using guitar pedals

[Laura]

Can I use a nice guitar pedal (delay, or wah) with my yamaha keyboard? Or will it blow up the electronics?

 

[Terr-or Form]

Depends on how you plan on using it. Do you plan on attaching it after the out on your keyboard or do you plan on using it as an effect in your sequencer and sampling it?

If you plan on using it to sample into your sequencer, turn the volume/gain all the way down first. After you have it hooked up and ready to record, slowly bring the volume/gain up to get the effect and not to clip your converters.

As an add on effect from your keyboard to your mixer - no problem. Many keyboard players use outside gear (including guitar pedals) all the time.

If you plan on using this effect for recording, you have a whole 'nuther ball game to worry about. If you can tell us what your specific application is, we can give some better advice

 

[Terr-or Form]

Oh yeah - it might (and then again it might not) help if you could tell us what equipment you are using!

...just an afterthought...

 

[Laura]

Depends on how you plan on using it. Do you plan on attaching it after the out on your keyboard or do you plan on using it as an effect in your sequencer and sampling it?

I don't have any plans yet, I was just wondering in a general way since my son gave me his old wah & delay pedals for Mother's Day!

But I thought I'd experiment with connecting the pedals to the keybd Out and to the Amp in. Just like a guitar.

 

[Terr-or Form]

You shouldn't have a problem then. In the future if you decide to record one of those cool sounds, remember that using effects in the recording is bad. You would want to record without the effects and then re record the already recorded keyboard sound with the effects. That is why I asked. Too many people ruin great ideas and recordings because they literally slaughter their sound before it even gets to the recorder.

Have fun with your new pedals - you should get some interesting results!!

 

[Laura]

Many keyboard players use outside gear (including guitar pedals) all the time.

Well that's good to know! So if I bought a Loop pedal, I could loop my stuff in realtime on the keys?? awesome!!

 

[Laura]

You would want to record without the effects and then re record the already recorded keyboard sound with the effects.

How would you do that? You mean apply the effects on the computer? (I have Cubase LE).

 

[PianoMan]

Since keyboards are designed to be in stereo... and guitars are in mono... wouldn't guitar pedals not be a good idea? Or do some guitar pedals have stereo input/output?

 

[Terr-or Form]

Since keyboards are designed to be in stereo... and guitars are in mono... wouldn't guitar pedals not be a good idea? Or do some guitar pedals have stereo input/output?

That's a good point!! Yes, some guitar pedals do have stereo and if the in and out isn't two connections, you would use a TRS cable. Y cable to pedal, TRS to mixer. That said, you would generally use those effects on the individual outs on your keyboard for more specialized sounds. I wouldn't recommend using guitar compressors, gates, limiters, etc. as most keyboards have that built in anyway. When using the guitar pedals, from what I've seen, they were used in such a way as to help replicate the sound of the instrument better. Distortion guitar on keyboard routed through an individual out into a distortian guitar pedal and to the mixer as it's own seperate channel. That's just an example. As with anything, experimenting can yield some pretty nice results.

 

[Terr-or Form]

Well that's good to know! So if I bought a Loop pedal, I could loop my stuff in realtime on the keys?? awesome!!

I have to wonder what kind of keyboard you have as most keyboards will loop in realtime anyway. You could check on different MIDI capable devices to do this for your - not sure a loop pedal is the best way to accomplish looping on a keyboard. That's just my opinion, of course, and if you have an idea and can make it work - cool!! I would just hate to see you spend money on something that might be sort of useful when you can spend your money on upgrading equipment (and aren't we always dreaming about that new keyboard or rackmount item??).

How would you do that? You mean apply the effects on the computer? (I have Cubase LE).

This question could be answered better if I wrote a big article on recording into a DAW. First, I must ask, how do you get your keyboard sounds into the computer in the first place? Do you have a soundcard that supports AD/DA conversion or an outboard DSP soundcard/rack unit?? This could be difficult ground to explain (and I really like talking about this stuff) but, I don't want to confuse you explaining a method that doesn't apply. If you could explain your setup and how you get your music into Cubase LE, I could answer this a bit better.

 

[Laura]

When using the guitar pedals, from what I've seen, they were used in such a way as to help replicate the sound of the instrument better.

I wouldn't need to duplicate a guitar sound; I have a guitar. I am just interested in getting the delay, loop, etc.

I have to wonder what kind of keyboard you have as most keyboards will loop in realtime anyway.

I have a Yamaha MM6, which is just a basic keyboard without a million effects, and I have an Alesis Micron, which is a nice little synth but only has 37 keys so I wouldn't use it as a primary.

You could check on different MIDI capable devices to do this for your - not sure a loop pedal is the best way to accomplish looping on a keyboard. That's just my opinion, of course, and if you have an idea and can make it work - cool!!

I knew someone was going to mention MIDI to me!

I am still learning to play. My understanding of MIDI is minimal and at this point I'd rather just do something that lets me play. I guess I could do it with Cubase but that involves sitting in front of a computer, which I do all day at work.

how do you get your keyboard sounds into the computer in the first place? If you could explain your setup and how you get your music into Cubase LE, I could answer this a bit better.

I have a Lexicon Lambda recording interface that has a few audio inputs, a mic input and a MIDI in & out input. My Yamaha also uses a USB for MIDI. I only have 512 MB RAM on my computer, so it doesn't handle VST too well. In general, the computer & MIDI may be great someday when I want to create an album, but for jamming right now, it's a buzz-kill.

I would just hate to see you spend money on something that might be sort of useful when you can spend your money on upgrading equipment (and aren't we always dreaming about that new keyboard or rackmount item??).

Hahah...I already spent my allowance. If I can get the same benefit from a used pedal from craigslist, it also has the advantage of being useable with a guitar!

 

[Terr-or Form]

Okay Laura, let me learn a little about your equipment (research and such) and I can answer you better.

One thing I will say for certain - no matter how much of a learning curve you face, in the end it's worth it. Recording your work is the bomb and writing the music you want to record is the reason why I live (and performing the music I write is the reason why I love life and plan on living for longer than I'm supposed too )!!!

Also, MIDI is easy and a wonderful way to really expand on your dynamics as music creation machine. It has it's difficult parts, sure, but overall it's not too bad.

 

[Terr-or Form]

How would you do that? You mean apply the effects on the computer? (I have Cubase LE).

Okay, you have the equipment to do this so I will explain briefly and when you are ready to try this we can get into the hell of recording !!

Basically, you record a track into Cubase without any effects. Then, when you get that track mixed with other tracks and it is sitting nicely in the mix you can run that track through the Line Out of your Lexicon, into the guitar pedal, out of the guitar pedal and back into the Line In. You can also use the insert but you have to set that up in Cubase much like you would for VST effects. Using the insert is much safer but a pain in the butt if you aren't too well versed with Cubase. Using the Line Out to effect to Line In can be tricky in that you have to watch your volume and gain levels. Always start out on 0 and turn those dials very slowly.

The reason why effects are applied like this is because you don't want to ruin your recording. Once you record with an effect already on that track, that effect is there to stay. If you record without any effects then you can keep auditioning that track with various effects to suit your tastes without have to keep re recording. Then, when you get the exact sound you want, it's just a matter of running that track back into your recording and you still have the original track in case it doesn't work out for you!! Recording and mixing can be so in depth that I won't cover all that here. As you are ready to start recording, however, we can start answering questions as they arise.

I hope this answered your question. I will say this though, guitar pedals add a lot of unwanted noise to recordings and they are rarely used. Usually rackmount effects are preferred in the studio.