We have many people recording with their arranger keyboards . Can we get a break down on what everyone is using ?

Any interesting ideas or advantages using your arranger via computer software ?

How are you handling audio tracks into your computer ? Type of sound card etc ....?

Personally , I like using a hard disk recorder . I sold my tascam 788 and bought a zoom 1044 hdr . 10 tracks , 20 gigs , 24bit and real time control of each channel ( no page turning ) . I am real close to tweaking the last of my recordings and posting mp3's and maybe release a CD .

If I can only keep those dogs from howling , I'd be in great shape .

DanO, I have been using my CTX laptop with Sonic Foundry Acid Pro. with much success. I run the keyboards and mikes into a Mackie mixer , into the laptop[SB16 soundcard].After recording I save as MP3..It is surprising the quality it produces, especially using the lowly Sound Blaster16..Windows 98 SE operating system[much better than XP]..Fran

Hi Dan, I record my Korg is-40 one track at a time through a Soundcraft mixer into an Akai DPS-16 hard disc recorder. I do not use any of the effects on the keyboard, I record dry and add effects from the Akai.This makes a huge improvement in the sound over using the built-in reverbs.
I then layer several guitars and vocals over the keyboard backing tracks. The mic preamps in the Soundcraft were also a big step up from the ones in the Akai. I sing through a Studio Profects C-1 microphone into a FMR "really nice compressor" This combo is unbelievable!
This is much better than accuracy, you get flattery! A huge "bigger than life" sound. I have been hanging around pro studios since the mid '70s and I am astonished at the quality available to the masses today. I paid right at $2000 for the recorder,mixer,mic, and compressor, and the quality is great. Now if I could only sing and play up to the quality of my gear!
Bill E

fran ,
So your using mp3's for backing tracks vs. a midi file ? What percentage is MP3 ?

I am going to start using my hard disk recorder on my next gig for my original tunes . It should be interesting .

What are some of the better deals on lap top computers ?

Dan

Hey Bill ,

I was raving about the Tascam 788 HDR for awhile . But gradually the competition in HDR's heated up . I started searching and found the Zoom 1044 HDR for under $600.00 . That's 10 tracks and 20 gigs .
I have found that the onboard effects of the hdr are a great improvement vs. the keyboard . I can't wait to post some new mp2's + 1 .
I find myself using alot of chorus on my vocals , it just seems to make the vocals smoother . How do you use chorus effects ?

dano


[This message has been edited by DanO1 (edited 11-18-2002).]

I have been hooking up my keyboard and mics to a Mackie mixer along with a virtualizer. I also hooked up the output of the mixer to a Sony minidisc deck to record. The MD output in turns is hooked up to my external sound card (Sound Blaster extigy) via optical. The extigy interfaces my laptop via USB so the quality is very satisfying to me when I'm using WaveLabs 4.0 to record.
If I don't record "live" straight to wave, the extigy will also serve me as a midi interface to talk to Cakewalk Sonar.
For midi playback at home, I also use a wireless PCMCIA PC card to search for midi files on the web

Claude

Dan, I have only used chorus on guitar. I never considered it for vocal but I'm willing to try anything. Seems like it would be a "special effect" type thing. but my vocals need all the help that they can get!
I got my Akai( 16 tracks--20 gig--24k/96khz capable) from Mars for only $899
I have never seen them that low anywhere else and I think somebody goofed! Maybe that is why they are bankrupt!
Bill E

Dan,
I use a Yamaha AW 4416 16 track hard disk recorder one pair of stereo tracks at a time for all my work. I go straight into the recorder.

I do have Sonar and a Delta 44 soundcard with a 4 in/out breakout box and very rarely use either, preferring the realtime and if it's wrong just do it again/punch in/out.
jam on,
Terry

Which type of effects do you find using the most ?

Does using chorus on vocals make any sense ?


dano

Hi Dan
I record all of my material onto a pc. Just a few months ago I changed platforms and switch to a G4 power Mac.
I now am using Digital Performer 3 for all of my midi and audio. For my audio Motu 896 and midi a Motu midi Express 16 port. I use all of the softwares on board effects, and I also use a 737 Avalon tube compressor. It all comes together seamlessly (audio-midi) since I changed to my Mac.
Regards, Lou



[This message has been edited by Lou Y (edited 11-18-2002).]

Dano,
Reverb and chorus are about the only effects I ever use...and a bit of delay on some of my instruments.

