[gritbox]

hi all,

i kinda dived in and bought a keyboard, a yamaha ypt210!

im a total beginner and teaching myself, but now i know a bit of what its about i have a few questions!

1) im definitely wanting to hook it up to my pc to record what im playing, so am i better getting a more expensive one that is usb to usb rather than midi to usb?

2) touch sensitive would appear to be the way to go which again points me towards the more expensive one.

Yamaha PSRE413-K - Portable Keyboard: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

this one is more expensive and looks like it has touch sensitive and USB connectivity, so is this really better for me?

ive only been playing a few nights but ive already realised there arent THAT many voices on the ypt210.

been learning the braveheart tune for example and the "bagpipe" voice on keyboard is pretty poor...

i dont want to go much over £200 though...

also just read about midi and audio...

does this mean if i use my midi connection on the keyboard, im not able to simply play my keyboard, record it using some software and then playback through my pc speakers?

any help much appreciated, thanks

[lechacal]

Originally Posted by gritbox

this one is more expensive and looks like it has touch sensitive and USB connectivity, so is this really better for me?

ive only been playing a few nights but ive already realised there arent THAT many voices on the ypt210.

Honestly, if I were you I would forget all about voices, USB, MIDI and touch-sensitivity. Concentrate on learning the basics of playing a keyboard. If you're still sticking at it, enjoying it and improving in three months time then consider spending more on a better instrument.

[Iaind]

Couldn't agree more with what lechacal says about midi and voices. Learn the basics using just the piano sound initially to get the feel for playing melodies and chords.

Recording really is a whole different ball game and can start costing a lot of money if you really get into it. IMHO it also requires slightly different skill sets to straight piano playing.

But stick at it and this 'hobby' will bring you and others a lot of pleasure - there is nothing like being able to make music.

Cheers,
Iain

[gritbox]

first of all thank you very much guys for your advice.

this is going to make me sound like an eejit but...i record my own christmas albums every year...started off as a joke for my granny then the whole family wanted one!

so i try and improve it every year.

from this point of view, the recording onto my pc actually is important to me.

so for this...does the ypt 210 i have the now do the job, i just need to buy a cable from midi out to my laptops usb?

[Iaind]

Bear in mind that MIDI is NOT sound data, it is only NOTE data (i.e. note on, note off, duration, volume and pitch at it's simplest).

Therefore, a MIDI cable to your PC will not record the sound that the keyboard is making, for that you would need to take the feed from the Phones/Output (Page 11 of the manual, socket 26) to the Mic in of your soundcard on your PC.

I am currently using a multi-track recording software called MixCraft 4 - this has various sounds and samples built in and you use the keyboard as the midi controller for this package. Once you have your song constructed with all the various tracks on it (piano, strings, drums etc), you mix this down to a stereo image and save this as a MP3, OGG, WAV or WMA file that can then be played on any PC. Multi-track recording may be too complicated for what you are wanting to do, and initially getting your head around the concepts of Midi, audio, mixing etc can be hard, but once you do, the results can be great.

There is a good site for musicians called Tweakheadz, he has a number of guides written in fairly simple terms for those starting out in music production.

Just be careful though, before you know it you'll have a room full of synths, sound modules, processors, mixing desks, monitors, drum kits, guitars, harmonicas ......

Iain