GRcade Musician's Club - Do You "Do" Music?

Firstly download Asio4All as it is just a better driver that is more likely to give you low latency monitoring without weird gooseberry fool happening. But there's guarantee it will work as you're not using a pro sound device intended for this stuff.

Then open Reaper and go to Options > Preferences. In the Audio > Device section, choose Asio as your sound device and Asio4All as your ASIO driver. Check "Enable Inputs" and then choose a range of inputs you want to enable. They should all be selectable if you're already hearing them out your speakers, I think. But you might want to mute that. So go to your sound card's control panel (assuming you have a Realtek or Soundmax chipset) and mute all your inputs so they're not monitored through the speakers (Reaper will do this now).

Right click in the track area and select Insert new track (or hit Ctrl+T). Press the [Ar] button to arm the track for recording, then click the drop-down box with the name of the current input in it and choose Mono Input > "Line In" (not sure what it might be called but it won't be "Microphone"). Press the little speaker cone button to enable monitoring (so you can hear your input while you record - best to use headphones while doing this).

Then hit record and you should get a wave being drawn which means it's working.

If you get stuck then post back.

To make MP3s with Reaper (after you've download the LAME encoder and put it in Reaper's program folder - if you can't find it on the Interwebs I can upload it for you) I just go to File > Render and choose MP3 as your output format. I dunno what Export/Consolidate does but generally most programs have a Render option for making your final mixdown.

If you don't know what a button does just hold the mouse cursor over it and it should give you a good idea.

Thanks again for the help, there's just been one problem so far.

Green Gecko wrote:Right click in the track area and select Insert new track (or hit Ctrl+T). Press the [Ar] button to arm the track for recording, then click the drop-down box with the name of the current input in it and choose Mono Input > "Line In" (not sure what it might be called but it won't be "Microphone").

The drop-down box doesn't produce the option of "Line In" from Mono Input or anything other than Vinyl AC 97'Audio (WAVE) 1 and Vinyl AC'97 Audio (WAVE) 2. Neither of these two options seems to be receiving a signal .

The MP3 stuff works a treat, thought. Thanks again .

OK, I downloaded Acid Express onto my Netbook a couple of weeks ago and I've been playing around. My NC10 isn't really built for recording and I've had issues with timing and latency but with a little compensating it's not bad at all. A tiny, mini recording studio!

It's all pretty rough, but here's some stuff below in chronological order.

Test Theme: http://www.acidplanet.com/components/pl ... 959&T=8223

Me messing around figuring out ACID and making interesting sounds with my guitar and Ebow, Whammy Pedal (for the bass line) and Wah. There's a Bentley Rhythm Ace Loop in there too somewhere. Too short and unstructured for to be a song, it's more of a theme for... something.

Layered Guitars: http://www.acidplanet.com/components/pl ... 962&T=1268

Really just me practising recording multiple guitar parts, double tracking and whatnot. I get up to 7 by the end until ACID Express won't let me add any more tracks.

Hiroshima: A Military Base: http://www.acidplanet.com/components/pl ... 964&T=1268

All written and recorded in about half an hour, lol. One take guitar parts with some samples thrown at them, oh and I dug out my old Casio keyboard too.

8 Bit weapon remix demo: http://www.acidplanet.com/components/pl ... 969&T=1268

This was AcidPlanet's contest to remix this track: http://www.acidplanet.com/Play/PlayClip ... der&t=4063 but unfortunately I didn't finish it before the contest ended. It's not done but I think you can tell what I was aiming for.


(edit - you may need to enable popups for the media player to work)

I downloaded acid express the other day. But i can't figure it out at all.

Is there a way to use the soft synth keyboard thing any other way apart from click it with the mouse like using buttons on the keyboard, it would make it much easier.

Adam231 wrote:I downloaded acid express the other day. But i can't figure it out at all.

Is there a way to use the soft synth keyboard thing any other way apart from click it with the mouse like using buttons on the keyboard, it would make it much easier.

I'm not sure because I don't really use the soft synth, I tend to record live instruments - except for the drum parts which I program in iDrum. You're better off programming the synth parts in the piano roll than trying to play it live with a mouse or pc keyboard IMO. Or get a midi keyboard obviously, but that's money.

