Keyboard > Computer - Assistance Needed

[Shazbot55]

Hey all, this seems like a good place to voice my problems in the hopes one of you fine people could help me.

 

I recently bought a Yamaha YPG-525 Paino Keyboard, and what I want to do is to hook it up to my computer so that whatever I play real-time on my keyboard will be rocorded onto my computer (Adobe Audition for example).

 

Now I am not a tech kind of person (in regards to both computers and keyboards), but I cannot for the life of me get this to work. The manuel says to plug it into the USB port, install the software, set it to PC mode and it should work, but it does not. To be honest I find the kayboard very confusing in this part.

 

Taking a break from this I attempted to at least put my recorded songs on a portable usb drive and throw it on my computer, so at least I can transfer my recordings. But, when I transfer the songs into it and onto my copmuter, I get something very odd. Say one song had 4 different instruments playing, when I play it on my computer, it will only play 1-2, as well as other sounds that I cannot explain their presence.

 

So Im about to give up, I've tried everything I can think of. The manuel is confusing and I can't find any other information on the internet. If anyone has any suggestions, or perhaps simplified instructions on how to get my sounds on my computer, I would be very happy

[nursers]

Hi there,

 

First step I'd suggest is reading a beginner's tutorial on MIDI - it will give you a good understanding of the fact that the keyboard and your computer are talking in MIDI, not audio - hence when you play the song back on your PC it sounds different - it's because either your PC's soundcard is providing your sounds or your keyboard is playing back different sounds due to MIDI routings.

 

I don't have a lot of time at present to help more - but a good read of a MIDI tutorial would be a good first step

[midinut]

www.tweakheadz.com

 

more specifically: http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_get_started_with_midi.html

 

I've got a Yamaha DGX500 hooked up to my PC and it works fine. It has old fashioned MIDI in and out (and I had to buy an interface). Your keyboard is using USB to route the MIDI data. What is MIDI data? Check out the website above but basically it is the note on/note off data, the velocity data (how hard you played it) and the sound assignments. It uses 16 MIDI channels to store what voice (instrument) is used on which channel. Programs like Cubase, Sonar, etc. are sequencing programs which not only let you record MIDI data but also audio tracks (vocals, guitars, etc.) as well. They will give you that "studio in a box" that we all dream about! At some point you will want to add an audio interface so you can record audio tracks. Sounds to me like you are halfway there. From what you described, after you transferred into your PC, it did not retain all the MIDI data - sounds like the note info is okay, it's just playing the wrong voices. That you can fix! After you check out the above site to get a bit better at understanding MIDI, go to Yamaha's web site and do a little digging around. Call their customer support line and ask for help. Trust me when I say ... it is well worth the time to figure it out. It opens up a whole new world! Good luck and let us know how it's coming along! Welcome to our world! We were all where you are at one time ...