KVR Audio

Poita · Post by **Poita** » Wed May 17, 2023 2:08 pm

I'm an absolute beginner with a piano/midi keyboard and I just started to use Musescore to compose some very simple, one instrument, single note melodies which I will use in 4 or 5 second clips for the start of an audiobook I'm producing.
I think Musescore will work well for that but I'll also be doing melodies for social media promotion videos such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube shorts etc as I don't want to use other music due to copyright issues.
So does anyone know of a program that I can use my windows PC and my midi keyboard for direct recording. I mean, I choose an instrument (either midi or vst) and then live play a melody on my midi keyboard and it manifests as some sort of audio playback file (ideally MP3) that I can edit into the video (I use Shotcut) I will make for social media promotion.
I mean, I could do it the step by step way with Musescore but sometimes it would be quicker to just noodle it on the keyboard then press record and have it just saved as a recording.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Wed May 17, 2023 2:49 pm

Let me warn you before the posts start rolling in. Everyone has differing opinions, and eventually most DAWs will be named in the end. I recommend using the demo/trial/lite versions of various DAWs to determine which one best fits for you.

Poita · Post by **Poita** » Wed May 17, 2023 3:13 pm

audiojunkie wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 2:49 pm Let me warn you before the posts start rolling in. Everyone has differing opinions, and eventually most DAWs will be named in the end. I recommend using the demo/trial/lite versions of various DAWs to determine which one best fits for you.

Ok thanks. Sounds like good advice.
But can you lead off with a recommendation of a very simple one that let's me record direct to 'saved sound recording' and which ideally is free.
I don't need almost any of the advanced features. I only need to choose an instrument sound and play on my midi keyboard and save as an audio file automatically.

audiojunkie · Post by **audiojunkie** » Wed May 17, 2023 5:23 pm

Well, the problem is they almost all have the advanced features.

Look into these basic versions (non-free):

Ableton Live Intro
Imageline FL Studio Fruity Edition
Steinberg Cubase Elements
Bitwig Studio 16 track
Presonus Studio One Artist
Cockos Reaper
Acoustica Mixcraft Studio
Reason Studio’s Reason Intro

And these tools (Free):

LMMS
Ardour

Here’s more free DAWs:

https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2015/1 ... -software/

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Wed May 17, 2023 5:33 pm

Maybe something like this which will load VSTs and record the output, but has no sequencing etc;

https://www.hermannseib.com/english/vsthost.htm

There's a few of these simple type of things about. I'm sure others more knowledgeable than me on it will be able to chime in.

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Wed May 17, 2023 7:29 pm

If you’re using a MIDI keyboard with its own sounds you will need to plug the audio out into your computer and record it. If you’re recording an audiobook then I imagine you already have a pro-audio device to record with.

But if you use a software VST instrument you can just Export your song rendered as mp3 and bypass recording altogether.

The second option is going to be the easiest. There is no shortage of free synths and sample-based VST instruments.

rod_zero · Post by **rod_zero** » Wed May 17, 2023 8:52 pm

Youtube/google provides a library of music royalty free to use in your videos https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3376882?hl=en

Music making is a journey with no end game. Almost all software offers a lot of features, so it is all about which is more intuitive to you.

FranklyFlawless · Post by **FranklyFlawless** » Wed May 17, 2023 9:21 pm

Poita wrote: Wed May 17, 2023 2:08 pm I'm an absolute beginner with a piano/midi keyboard and I just started to use Musescore to compose some very simple, one instrument, single note melodies which I will use in 4 or 5 second clips for the start of an audiobook I'm producing.
I think Musescore will work well for that but I'll also be doing melodies for social media promotion videos such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube shorts etc as I don't want to use other music due to copyright issues.
So does anyone know of a program that I can use my windows PC and my midi keyboard for direct recording. I mean, I choose an instrument (either midi or vst) and then live play a melody on my midi keyboard and it manifests as some sort of audio playback file (ideally MP3) that I can edit into the video (I use Shotcut) I will make for social media promotion.
I mean, I could do it the step by step way with Musescore but sometimes it would be quicker to just noodle it on the keyboard then press record and have it just saved as a recording.

Cakewalk is a free DAW that you can use for recording MIDI into it. KOMPLETE START is also free and has a selection of sampled instrument libraries. These two are enough to produce melodies.

SeBaer · Post by **SeBaer** » Thu May 18, 2023 2:29 am

Cakewalk is way over the top for a total beginner and has a quite steep learning curve. If you already started to familiarise yourself with musescore, note that it should offer real time MIDI recording.
See manual -->input modes.

ztrauq · Post by **ztrauq** » Thu May 18, 2023 6:49 am

If all you need is some royalty-free music clips:

No Copyright Sounds:
Royalty-free Sound FX: https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/
Royalty-free Music: https://pixabay.com/music/

If you are looking to create your own and just want to create something simple on the fly, I would concur with something like VSTHost or similar (such as https://www.tone2.com/nanohost.html, also free) - just load up a VST for sound, add the keyboard as MIDI input, and go. Plenty of free VSTs you can use depending on the sound you are looking for.

Going beyond that, any full DAW is going to be more complex and have its own learning curve. The one that I personally find the most straightforward is probably Waveform Free (well, Studio One Artist is probably a little more but has a lot more limitations). Waveform Free is pretty big on keeping everything on one screen and is relatively streamlined for recording MIDI into it, but still does require significantly more setup than the host-only options.

Scrubbing Monkeys · Post by **Scrubbing Monkeys** » Sat May 20, 2023 11:23 am

I think Mulab from Mutiols would really shine here. Sure the more advanced stuff is there but is completely out of the way. Very intuitive.
The free version may work for your particular case but it is quite limited. The full version is very reasonably priced. You would not need any extra vst software.

https://www.mutools.com

mixyguy2 · Post by **mixyguy2** » Thu May 25, 2023 6:59 pm

I'm not sure what you mean by "MIDI keyboard" - pretty much all keyboards of all types have MIDI capability now days. If you mean a MIDI controller (doesn't have its own sounds), then yeah, you'll need a DAW. I suggest you try the trial version of Mixcraft, which is known for being very easy to learn, and you can get it on sale pretty cheaply (I think I saw it for $49 recently). It also has some nice built-in instruments you could use, and as others have said, there are tons of good free virtual instruments out there.

anttimaatteri · Post by **anttimaatteri** » Sun Jul 23, 2023 4:36 pm

for midi input or audio conf musescore 4 is borked. like 17th century musicians tryin to code a virtual feather and ink software for composing.
fresh install, straight opening the midi controlelr video tut. nothin works. at least it scans vst3, but here again not even asking fopr paths, just executing stuff...
i straight kicked it from the harddisk the third time. this is unfinished business or made by people never ever configured anything midi or asio or whatnot

mixyguy2 · Post by **mixyguy2** » Mon Jul 24, 2023 2:46 am

Good Lord. I can't believe no one has mentioned Audacity. Free. Doesn't get any easier/simpler.

Best stripped down, simple midi keyboard to PC recording software?