Keyboard to Soundcard

[Q.K.]

Alright, so I've searched the forums a bit, and all I could find were topics dealing with hooking up electric guitars into the soundcard to record. I have MIDI in and MIDI out already, but now, I'm trying to record (through the soundcard) in order to use the samples on the keyboard in my music.

In the back, there are 5 jacks. MIDI in, MIDI out, Sustain, Phones/Output, and the power cord. I know it's not the power cord, MIDI jacks or sustain, so that would only leave Phones/Output. I'm just guessing here, but would I have to run a cable from the output, into the soundcard? I mean, I know it says output, so that's more like speakers/headphones, but I don't see any other options for line-in or anything. So if you don't mind?

[Souliarc]

That would be my best guess. Regardless of whether it says phones or not, that is the keyboards output for sound. Check to see if your soundcard has some input jack(s) to plug it into (not to be confused with the heaphone/speaker jack which is typically a light green, 1/8" jack).

I could be wrong.

What type of keyboard is it?

[Q.K.]

I've got a Yamaha PSR-290. My soundcard, while nothing special for recording, I know, is an Audigy 2 ZS. I'm pretty sure there is of course the mic input jack, as well as a 1/8" line-in. I'm not quite sure though what kind of cable I'd need. Heh.

[Souliarc]

Just a typical 1/4" to 1/8" instrument cable. Something like this. Though you could probably find something cheaper, it's an Apple product, and that website only deals to students/teachers, but you get the idea .

[Q.K.]

Ah, alright, sounds good. I'll pick one of those up soon. Thanks.

[Dafydd]

You might possibly come off cheaper by buying a cable that looks the same way in both ends and then buying an adapter for changing it from the one kind of connector to the other. Sometimes "special" cables are rather expensive, for some reason.

[Q.K.]

I could have done that, because I actually had an add-on that was 1/4" made for that purpose, but I found a cord for only $8 that works just fine.

Although, there are a few things I'm just a bit curious about. If I hit too many keys, too fast, and too loud, the sound almost sort of... well, it gets fuzzy and scratchy, as if it were about to clip. Is this just my crappy not-meant-for-production Audigy 2 ZS card doing this? Another thing... the volume is pretty quiet. Same thing goes for when I plug a mic directly into the soundcard, it either records/plays quietly, and in the mic's case, you have to be very loud, and at a close range for it to pick anything up. My mic is an Apex 170, cardiod condenser, if you need to know. Thanks.

[suzumebachi]

you should use a pre-amp when recording a microphone. as far as the clipping on the keyboard goes, there's probably not a lot you can do about that since the PSR-290 is likely not meant for recording. if it had balanced TSR outputs you could run it through a good mixer or compressor and alleviate some problems, but a regular stereo headphones output isn't really gonna cut it.

also... if it's clipping on your PC but not directly through the headphones, chances are the problem lies with your soundcard (definitely not unlikely for an audigy). if it's plugged into the line in, and you turn the volume down on your keyboard and it still clips, you're SOL buddy. if it's in your mic in, try turning off the +db boost crap in your sound settings in windows. if it still clips, try it in the line-in. if it's still messy, again... you're SOL.

oh, and if you don't know already, don't buy sound blaster cards if you ever intend on doing any recording.

[Q.K.]

Well, I turned the keyboard volume down, and the speaker volume up, and that got rid of any clipping, but now, since the only thing making it loud is the speakers, if I record, then turn my speakers back down to a normal volume, the recording is going to be very quiet. I guess I'll have to simply up the volume as much as a can with the actual waveform?

Oh, and about the Soundlbaster card... Heh. Unfortunately I bought that before really looking into things. I'll see about getting something better for recording later on.

[Yoozer]

The keyboard's "phones" output is amplified. If you had something with L/MONO and R (or in other words, standard stereo outputs) and you'd plug a headphone into that, it'd be very quiet.

How to match:

Play a song in the genre you're looking for on your computer and adjust the volume on your speakers. Chances are that the song is already mastered; e.g. volume is normalized, the compressor/limiter has done its job, and it's comparatively loud. Write the setting down.

When you're composing, all those things haven't done anything yet, so yes, a single melody on a piano will be obviously quiet, but there's room (dynamic range) needed for the rest of the instruments. If you record the audio of this, then put a normalizer/compressor whatever over it and it's the same volume as your pop song, you know the volume's right. Write the setting down again.

Then, let the keyboard's built-in demo play. Set the keyboard's volume to 80% or so. Try to match the volume on your computer. Most wave editors show you when something clips (VU meters go in the red).

If you have adjust the input volume and you can play the entire set of demos without clipping, you're doing it right. Make sure there's still some room left. Again, yes, a single piano will sound rather quiet, but you can't fix that.

Just write down another setting for solo instruments. Try to alternate between these three; in the mastering stage you are allowed to lower the volume again because a properly mastered (pop) song should still have certain elements (kick, snare, vocals/lead melody) audible when the volume is very low.