I use a TC electronics G force for my Cathedral reverb going in, and a mixure of that and delay for my instruments. I use a touch chorus from the AW always on vocals, which almost acts like a slapback delay and just "thickens" the vocals or instrument up a bit.
jam on,
Terry

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lou Y:
[B] Hi Dan
I record all of my material onto a pc. Just a few months ago I changed platforms and switch to a G4 power Mac.
I now am using Digital Performer 3 for all of my midi and audio. For my audio Motu 896 and midi a Motu midi Express 16 port. I use all of the softwares on board effects, and I also use a 737 Avalon tube compressor. It all comes together seamlessly (audio-midi) since I changed to my Mac.
Regards, Lou [B][QUOTE]

Lou,
The Motu's are supposed to be the top of the line. Works good does it? Do you have any of your work up anywhere? I'd love to hear it.
Terry



[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 11-18-2002).]

How about utilizing your keyboard ?


I have been working on this song called "get it right " using a r&b style at 138 bpm . I locked the tempo and used an arpegiated loop from a techno style (isolating just part 1,2,3 ..no drums or bass) and added a seperate ( using techno style) track over top of the r&b style . With sync start and tempo lock , it's easy to add different parts of styles layered together on seperate tracks .
Another example would be taking a guitar strum from one style and mixing it with a latin style on a seperate audio track .
Keep jammin !
dano


[This message has been edited by DanO1 (edited 11-18-2002).]

hey Lou Y,

How do you like the G4 mac vs PC ? I hear good things about the mac.

When I had my SK76, I used to use some of the styles as the actual instrumentation for on one of my old songs. It turned out to be pretty good, sounded as if everything was painstakingly arranged. I routed the signals straight into my old (new at the time) VS 840 and used the stereo tracks 7 & 8 for everything that came out of the keyboard. All the mixing of the instruments was done on the SK (even automated MIDI levels) so that I could concentrate on the addition of other instruments or voices to the limited number of tracks I had left. Pretty good results. I did some bouncing to make room for more backup vocals, and despite the lack of tracks, it didn't sound like it.

[This message has been edited by dongggoi (edited 11-18-2002).]

Terry,
I've been very pleased with the performance of the 896. The quality I think is very good for what I do and the overall Effects I get from my software, which I am also very pleased. I'm not a very good keyboard player at all. I sing and have been singing since I was 9 yrs old. Played with a lot of top acts and did the circuit, now its just me and my studio. I do have a few small tunes, original, some not complete. I would like to post but I don't have a site....Lou

Donny
All I can say is for the past 6years I've been fighting the pc with all its glitches, hardware problems and incompatibilities, downloading drivers and what have you. Now I turn on my Mac, open Digital Performer 3 hit record and it just all works, it truly has brought me back to writing and creating. Don't get me wrong and I don't want to start a PC/Mac war. PC s work, but for me Mac does it better....Lou

Hello everybody again,

I think it is important to faithfully keep your PC in optimum shape for recording applications. Quite often, we tend to use the PC for everything we do under the sun, and that works most of the time, but when you start getting into serious audio work, then all the other settings and drivers that were loaded into the computer for tons of other programs do get in the way of the audio recording process. Even though I have a pretty capable Athlon 2000, I make sure that I don't do anything else with it other than audio or video work. All the other stuff, such as surfing and document production, I do on another PC. And this might be overkill, but I actually try to close any TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs that might still be running in the background. This includes not even connecting the computer to the Internet, to save on processor cycles. This generally results in seamless audio work. Now if I could only improve on my own mixing skills.........!

I usually create all my backing arrangements on a Korg i30
arranger and fly the MIDI sequences to Logic Audio running
on a Dell Laptop for further editing/revoicing.

Logic plays back the polished MIDI sequences through
a series of external sound moudules and synths and
all the volumes and pan settings are automated and
fine tuned with Logic Control.

A Mackie LM3204 mixer acts as an audio patch bay and
feeds directly into an Alesis ML-9600 Masterlink hard
disk recorder for final mastering.

I have a few pictures of my setup here:
http://silverhawk33.tripod.com/glenskorgsite/id25.html

Regards,

Tapas

Took one look at your system Tapas.
Have decided to take up farming!

------------------
John
_______________________

Dan,
so you mean that the Zoom has better effects than the SD1?

Ok, here's my setup:

Keyboard - Yamaha Tyros
Sound modules - Yamaha TG500, Akai S2000+CD
External fx - Alesis microverb

Mixed down through 16-2 studiomaster diamond desk onto sony minidisk or direct into PC.

PC comprises SB live audio card, 640MB RAM, 3x20GB harddrives, PIII 700 etc etc

Mostly use Cubase VST, though occasionally Cakewalk and XG works.

