Hooking up your keyboard to a PC (Recording)

Joined
Jun 18, 2008
Messages
395
Reaction score
27
Location
Sweden
If you want to record directly what you play use plain audio cables. One side in your "Headphones output" on your keyboard, and the other side in your audio card "input" (mostly blue colored)

Hmm... Do you think I might be able to use the same cable to connect my guitar amp do the computer? They both have the same kind of headphone output, so it should work, shouldn't it?
 
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
108
Reaction score
0
Location
Chicago
http://www.tweakheadz.com/all_about_cables.htm

http://www.tweakheadz.com/setting_up_your_audio_card.htm

Read the entire article. You have to understand balanced and unbalanced cables or you might start cooking some of your stuff - oh, boy!! Nothing like fried I/O cards for breakfast with a side of smoke filled nostrils!!

Not quite to that extreme but you run the risk of killing your AD/DA converters forever!! Direct boxes are key. Why do you think they make soundcards and outboard recording interfaces?? If it was as simple as your idea - there would be no need for all of this equipment. It can be done from headphone jack on your keyboard to your mic jack on your computer but the sound will only be good for reference purposes!! BE VERY CAREFUL!!! make sure all of our volumes are down to 0 and bring the volumes up gradually.
 
Joined
Jul 18, 2007
Messages
817
Reaction score
16
http://www.tweakheadz.com/all_about_cables.htm

http://www.tweakheadz.com/setting_up_your_audio_card.htm

Read the entire article. You have to understand balanced and unbalanced cables or you might start cooking some of your stuff - oh, boy!! Nothing like fried I/O cards for breakfast with a side of smoke filled nostrils!!

Not quite to that extreme but you run the risk of killing your AD/DA converters forever!! Direct boxes are key. Why do you think they make soundcards and outboard recording interfaces?? If it was as simple as your idea - there would be no need for all of this equipment. It can be done from headphone jack on your keyboard to your mic jack on your computer but the sound will only be good for reference purposes!! BE VERY CAREFUL!!! make sure all of our volumes are down to 0 and bring the volumes up gradually.

signed :)
 
Joined
Aug 8, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
please help me out i have cubase and a motif xs8 and im having a hard setting it up. can someone please let me kno what cables i need and how to set it up thx!
 
Joined
Aug 8, 2008
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Location
Haderslev, Denmark
Hey. OK, I've heard you other people talking a little about latency in this topic, but I'm curious to get some answers myself. As you prescribe, I plug the cable into the headphones on my keyboard and the line in on my computer.

So, now the headphones plug in the keyboard is taken - and when I use the headphones on my computer, I get a latency that it's just not possible for me to live with. Can this be changed? Or should I just record while listening to my amp instead of my headphones (which I very muich prefer)??
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
294
Reaction score
2
Location
Bath or Durham, England
...should I just record while listening to my amp instead of my headphones (which I very muich prefer)??

Yes. The signal you get out from the computer has been processed by your recording software, (called software playthrough) so there will be a significant lag unless you have a very powerful computer.
 
Joined
Jun 18, 2008
Messages
395
Reaction score
27
Location
Sweden
Yes. The signal you get out from the computer has been processed by your recording software, (called software playthrough) so there will be a significant lag unless you have a very powerful computer.

This makes sense, since the signal goes from your keyboard, to the computer and into softsynths and/or recording, then to the speakers/headset. So logically it would come out of the speakers later than into the recorder.

However, I've just encoutered a problem where the exact opposite occurs... There is barely any delay at all between pressing the key on the keyboard, and getting the sound out of my computers headset, but there is a delay between pressing the key, and recording the sound.

I.ex, I record a drum beat, together with a metronome. Then I record a keyboard riff while listening to the drum beat, and playing it pretty tight. But when I press play to listen, it's not tight at all, sometimes the keyboard even runs away off-beat, even though I played on-beat...

I'm getting slightly annoyed about that, and would really like some help solving it...
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
294
Reaction score
2
Location
Bath or Durham, England
However, I've just encoutered a problem where the exact opposite occurs... There is barely any delay at all between pressing the key on the keyboard, and getting the sound out of my computers headset, but there is a delay between pressing the key, and recording the sound.

I've always had the recording delay, which I just have to manually correct, but I'm not sure why there's no output delay. What are your system specs?
 
Joined
Jun 18, 2008
Messages
395
Reaction score
27
Location
Sweden
I've always had the recording delay, which I just have to manually correct, but I'm not sure why there's no output delay. What are your system specs?

If "system specs" = computer capacity, I have 3 GHz, 1024 MB RAM, Windows XP and a pretty full harddrive :p (14 GB left of 144 total). I have some sort of built-in soundcard, so I don't know the name/quality of it.
 
Joined
Aug 8, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
heyy i jus connected my keyboard to cubase about a day ago and my computer seems to have the same problem sargas has...isnt there some small equipment that can help with this problem??
 
Joined
Oct 28, 2008
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
I'm having a few problems and I hope you can help.
1. When I play something it's really quiet. I've already put the input signal on max and also the volume etc, everything is on max but its still really soft. I can however hear from the rustle that my speakers are on a very loud volume and it doesn't sound good for them.

2. For some reason I can only record with cubase when I'm putting the cable in my mic input. Otherwise he doesn't pick up the signal
 
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
236
Reaction score
0
If "system specs" = computer capacity, I have 3 GHz, 1024 MB RAM, Windows XP and a pretty full harddrive :p (14 GB left of 144 total). I have some sort of built-in soundcard, so I don't know the name/quality of it.
Just catching up...