Acid isn't great for Midi sequencing though, and xpress is quite limited altogether. To start with just try playing with the loops, maybe look on the contest page and see what there is to remix. You should be able to put together something reasonable just using drag and drop, and it'll get you used to structuring a song and mixing parts. Once you've got the hang of that then you can program some synth pads or a bass line, or try recording if you have an instrument handy.

Because my computer is so underpowered I do as much 'off-board' as possible, like running my cheapy keyboard through my guitar FX to get synthy sounds rather than use VStis. It tends to chug if I use more than 2 VSTs, but I like the low-fi recording approach anyway. Gonna try and do something with my stylophone at some point.

Anyone got any reccomendations for a decent keyboard?

I'm looking for something with a nice range of sounds, with possibilities of tinkering with the settings.
I'm a pianist first and foremost, so I'd like at least 4 octaves, and laptop linking would be an added bonus.
Also would like it to be fairly copact. Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Do you want the sounds built in? Because you might want to consider soft synths (which you can acquire) and a good MIDI controller for less if you don't move the thing around at all.. with potentially better keys.

It's hard to get an affordable keyboard that's portable with high quality built-in sounds..

What's your budget?

Pretty low, tbh, so around 3/400 squids.
I'm not expecting miracles really, but I need something for a band and to keep my skillz fresh while I'm away at uni.

Well I know you won't get fully-weighted keys for "proper" Piano playing. I'd take a look at M-Audios keyaboards because they're always good for affordable hardware in my experience and their keyboards are quite good, although their Keystation 88 Pro (what I have) is a bit bouncy and the Axiom controllers are a little "hollow"-feeling for my tastes.. but then I've been spoilt by two of my friend's proper electric Yamaha Clavinova digital pianos which feel amazing but cost ££££. I've been quite happy with my M-Audio keys.

I strongly recommend you go to a good music store to try some out on demo. I know of Anderson's Music in Guildford, Absolute Music Solutions in Poole and Guitar, Amp, Keyboard in Brighton.. all really good stores.

The M-Audio Pro Keys 88 SX looks good for you: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/ProKeys88sx.html



GAK have it for £224. It's fully sized at 88 keys but only 8KG. The keys are semi-weighted but it looks good to me.. I considered getting one until I instead opted for the Keystation for more MIDI control and fully weighted hammer action (like a real piano feel).. although I'm not sure I like it so much as the keys are rather heavy and can be quite tiresome to play.

It doesn't have a massive range of sounds but I would recommend against getting a keyboard in your price range with loads of sounds because they simply won't sound as good - the hardware synthesis/sampling won't be as good because they can't afford to put that in a competitively priced keyboard. The sounds are:

- Piano1: grand piano with 2 velocity layers
- Piano2: bright grand piano
- E Piano1: electric piano (2 velocity layers)
- E Piano2: electric piano based on Wurlitzer (2 velocity layers)
- FM Piano: classic electric piano based on Yamaha DX7
- Perc Organ: organ based on Hammond B3
- Clav: instrument sound based on Hohner Clavinet D6

It has reverb and tremelo controls. I think you will get a really nice built-in sound out of this unit that won't sound cheap and "keyboard-like" because it is sample-based (recordings of far higher quality instruments triggered by the key velocity etc.). If you want other sounds I would look at plugging in a laptop and using soft synths/samplers. This way you get an unlimited range of sounds (if you're bothered about piracy you can actually get loooooooooooads of really good free VST instruments and free programs like the excellent Reaper to run them with) and your money focuses on higher quality keys that have a better feel, and more of them, and more connectivity on the keyboard instead of a million sounds only a few of which you will actually use.

It has proper pitch and mod wheels and full plug-and-play USB MIDI compatability (plug it and control soft synths and save patches or whatever). It also has all the expression pedal inputs. The pedals are pretty affordable at about £20 each online.

You can get the standard ProKeys 88 that has fully weighted hammer action and more sounds and general functionality for £339 but it is huge (almost the size of my KeyStation) and weights 25KG.

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/prokeys-88/68520



That's more of an installation keyboard but it is possible to move it if you got a good case (but the case would be expensive).

