with MIDI) and an early-90s Kawai K11 (typical multivoice synth). I bought the Kawai because it had a dedicated Mac interface plug (one of the old style little round plugs that Mac used for printers and modems). I also bought Opcode's MusicShop, which was a 16-track sequencer. I found it intuitively easy to use. The synths went into storage for, oh, 15 years pretty much. Now they're out again, in a basement studio room. Problem is, the Mac has not aged well; it barely turns on, has no memory or disc space, and anything I would create would be trapped in the Mac or on useless floppy discs. I went to a modern music store, and was promptly told I'd need a $1000 Mac, a $500 sequencing program, a MIDI interface of some sort (USB-to-MIDI so the 'puter and keys could talk), a mixer, a digital recording device... or, I could by a nice new all-in-one unit like the Korg Kronos, if I happened to have a spare $3000 lying around. All I need is a sequencing program that will: - change the GM tracks on the Kawai to the right instrument I want to use - "record" 16 tracks (preferably with Replace and Punch options so I can overdub) - preferably quantize (I can be sloppy) - have some sort of onboard mixer that effects the "sound out" of the Kawai, so if I send the signal to a mixing board it's correct for recording - output in a file form like .MIDI which allows me to store on SD or thumbdrive I would be willing to buy a used PC or Mac laptop (preferably with WiFi because the sound room doesn't have Internet but I think it can reach my apartment's wireless router signal). I would be willing to use shareware or freeware if it suits those purposes I listed; I don't need a professional $500 program, I just need something that's fairly simple and does those basics, like MusicShop did. I also need to buy something to connect the keys and 'puter, apparently, since the Kawai probably can no longer "talk" to a newer computer via the old Mac port. I assume I'll need a MIDI box. I suppose I need to buy some sort of digital recorder, as well... although maybe with modern technology I can now reroute the sound coming out of the Kawai back into the computer and just make a .WAV file? The music store had quite a few programs that looked expensive and confusing. Best Buy only has Sony's Acid Music Studio which, from reading the box, looks more about making loops and using onboard sound patches in the program. I'm not really looking for that; I'm just looking for something that will trigger a real-world synth. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks!
Except for the bits about changing the GM tracks, some of the free software let's you do most of what you want, so it might be best to try them out before spending money. I use Anvil as my sequencer: http://www.anvilstudio.com/ I use Kristal as the "digital recorder" - it let's you convert audio input from the keyboard into wav files etc. http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/index.php?section=download To connect up the likes of the Juno to the PC, you need a midi-USB cable like this: http://www.swamp.net.au/usb-to-midi-interface-cable.html The Y-man
Here is Reaper, freeware http://www.reaper.fm/download.php List of free midi software: http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/pc/PCMidi.shtml Audacity is a free audio recorder http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
I don't think Reaper is free, but it's far cheaper than most of the commercial competitors. The best bet is download demos of all of them. Try em out, see which one you take a shine too. I always loved Cubase, never really got on with Digital Performer, and was a bit underwhelmed with Logic. I'm now currently using (and getting used to) Reaper.
I never said Reaper is free, I said it's freeware. Freeware (from "free" and "software") is software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee,[1] but usually with one or more restricted usage rights.