Simon


------------------
________________________
Simon G.K. Williams
simon@svpworld.com
Creative Music & Multimedia
http://www.svpworld.com
________________________

Me too!!! WOW more like a shop floor! If only I had the space........

I use Cubase SX and Wavelab 4.0, dedicated PC, and professional sound card: SoloEX8. I use everything. I use the sequencer on the keyboard and I also use the sequencer on the PC. For well thought songs, I use the sequencer on the keyboard, then I transfer the midi to Cubase. After extensive editing, I record the audio tracks and do even more editing. Finally, I start the process of mixing.

The vocal chorus effects and reverb is much better coming through the zoom hdr . I basically turn all reverb settings of on the SD1 and use it more as a pre amp .

New MP3's coming very soon . Dan

Thanks for everyone's comments .


Do you think that since arranger workstations sounds are organized for GM mapping , it makes them better for using with a computer vs. motif, triton etc....?


I think that if Yamaha would put their best sounds in the GM sound bank it would be better for the end user . Any comments ?

Dan o

Hi SK880 USER,

Does Cubase SX support Acid Files and Acid Audio manipulation just like Sonar does? I am curious because I haven't been able to find much exact documentation on whether it has this feature or not.

Good question. Since, I do not use Acid, I do not know the answer. But you can find out at www.cubase.net

Hi Simon and John,

Thanks for your comments! I think everyone should all have a passion
in life, a reason to live. We share a common path in this forum
in our never ending quest for music.

I have to thank Simon for his incredible effort in promoting
the Yamaha Arranger keyboards on his personal website and through
the several Yahoo Groups he has pioneered. I learnt about the
Tyros from TyrosWorld.com and I browse through it every day
to see what new goodies Simon has posted.

I place a great deal of weight on the comments/recommendations/evaluations
of individuals like Simon and George Kaye who are in this for their
passion. It comes from their heart and their writing shows.

I agree with Dan's comment that it is a lot easier to work with styles
based on the GM soundset. Revoicing GM sounds is a lot quicker than
working with styles that have been tweaked on a particular arranger.
Give us just a great set of 128 GM sounds. I want quality, not quantity.

Arranger keyboards have a lot of potential. They drastically cut down
on production time and can become the heart of a studio. I wrote
a comprehensive article showing how to build a studio around an arranger:
http://anniem38.tripod.com/DigitalRecording/Building_a_studio.htm

I feel in a matter of 5 to 10 years, we will see a revolution in home
studios. Everything will become software based, more powerful, more
flexible and certainly more affordable. It is already taking place.
Just take a look at Emagics EXS24 software sampler, Reason, the
brilliant Waves plug-ins, and you know the change is inevitable.

Tapas

Tapas ,

Very cool comments . The production time is cut down when using arranger workstations .


The GM map issue is a BIG one IMHO . Have you ever listened to the GM voices on a TRITON ?

Dan

Hi Dan,

Tell me more about the GM sound set on a Triton. I have
played with the unit and I loved the exquisite sounds.
It has the best collection of bells, electric pianos,
motion pads and lush strings. I did not see if they were
GM sounds.

With every successive iteration, Korg has refined their
samples. Just take a look at their line - M1, O1/W,
Trinity, Triton. I am hoping Korg is going to release
an affordable single space Triton Rack at the Winter NAMM.
I will definitely buy it.

Tapas

Nothing like a KN board and the Korg D16 hard disc recorder. Great effects; easy to use; easy to edit; mix to CD, etc.. Don't need nor want a computer. No worries about buggy software. Overdub all instruments on separate tracks. Track all vocal harmonies in real time (no harmony machine). Works great.

YOu have buttons assigned for the expansion slots . One of those buttons is dedicated for GM sounds . Play a sequence and you will only hear the sounds assigned to the GM bank . If you wish to integrate some of the bigger sounds or enhanced solo sounds , you have to remap the midi sequence . Is that correct ? Can you shed some light since you are a Korg owner .

dano

Dan,

That is exactly correct. You have a GM bank and you can place the unit
in GM mode to playback GM sequences properly. From that point,
the sky is limit. You are free to revoice each track with the
far more expressive and rich factory/user programs and combis.

Tapas.

I agree with the sentiments expressed by J.Larry.
Indeed, music making becomes free of headaches once you
eliminate the computer from the equation!

The Technics KN series have a brilliant composer function
that lets you lay down original arrangements in a snap.
It is very intuitive. This has always remained their
secret weapon.

The Korg D16 and D1600 sport a very easy to use interface.
Perhaps the simplest hard disk recorder out there.

This duo is like a marriage made in heaven. Thanks to J.Larry
for pointing out this option.

Tapas.