Sargas, maybe you have solved his problem by now. But whether you have nor not, you really should consider adding more RAM and another harddrive.

RAM isn't too expensive, so up it to the most your system can handle, which will likely be 3, probably 4 GB. (If you can put 4 GB, note that Windows will only be able to use 3.5 GB. IDK why, I'm sure there's a reason, but IDK what it is.)

After installing the new hard drive, move what you can to the new drive. Your system needs room to breathe, and right now it's a bit out of air with only 10% free space on the main harddrive. While your at it go for a 7200 or even a 10,000 RPM drive. You will definitely see quite a speed improvement compared to a 5400 RPM drive. (If your system is running on a 5400 RPM drive, you might want to consider buying a "system mover" application to transfer the contents of your old drive to the new faster drive.)

And then adjust your virtual memory settings. Turn off your paging file, reboot, and turn it on again to the system managed size. Or, just leave it set with no paging file :eek: and see if your system runs any faster. Mine does, especially during startup/shutdown.

Your software can only run as fast as your system will allow, and if the system is bogged down, you will definitely have a latency problem.
 
Joined
Jun 18, 2008
Messages
395
Reaction score
27
Location
Sweden
I have actually been thinking on getting some more RAM, since I've noticed that it's pretty cheap. But I ended up looking at 89073645 different types of RAM, without knowing exactly which type I needed. But I'm saving money for a new computer atm, so I can wait until then.

I actually think I managed to fix the latency, though. Unfortunately I don't have my keyboard at home atm, so I can't check it now. But I tried recording some MIDI before, and I can't remember that I noticed any latency problems then... Never saved it, though, so I can't check that now either :/

But I do know that I have absolutely no latency at all when recording Audio, so at least that's a relief :)

I'll double-check the latency again as soon as I get my keyboard back home again (whenever that'll be...) and I'll come back if I notice any problems :p
 
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Hi. I'm new here and new at keyboard. I really love it. I can use some help if anyone can give me the info. I have a Yamaha Portable Grand DGX620. It's hooked up to my PC and I recorded onto a memory stick. When I played it back from the computer, the instruments sounded really crappy. Any suggestions? A guy at the music store told me I need some software. A tech from Yamaha told me I needed a certain kind of cable and when I bought it, it didn't fit. I bought an adapter and that didn't help either. Any siggestions? I'm not very computer literate so I need a lot of help :confused: Thanks in advance and I look forward to learning more and hanging out with you all.
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
294
Reaction score
2
Location
Bath or Durham, England
When I played it back from the computer, the instruments sounded really crappy. Any suggestions?

This is a common thing. When you play it back on the keyboard, it uses the keyboard's internal (high quality) sounds. When you play it back on the computer, the computer can only use its own (low quality) sounds. It's these crappy internal sounds that are associated with tinny MIDI music found in so many 1990s web pages.

A guy at the music store told me I need some software. A tech from Yamaha told me I needed a certain kind of cable and when I bought it, it didn't fit.

What you need is something called a USB/MIDI interface. The USB goes into your computer, the two MIDI leads (circular plugs with 5 pins) go into your keyboard. Confusingly, plug the one labelled "In" into the "Out" socket and vice-versa. This allows your computer to use the sounds in your keyboard. If you're running Windows, it should spot this and sort most things out for you. You do need to do a few things to get things running (assuming you're on Windows...):

1. Open Control Panel and open "Sounds and Audio Devices".
2. Go to the "Audio" tab and have a look at "MIDI music playback". It'll probably say "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth"
3. On the drop-down menu, select "USB Audio Device"
4. Click "Apply" then "OK"

You should be all set!
 
Joined
Dec 8, 2008
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Thank You!!!! I'll try it and let you know if it works! I'll be sooo thrilled!! Then onto making CDs (I hope) That's the next step I want to accomplish. I have Windows XP--good guess :)

What do you think of my changing to Mac for making music? Any benefit?
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
294
Reaction score
2
Location
Bath or Durham, England
Then onto making CDs (I hope) That's the next step I want to accomplish.

You need to know that using the method I described above, the sound will still come out of the keyboard. A better method would be to simply get a lead to connect the audio out from the keyboard into your computer's line in/microphone connector.

What sort of software were you going to use to record your music?
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
294
Reaction score
2
Location
Bath or Durham, England
I don't think so - I think I misunderstood your question (really should read the topic title, sorry...)

A good place to start with recording software is Audacity. It's simple to use, but has lots of features for when you want to get more advanced. More importantly, there's a lot of information on it on the web to get you started, and most importantly, it's free!

To connect things up, you'll need an "3.5mm jack-to-jack lead" (long enough to reach from the "phones/output" socket on your keyboard to the audio input on your computer) and a "3.5mm to 1/4" jack adapter". Ask at your local hi-fi or electronics shop (Radio Shack, Maplin or equivalent).

Plug the lead into the adapter, then the adapter into the keyboard. Plug the other end of the lead into the line-in socket on the back of your computer (usually blue) or if there isn't one, into the mic socket (usually pink). Have a look back through this thread for more information on actually recording things.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
14,065
Messages
86,856
Members
13,155
Latest member
matiSon

Latest Threads

Top