Hello. I have no musical background but now that I am retired I am trying to learn keyboards. I have a borrowed digital Casio about 15 years old but works fine for my use. Before I look to purchase an instrument for my own, I have a few basic questions about recording. What I would like to eventually do is use the keyboard to play and record a few tracks, each one sounding like a different instrument, and then merge them together. If I buy a keyboard with multiple instrument sounds, connect it to my windows 10 laptop via USB and download a free DAW like Cakewalk, will I be able to do that? And if I feel that the keyboard sound does not resemble a certain instrument well (like guitar sounds awful) would I be able to use Cakewalk or a downloaded/plugin to add a different guitar sound instead of the keyboard guitar? Thank you for your help.
Newbie question on recording
- Thread starter JoeDeC
- Start date
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
The answer to all of your questions is YES!!!
Time to start your homework.
Look up videos on DAWs, Home Recording, MIDI, Sequencing, and google any terms which might confound you.
The possibilities for home recording these days are almost infinite.
Gary
Time to start your homework.
Look up videos on DAWs, Home Recording, MIDI, Sequencing, and google any terms which might confound you.
The possibilities for home recording these days are almost infinite.
Gary
Welcome.
You may also find that many keyboards have some kind(s) of recording features already built in and may even default to recording in MIDI format.
If you want to record analogue audio on your computer then do check that the keyboard has audio over USB as not all have this function.
To give you an idea of just one keyboards capability watch this
You may also find that many keyboards have some kind(s) of recording features already built in and may even default to recording in MIDI format.
If you want to record analogue audio on your computer then do check that the keyboard has audio over USB as not all have this function.
To give you an idea of just one keyboards capability watch this
Thanks for the response and advice. I did a quick listen to some of your work and enjoyed it. I will return to listen to more when I have a bit more time.The answer to all of your questions is YES!!!
Time to start your homework.
Look up videos on DAWs, Home Recording, MIDI, Sequencing, and google any terms which might confound you.
The possibilities for home recording these days are almost infinite.
Gary
Joe
Thanks for your response. I will keep your suggestions in mind as I check out equipment.
Joe
Hi Joe, I am just starting to learn to play keyboard but I am a longtime guitar player and I record on a regular basis. Knowing that I will at some point be recording keyboard I bought an inexpensive midi keyboard controller that connects directly to my computer via a USB cable. The keyboard makes no sound on its own but sends midi information to the computer where it triggers sounds that I have loaded on the computer. My DAW is Reaper (not free but a really great deal) and so far I have loaded a bunch of keyboard sounds which include a piano, organs and synths... all free and there are also paid versions that I haven't delved into yet. The nice thing is that once you have a track recorded you can change the sound to whatever you want. Sound like something like this might be right up your alley. There are youtube videos that show how to do this.
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
Hehehe..
Youmay not realize this but Reaper can be run as an "Evaluation Copy" indefinitely.
I just booted up my copy.
I'm on Evaluation day 3,495
BTW, Google "Cakewalk By Bandlab."
Absolutely free and no annoying nags or ads.
Gary
Youmay not realize this but Reaper can be run as an "Evaluation Copy" indefinitely.
I just booted up my copy.
I'm on Evaluation day 3,495
BTW, Google "Cakewalk By Bandlab."
Absolutely free and no annoying nags or ads.
Gary
I did not realize that! I use Reaper daily though so I'm happy to pay for it.
happyrat1
Destroyer of Eardrums!!!
Most recording professionals though, usually use Cakewalk or Cubase or Abelton.
Cakewalk is in fact the oldest DAW in existence, dating back to the 80's and it was a very expensive piece of software up until about 5 or 6 years ago when Bandlab bought them out of bankruptcy and made the software free of charge to everyone.
Gary
Cakewalk is in fact the oldest DAW in existence, dating back to the 80's and it was a very expensive piece of software up until about 5 or 6 years ago when Bandlab bought them out of bankruptcy and made the software free of charge to everyone.
Gary
...and Pro Tools
Thanks for your suggestions. You are right, what you mentioned is what I want to be able to do. I don't mind paying for quality software but I want to play around with the free stuff first to see how interested I will be. I am using an old, at least 15 years old, Casio LK 300-TV keyboard. Luckily my wife saved the manual. I can connect it to my laptop via USB. It will send MIDI info to the laptop but I'm not sure if the drivers on the CD will work with Windows 10. I did find a post elsewhere on this site with a link to a driver that might work with Windows 10. I hope to spend some time testing this all out but I'm in the middle of some other projects now. But again, thanks for your suggestions. I really do appreciate all of the people taking the time to respond.