computer soundcards, microphones, midi controllers and digital pianos

[Niff]

couple of inquiries:

microphones:
what is a good, quality microphone that i can use for home recording? guitar, bass and piano mostly. possibly drums. i heard the SM57 is the best?

midi controller+digital piano:
right now, i have a really horrible yamaha beginners keyboard. it's piano setting sounds nothing like a real piano, and it's filled full of horrible drumtracks and bad synthesiser settings. is there a good digital piano out there which is relatively cheap, has a good piano sound, and doubles as a midi controller?

sound card/computer stuff:
i'm getting a new computer soon. what exactly would i need to reduce the delay to unnoticable levels, and get rid of background hum? oh and the sound card i want to buy would need to have MIDI and XLR jacks as well as standard ones, i believe.

thanks in advance for the help. i want to finally start recording multi-tracked things that have okay quality.

 

[Aaron]

For microphones -
Depends on what you're willing to spend. SM57 is a good choice if you only have $75 to spend on microphones. If you're going to spend $20k on mics, you can start looking at Neumanns.

For digital piano/midi controller-
This isn't my area of expertise. I've never heard a digital piano sound that I thought sounded like an acoustic piano. This includes keyboards costing well over $1000. I don't know if it has an acoustic piano sound, but recently I've been impressed with how Nord Electro keyboards sound.

It also looks like you need an interface that is either firewire or comes with a soundcard. I bought a yamaha i88x firewire interface a few months ago for about $225. It has all the features I need, and no more. To me, it seems like an amazing bargain for the money and a high quality piece of gear. They originally sold around $1000-1200, but they have since been discontinued. You can get upto 18 channels of i/o, it has direct monitoring, 2 preamps derived from the DM2000 channels, direct monitoring, and has a built-in masterclock. As with any interface, to get 18 channels, you will need an 8 channel ADDA converter/ADAT interface and probably a mixer. Otherwise you are stuck with 2 xlr inputs and 6 balanced 1/4" inputs.

 

[AdlerAugen]

There is no digital piano which will give you the same sound as an acoustic piano. Now if you want a closer sound, buy a more expensive digital. Practically EVERY electronic keyboard on the market has a MIDI in/out and therefore going digital you don't need to worry about that.

edit: pianos ARE my area of expertise, more so than bass, and will continue to be. If you want everything an acoustic has to offer as far as sound, get an acoustic. I could go into extreme detail about how many things are missing from electronic pianos that a real piano has, but I have the feeling that would just bore you.

 

[Niff]

yeah i figured about the digital pianos, due to the acoustics and the fact that real ones actually uses strings. much like how "synth guitar" on keyboards sounds nothing like a real guitar. i was more wondering how close it could get, because this thing sounds almost nothing like a piano at all. all i'd hope for is a sound that's crisper and clearer and a better emulation than the horrible one i have right now.

SM57s sound good to me, cause i quite like the sound of my amp rather than direct in. apparently they can be used for vox decently too but i'm a terrible singer, so yeah.

for recording i don't really need fancy stuff. i'm gonna be doing most of the synthesiser stuff with a midi controller and FL Studios, piano with a digital piano through my bass amp (if it doesn't have speakers) and mic'd, bass through fx and amp, and guitar using my bass amp but run through the guitar settings on my sansamp GT2. so i only really need a couple of XLR in/outs. and how does the firewire thing work exactly? does it eliminate a lot of the delay that plagues me now?

also, can anybody recommend me a file to arrange audio files into one track? i use audacity at the moment, but i'm just wondering if there's something better.

 

[Aaron]

I'm pretty sure you can get minimal latency with just about any interface. With my i88x, I can get it between 3-5 ms i/o. With a better comp, I'm sure I could get it even faster.

I'm not an expert on interfaces - I've only used digi 002, 001, a protools hd system, MOTU 828, and my i88x. All of which worked fine for what I was doing. Although I never did any tracking with the digi 001s and 002.

You might want to invest in an interface that has more features than you need. You might find yourself wanting more and more channels - especially if you want mic drumkits or multiple musicians.

 

[AdlerAugen]

yeah i figured about the digital pianos, due to the acoustics and the fact that real ones actually uses strings. much like how "synth guitar" on keyboards sounds nothing like a real guitar. i was more wondering how close it could get, because this thing sounds almost nothing like a piano at all. all i'd hope for is a sound that's crisper and clearer and a better emulation than the horrible one i have right now.

SM57s sound good to me, cause i quite like the sound of my amp rather than direct in. apparently they can be used for vox decently too but i'm a terrible singer, so yeah.

for recording i don't really need fancy stuff. i'm gonna be doing most of the synthesiser stuff with a midi controller and FL Studios, piano with a digital piano through my bass amp (if it doesn't have speakers) and mic'd, bass through fx and amp, and guitar using my bass amp but run through the guitar settings on my sansamp GT2. so i only really need a couple of XLR in/outs. and how does the firewire thing work exactly? does it eliminate a lot of the delay that plagues me now?

also, can anybody recommend me a file to arrange audio files into one track? i use audacity at the moment, but i'm just wondering if there's something better.

it can get to the point of having an individual note sound correct, but when you lift the pedal you don't get the harmonics in there and the extra overtones from the extra vibrating strings on the octaves and perfect 5ths. You'll also miss out on various pedal techniques and differing note tonality depending on how you strike the key. BUUuuuttt note for note it'll sound just the same if you get one of quality. We have a really old (maybe 13 years) yamaha clavinova (an electronic model). I get to compare it to taking lessons on a steinway grand and also performing on a range of brands from yamaha, to K Kawai, to steinway and baldwin. Then there's always the infamous young chang...

as far as somethin better for computer recording, be willing to shell out some cash. I've heard good things about cakewalk's sonar as compared to steinberg's cubase, but I use cubase and it's fun except that its audio crashes once in a while if your computer can't handle it. There's also n-track studio, but I know very little about it, protools, and garage band depending on PC vs mac.