If you want loads of sounds get a synthesiser but the keys will be no way near as good. In which case take a look at the Roland Juno-D Limited Edition - one of my keyboardists has one and it's pretty good with a large variety of sounds and some alright sound controls.. but the keys are a bit boring, however consider that some keyboardists actually prefer the lighter touch especially if you play very fast solo lines or use apreggiators a lot. A good all-round, entry level digital synth. It did recently get upgraded to include more sounds though and it does come with built in arpeggios etc. It has some funky light-beam controller for weird parameter control but that's a bit of a gimmick. Generally it is well built. It will fit in a guitar-sized keyboard bag and weighs about 5KG. I stress that sometimes these keyboards can sound very digital and tacky but there are some nice sounds in there if you play with the controls and.. for the love of god.. just don't use the brass sounds. You can get some more psychedelic and weird sounds out of it too if you dig in, and the filter/attack/release control knobs let you do the whole synth-tastic sweeping sounds thing.

http://www.roland.co.uk/products/produc ... aspx?p=429



You can't afford a good Korg and from what I have tried in the shops the keys are horrible on their cheaper units.

The Yamaha Motif MM-6 looks more flexible in terms of functionality but I have no idea how it sounds for feels.. it has more arrangement and sequencing functions but it's up to you whether you would ever use them in a band.. I doubt I would. Stick to computers for that shizzle. There's no point paying for such functionality to be built into a unit these days as it is all just so limited and annoying to control compared to proper DAW (digital audio workstation) app.

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/71945



Good sites to buy from are

http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk
http://www.soundware.co.uk/
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk
http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com

All of which I've had very good service from. GAK's a good place to start from because they have a lot of stock but Absolute Music is by far my favourite shop. They're very fast. I've spent over a grand with them and had no problems as have a few of my music tech buddies.

Sweet jesus, GG. That's a lot of info.

I have a Yamaha clav at home, and it fantastic. Cost about 1.5k I think. Brilliant sounds and quality keys, but it's nowhere near portable.

I'm gonna have to check some out in-store, to get a proper feel for them. I am massively tempted by that first one though. looks mint

Thanks for the help, mate.

If you are used to a Clavinova and you don't need loads of built-in sounds (you do get a clavvy and Hammond organ model) I would definitely look to stage pianos such as the M-Audios or you might just get pissed off with cheap keys in other units that I simply find less fun to play. Since you say you're interested in computer tinkering stuff, you can do that with the M-audios as all they keyboads have MIDI interfaces. For some reason Roland and a lot of companies choose to leave that out.

M-Audio are primarily an audio interface and MIDI controller company which explains why they're a good place to go for computer-based stuff at an affordable price.

Although the full-size KeyStation 88 is pretty amazingly heavy and takes up a LOT of space (be aware if you have a small room in halls, although I did manage to do it by having no desk space at all in addition to my computer keyboard, and I had my flat screen monitor wedged between the top of the keyboard and the wall...) ... it does have quite a lot more control and the keys may surprise you.. if a little bouncy.

Are there any singers here on GR?

It'd be cool if we (people who can't sing) could post up our recorded song ideas and see what vocal ideas people could put together.

i've done this a few times with a guy online, i'd write and record a song and send it to him. He would then make up lyrics and sing over my parts. Seemed to work pretty well.

Just a shot in the dark really.

Wrote another song for my band the other night, it's called "Another night on the town". It's supposed to be a really upbeat dancey kind of song to get the crowds going. ATM we have too many slow love songs.

killaroo wrote:He would then make up lyrics and sing over my parts..

This made me lol.

I play the Ocarina and no word of a lie I'm shit-hot at Saria's Song.

I can play Saria's Song on the piano.

So that controller keyboard has built in sounds? That's crazy.

I use a Yamaha P60 as my controller. Great sounds (not just the piano sounds - 2x electric piano, 2x harpsichord, vibraphone, 2x organ and string all sound really good. It's also got nice reverb and the ability to double up any pair of sounds and a shitload of renditions of classical pieces by concert pianists, which is just for fun really, but they're all amazingly well played and it's nice to put one on and listen now and again (the Clair De Lune rendition is particularly great, as is Moonlight Sonata) . The only downside is the lack of pitch bend and modulation wheels but I hardly miss them to be honest.



Probably the best purchase I've ever made.

Today I was arsing around in FL Studio and felt like indulging my noise music side.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=ed16 ... 082f1c2cd0

I call it "Here Comes the Metric System".

Fm wrote:Today I was arsing around in FL Studio and felt like indulging my noise music side.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=ed16 ... 082f1c2cd0

I call it "Here Comes the Metric System".

Can't you save it as something a bit smaller than a .wav?

~Earl Grey~ wrote:I can play Saria's Song on the piano.

I can play the song of time on guitar.