MIDI with Yamaha S08 Synth

[noel]

I am an extreme newbie; I have been trying to produce some of my music with Tracktion and have come across a huge stump. I have been using my Yamaha S08 Synth to create the drum tracks. I have done this two ways; the first is just laying them all on one track...one at a time...bass then snare then symbol...etc. I have also used a seperate track for each percussion instrument. Now I found that you can use a MIDI editor to seperate all the sounds on one track, but how do I get the voices of my keyboard to the MIDI on Tracktion? It is showing up as a MIDI device when I plug it in but I'm lost from there. What other options are you guys using to generate drum lines for your music. I am focusing on more acoustic rock. Thanks.

[haydxn]

you either have a misunderstanding about midi, or you've worded your problem poorly.

you have to remember that MIDI is not sound. MIDI is just a message system that allows electronic devices to communicate in a digital 'music' language (sort of like a binary form of sheet music that flows along wires). the MIDI you can record is just note information for instructing a synth to play the right notes at the right time, and when to stop them. it is also used to send other information to control how something should sound (such as volume or filter changes)

i'm really sorry if you knew all that already but i wanted to cover all bases!

now, you're talking about getting the 'voices' of your keyboard to the MIDI on tracktion? that doesn't really make any sense. the voices are generated by an audio synthesiser section inside the keyboard. the audio outputs of the synth must be connected to the computer's sound card inputs if you want to record the sounds that the keyboard makes.

The USB connector (if that's what you're connecting it to your computer with) only transmits MIDI, so the computer won't be recieving any of the sounds. looking at the specs of the keyboard there are no speakers, so you've got it plugged into some speakers i imagine. you need to plug it instead into the computer to record it's noises, though not knowing the spec of your system i couldn't tell you whether or not you have the required connectors; most pro level soundcards have 1/4inch jacks to match the outputs of the synth. However, you could quite easily get an adaptor to go from the synth output's 'large' jack connector to the computer soundcard's 'small' jack input connector. you then need to make sure that tracktion is set to record from that soundcard AUDIO input, by configuring your AUDIO input devices.

if i have completely missed the mark here and sound patronising then i'm really sorry i just want to be as helpful as i can before you reply to explain more!

[Lunch Money]

I don't know an S08 from a Mickey Mouse Teaches Music, but I know of very few people that will use a synth's on-board drum sounds for rock music (or other music requiring realistic acoustic drums) anyhow.

You'd be better served using your synth to 'play' the drum parts (ie. the MIDI data, as explayed by haydxn) but using a virtual instrument to actually make the sound.

There are great commercial drums to be had (ie. fxPansion's BFD), but if you want to start off for free, you could do worse than a copy of sfz loaded up with a Natural Studios drumkit.

So basically, here's how the signal goes:

1. Your Yamaha keyboard is pointed at a track as a MIDI device. This passes through the track area as MIDI data (think of it as notes on sheet music) which you can record in real-time if you want. (some dude is furiously scribbling notes down on a paper for you as you play. )

2. This MIDI data gets passed to the filter area, where you have dragged a copy of sfz.

3. Since sfz is just a "machine", you need to tell it what sounds to play, just like how on your synthesizer you need to select what instrument you're hearing. So, you've loaded a drumkit (like the Natural Studios one) into it.

4. From there it goes to your soundcard's audio output and you can now hear it played through whatever speakers you've hooked up to your computer.


Now, since the MIDI part itself is just 'notation', you can move notes around to fix them up, "quantize" them, edit their velocities (how hard you hit the keys) and so forth. But if you decide you don't like the drumkit you're using or want to try a different one, you either load a different kit into sfz, or load an entirely different virtual instrument INSTEAD of sfz. (BFD, for example, if you've purchased it).

Greg

[noel]

Great information. I understand everything that both of ou were saying Greg and haydxn. I have been doing the latter of the two by just playing it live. Or more precisely recording one hit of the snare and then just copy and paste where I need it to be; same with the bass, high hat etc. I guess in a way I am arrnaging the sounds kind of like you would MIDI; just placing the sounds where I want them to be played. I think that the suggestion of a virtual instrument would be best. Now with a vst (right), do you just use the MIDI editor to create the drum line? What would you suggest as a good quality drum vst? And why is there no MIDI sounds in tracktion for a simple drum line; Bass/Snare/Symbol.

I guess all in all, the way I have been doing it is working but I am just looking for a more practial and professional way of creating a drum line. Any further input/critique is greatly appreciated.



The way I have my studio setup now is as follows:

Mackie Onyx Mixer w/Firewire to my PC
Everything - Mics, guitar, synth goes to Mixer

I tried pluging the synth in with USB and it is recognizing it in Tracktion.

I don't know if all this is even a legit setup... Just going thru trial and error.