 

[TheButler]

Right, the best way for a VERY VERY good acoustic piano sound is via VST plug-ins and a MIDI controller. I personally use a CME UF-8 midi controller, it has 88 fully weighted hammer action keys and is built very well indeed. I use Ivory 1.5 as a piano VST, it is probably the best out there Well i am biased it's the only one i have ever used, i 'hear' that Steinberg's The Grand 2 is also very good. For guitar Chris Hein samples are simply amazing, i don't own them yet (I can't justify buying it right now, but will definately in the future) They have fret noise and everything, i'd imagine if used properly they'd be almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

I use a E-MU 0404 USB 2.0 soundcard which is a very inexpensive but amazing product. Unparalled as far as USB cards go

I don't have THAT much experiance and i think a few people will argue my reccomendations but i hope it helps somewhat

I use Sonar 6 PE which is an amazing program that i don't think i'll have to/hope i will never have to upgrade from for a long time

 

[seamonkey]

There's several very good sampled pianos on sale at:
Invalid Link Removed

In several different formats, it could start flame war, but gigastudio is the best sampler I know of for piano.

For mics, a multi-pattern condenser (omni, figure 8, cardioid switch) are really handy.

For sound cards, depends on your budget, but creamware PCI cards are great. Many other cards, firewire, etc are also very good.

 

[Jim Roseberry]

couple of inquiries:

microphones:
what is a good, quality microphone that i can use for home recording? guitar, bass and piano mostly. possibly drums. i heard the SM57 is the best?

midi controller+digital piano:
right now, i have a really horrible yamaha beginners keyboard. it's piano setting sounds nothing like a real piano, and it's filled full of horrible drumtracks and bad synthesiser settings. is there a good digital piano out there which is relatively cheap, has a good piano sound, and doubles as a midi controller?

sound card/computer stuff:
i'm getting a new computer soon. what exactly would i need to reduce the delay to unnoticable levels, and get rid of background hum? oh and the sound card i want to buy would need to have MIDI and XLR jacks as well as standard ones, i believe.

thanks in advance for the help. i want to finally start recording multi-tracked things that have okay quality.

Very open ended questions...
Mics: Typically, no one mic is 'best' at everything. One of the most versatile studio mics is the AKG C414. It can be positioned to sound good/great on nearly anything.
But it's about $800...
An SM57 will work great for guitar cabs and spot mic'ing snare/toms... and will sound OK (not great) on studio vocals.
If you'll be mic'ing bass cab a lot, I'd go with a larger diaphragm dynamic mic like an RE20 or an MD421. The MD421would be the more versatile of those two. $300-$400

MidiController:
Do you want/need weighted keys?
Good (new) Roland digital pianos start at ~$1300.
Casio Privia (spelling???) series sound/play pretty good for about half that amount. But you don't get pitch/mod wheels

Audio Interface for PC:
This is one area where you really don't want to skimp too much. This choice will affect literally everything you record.
If you're on a budget, the M-Audio 2496 is a stereo card that'll beat the pants off of a Soundblaster/etc.
If you're serious about recording, save up for something like the MOTU Ultralite... that you won't have to replace in a year or two. At ~$500, it's hard to beat the Ultralite's features and low round-trip latency performance.

Quality music geat costs a lot of $$$...
You can be somewhat frugal... but cut too many corners and you'll simply waste your money. Aquire your gear slowly over time (as you need it). Do lots of research before dropping the $$$.


Jim Roseberry
www.studiocat.com
[email protected]

 

[Aaron]

Very open ended questions...
Mics: Typically, no one mic is 'best' at everything. One of the most versatile studio mics is the AKG C414. It can be positioned to sound good/great on nearly anything.
But it's about $800...
An SM57 will work great for guitar cabs and spot mic'ing snare/toms... and will sound OK (not great) on studio vocals.
If you'll be mic'ing bass cab a lot, I'd go with a larger diaphragm dynamic mic like an RE20 or an MD421. The MD421would be the more versatile of those two. $300-$400

MidiController:
Do you want/need weighted keys?
Good (new) Roland digital pianos start at ~$1300.
Casio Privia (spelling???) series sound/play pretty good for about half that amount. But you don't get pitch/mod wheels

Audio Interface for PC:
This is one area where you really don't want to skimp too much. This choice will affect literally everything you record.
If you're on a budget, the M-Audio 2496 is a stereo card that'll beat the pants off of a Soundblaster/etc.
If you're serious about recording, save up for something like the MOTU Ultralite... that you won't have to replace in a year or two. At ~$500, it's hard to beat the Ultralite's features and low round-trip latency performance.

Quality music geat costs a lot of $$$...
You can be somewhat frugal... but cut too many corners and you'll simply waste your money. Aquire your gear slowly over time (as you need it). Do lots of research before dropping the $$$.


Jim Roseberry
www.studiocat.com
[email protected]

Good post.

What about a SM7 instead of an RE20/Md421? I've heard of some folks using them for kick drums. Would it be a good choice if you wanted a versatile dynamic that could also work well as a vocal mic?