midi keyboard hardware/software Acid question -ACID Product Family

Subject:midi keyboard hardware/software Acid question Posted by: RiRo Date:9/29/2002 10:08:27 PM Howdy, I finally took the plunge and have acid music 3 and cakewalk home studio 2002 for my daughter. I also am going to upgrade to Acid 4.0a, but will wait a bit until I install it. Anyway, I am looking at a Roland FP3 Keyboard for her, and have a few questions. 1. To record the audio, a simple audio cable from the outs to the sound card line in should work, right? 2. I have no clue on midi. New world to me. What kind of additional hardware (in addition to the keyboard and the generic sound card) do I need to make midi work in Acid (and I assume other apps)? Please suggest brands if you have a preference. 3. Is the Roland FP3 a good choice? I can get it and the amp and monitors for a very good price, but if it don't do the job, no price is a good price. (Most likely going to use an Alesis RA-150 and Monitor Ones, or may use the point sevens with a sub.) 4. Would you suggest some reading material on midi and the like that will bring me up to speed. I know computers well, know nothing about music, and even less about midi and that whole ball of wax. I do know a bit about audio, albeit mostly analog. 5. Anything else you would tell a newbie to keep him from screwing up to bad while trying to get his 11-year-old daughter into computer music. Thanks, RiRo
Subject:RE: midi keyboard hardware/software Acid question Reply by: Iacobus Date:9/30/2002 12:15:40 PM 1. Yes. Be sure to enable the input for recording in your soundcard's mixer. Usually it's disabled (muted). 2. It depends on how you will use MIDI. For example, you could route MIDI tracks through a VSTi. All the hardware you'd need is a MIDI keyboard. There are many free VSTi's available as well as commercial ones. You would usually just install the required VSTi's DLL into a folder (preferably a folder you created for neatness). ACID should then identify it and make it available as a soft synth for you to route your MIDI tracks through. 3. I'm not an aficionado on keyboards, so I can't be of much help here. (I'm a guitarist.) However, if you use the suggestion in number 2 above, you wouldn't need a powerhouse keyboard, just a simple MIDI controller keyboard like the Oxygen8 from M-Audio. (This keyboard does not produce sounds on its own natively; it relies on whatever software you're using, like a VSTi, to produce the sound.) 4. I've heard that Muska & Lipman's series of music Power! books is a great start. However, the ACID Power! book they have covers ACID 3.0 and not ACID 4.0, so any of ACID 4.0's new and potentially important features aren't covered. (Like the aforementioned VSTi support.) 5. You're pretty much on a good track right now. If you're daughter plans on making her own music, I would definitely suggest picking up a digital audio editor of some sort, as she can tweak her final mixes using such software. I believe SoFo is offering Sound Forge Studio 6 free with that $99 ACID 4.0 offer they're having. (Believe it ends today.) Not as powerful as its bigger cousin but it's definitely a start. HTH, Iacobus

Subject:midi keyboard hardware/software Acid question

Posted by: RiRo

Date:9/29/2002 10:08:27 PM

Howdy,

I finally took the plunge and have acid music 3 and cakewalk home studio 2002 for my daughter. I also am going to upgrade to Acid 4.0a, but will wait a bit until I install it. Anyway, I am looking at a Roland FP3 Keyboard for her, and have a few questions.

1. To record the audio, a simple audio cable from the outs to the sound card line in should work, right?

2. I have no clue on midi. New world to me. What kind of additional hardware (in addition to the keyboard and the generic sound card) do I need to make midi work in Acid (and I assume other apps)? Please suggest brands if you have a preference.

3. Is the Roland FP3 a good choice? I can get it and the amp and monitors for a very good price, but if it don't do the job, no price is a good price. (Most likely going to use an Alesis RA-150 and Monitor Ones, or may use the point sevens with a sub.)

4. Would you suggest some reading material on midi and the like that will bring me up to speed. I know computers well, know nothing about music, and even less about midi and that whole ball of wax. I do know a bit about audio, albeit mostly analog.

5. Anything else you would tell a newbie to keep him from screwing up to bad while trying to get his 11-year-old daughter into computer music.

Thanks,

RiRo

Subject:RE: midi keyboard hardware/software Acid question

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:9/30/2002 12:15:40 PM

1. Yes. Be sure to enable the input for recording in your soundcard's mixer. Usually it's disabled (muted).

2. It depends on how you will use MIDI. For example, you could route MIDI tracks through a VSTi. All the hardware you'd need is a MIDI keyboard. There are many free VSTi's available as well as commercial ones. You would usually just install the required VSTi's DLL into a folder (preferably a folder you created for neatness). ACID should then identify it and make it available as a soft synth for you to route your MIDI tracks through.

3. I'm not an aficionado on keyboards, so I can't be of much help here. (I'm a guitarist.) However, if you use the suggestion in number 2 above, you wouldn't need a powerhouse keyboard, just a simple MIDI controller keyboard like the Oxygen8 from M-Audio. (This keyboard does not produce sounds on its own natively; it relies on whatever software you're using, like a VSTi, to produce the sound.)

4. I've heard that Muska & Lipman's series of music Power! books is a great start. However, the ACID Power! book they have covers ACID 3.0 and not ACID 4.0, so any of ACID 4.0's new and potentially important features aren't covered. (Like the aforementioned VSTi support.)

5. You're pretty much on a good track right now. If you're daughter plans on making her own music, I would definitely suggest picking up a digital audio editor of some sort, as she can tweak her final mixes using such software. I believe SoFo is offering Sound Forge Studio 6 free with that $99 ACID 4.0 offer they're having. (Believe it ends today.) Not as powerful as its bigger cousin but it's definitely a start.

HTH,
Iacobus