When you enter virtual instruments through a midi keyboard. Does the quality of your preamps on your USB interface ( say Focusrite 212 vs. Forte) have any bearing on the sound begin recorded? I guess the output to your monitors/headphone on playback would be affected,but not what's going in your DAW.

I'm trying to deduce "If u like bagpipes/ bouzouki or (pick your instrument), spend the time/$ on THAT specific virtually instrument cuz that is what is going DIRECTLY in when you record.

I'm not usually this dummm

Thanks,

Scott

If you mean plugins in your DAW, no, the preamps will have no effect on the sound. No sound is going through your interface's inputs!

Thanks Padillac

Your answer . "If you mean plugins in your DAW, no, the preamps will have no effect on the sound." Brings up another question:

So is there a way to improve your virtual instrument sounds? It seems the loops that come with my Mixcraft DAW sound better when "played" than when the same instrument is selected through virtual instruments. Thanks, Scott

define "improve"

No, your midi keyboard is just sending midi signals to your DAW. Midi is a not-to-complicated digital format that has nothing to do with the preamps in your USB interface. As long as it works, the cheapest Midi interface is going to send the same signal that the most expensive Midi interface will send. And the Midi interface part of your USB interface is pretty much completely electronically separate from the audio part of the interface.

It's all based off of your D/A converters which will allow you to hear the sounds coming from within your daw correctly. Your Monitors, and your room.

The next question is what converters did the sound designer use? Do certain plugins sound better then others?

Sure they do, now that you know these things, prepare for the endless battle of finding the right sounds,right gear, etc. Welcome to the STUDIO world my friend!

Honestly I'm not sure what you mean by this. How are you "playing" the instruments differently from choosing them through virtual instruments?

i think he means that his DAW comes with pre-written MIDI loops that use a virtual instrument that also comes with his DAW. the loops are more convincing than his own performances.

that's just because whoever put the MIDI loops together is better at putting together MIDI parts.

Virtual instruments are self contained, so the sound that they produce by themselves is limited to whatever controls are available on that instrument.

If you want to change the sound beyond that, you need to run the output of the instrument through some form of effects processor, such as distortion, filter, EQ, etc.

Theses effects can either be software or hardware.

It's likely that the loops (presuming that is what you mean) are actual recordings of the real live instrument being played by a musician and being recorded through a preamp and fx chain.

Simulating the musicianship will be tough but you can simulate the FX chain via many of the high quality emulators out there such as PSP Vintage Warmer or many plugins in the UAD suite. Also adding some ambience via a a reverb (early reflections only - minus the tail) is a useful quick improver. Waves IR series and TruVerb work wonders here.

fair enough. that's what I was thinking...the way to make MIDI sound better is to play with more expression. and/or process the resulting audio.

as someone else pointed out below, if OP is comparing live-performed audio loops to his own MIDI sequences, that could account for a difference in sound quality

i know that the MIDI loops that came with my DAW (Logic) are waaay more convincing than anything I can get out of them. when I look at them versus my own stuff in the piano roll, I feel like a caveman.

how about midi drum loops? "oh...so it's not just a bunch of 16th notes"

haha.

actually a lot to be learned there. someday.