[Iaind]

Having had my gear living in boxes for a while, I decided to get it all out and to start playing/recording again. Only trouble is, I'm not sure of the best way to wire it all up for MIDI and audio.

The kit that I have is as follows:

x1 Keystation Midi Controller (USB Midi + Midi In/Out/Thru)
x1 Yamaha MM6 Synth (USB In/Out + Midi In/Out)
x1 Roland D10 Synth (Midi In/Out/Thru)

x1 Edirol UA-4FX (USB + Midi In/Out)

Behringer 12 Channel Mixing Desk - Audio only, no USB or FireWire connections.

PC with EMU 4404(?) Soundcard - Midi In/Out + Audio In/Out

Various DAWS including Cubase LE, Sonar LE and MixCraft 4.

If anyone out there can give me a basic idea of how to wire this all up correctly it would be great. For example, should I MIDI the Keystation to the Roland to the Yamana to the Edirol to the PC, or should I link the Keystation to the PC via USB, PC to Yamaha via USB, PC to Edirol via USB, PC to Roland via MIDI.

Should the audio outputs from the instruments go to the Mixer - into PC via EMU 4404 - PC to Edirol - Edirol to amp/speakers? Or should I use the Edirol as an AUX send from the mixing desk?

Do I need any other kit to get this to work or does what I have pretty much cover most eventuality? I have been looking at mixers with USB/Firewire connectivity - should I get one of these if it will make things easier? I am thinking also of getting an FX box that I could use for reverb, echo etc - although I do have a couple of guitar pedals with this functionality - could these be used as AUX sends from the mixing desk?

It was so much easier when I started all those years ago - 4 track Portastudios and no DAW's!

Any help and suggestions are more than welcome.

Cheers,
Iain

[Seeker_UK]

Simplest solution:

Plug the keystation into the USB on yr PC. That can be your main controller.

MIDI Out of the keystation -> MIDI in on the MM6
MIDI Thru of the MM6 -> MIDI in on the D10

You don't need the UA-4FX. You could do it without the keystation but it has a wider octave range than the MM6.

Plug the audio out from the MM6 and the D10 into the Behringer.

Plug the main out (2 x XLR?) into the audio in of the soundcard. Plug the audio out of the soundcard into the amp / speaker set - this way you can mix the audio out from the real instrument and any VSTIs you use.

Check you have the latest ASIO driver for the soundcard. If you can't get one, use ASIO4ALL from ASIO4ALL - Universal ASIO Driver.

In the DAW you use (I know Cubase best) tell it that the ASIO driver is the main audio driver to use that the main MIDI source is the USB connector.

FX gets more interesting. You either put them between the instrument and the audio in on the mixer and that's an 'insert effect' - only affects the one instrument. Make sure that the wet/dry mix on this is about 50/50 (ie original and affected sound get to the mixer). Things like phase / flange / chorus work best in this arrangement.

Or. On the mixer take the socket called "FX Send" and connect to the 'mono in' of the FX unit (if it has two ins) and either the 'mono out' or both outs (if it's a stereo unit) into either the FX return sockets (if the mixer has them) or into the input(s) of a spare channel. The FX is mixed into the path by turning the 'FX' knob on the channel strip. Make sure to set the wet/dry mix of the FX is set to 100% wet (ie only mixing the affected sound back into the signal). Use this approach if you want the same FX to be used across all the intruments in the mixer (like delay or reverb).

The FX Pedals you hve should be a ggod start but I'd recommend a multi-fx like a behringer for high quality reverb.

Don't forget, there are loads of free VST FX (ie software) you can use in Cubase (either as sends or inserts).

That should get you started.

A new (external) sound box is worth it if, and only if, the latency of the card can't be < 70ms (ie delay between the sound on a soft synth and the keystation key os pressed is too long) and / or the soundcard is too noisy (ie any audio recorded has too much digital noise) then buy one otherwise the card you have is good. I've used the onboard card on my PC for recording semi-professionally for 5-6 years now.

Good luck

Originally Posted by Iaind

Do I need any other kit to get this to work or does what I have pretty much cover most eventuality? I have been looking at mixers with USB/Firewire connectivity - should I get one of these if it will make things easier? I am thinking also of getting an FX box that I could use for reverb, echo etc - although I do have a couple of guitar pedals with this functionality - could these be used as AUX sends from the mixing desk?

[Iaind]

Thanks Seeker. Afternoon of scrabbling around under the desk with lots of cables on the horizon me thinks - although SWMBO says I've got to finish painting the lounge first

I was also looking at the Tweakheadz site guides, and I am coming to the conclusion that a 2+2 bus mixer might help me with signal routing, as the Behringer I have is quite old and doesn't have quite the flexibility of the newer mixers, but I will try your suggestion first and see how I get on.

I have also downloaded trials of Sonar 7, Reaper and Sequel to give them all a try as well as the Mixcraft DAW. There's an argument that paying £200 +/- for software will give more of an impetus to using it that paying £30 (or nothing)!

I bought the Keystation deliberately because I had piano lessons as a kid and wanted the full 88 note range of a piano.

I have come across a superb orchestra patch from Garritan (Garritan - World's Leading Provider of Quality Software Instruments) which for £100 sounds superb, but that is a wee bit off yet - lets get the basics done first, eh?

Cheers,
Iain

[Seeker_UK]

My advice is don't spend any more money until you get a result your fairly happy with - making music can get expensive and there is so much (legally) free stuff out there it'll get you going.

Good luck with it and any more questions, hopefully I might be able to help.

[Iaind]

Originally Posted by Seeker_UK

making music can get expensive

Don't I know it - when I was playing in a band I had hundreds if not thousands of pounds worth of kit lying around - and that was even with working in a music shop and getting a very good discount!

Still upset at how little I got for it when I flogged it all off when I became an impoverished student

Iain