Recording MIDI / audio simultaneously?

[brahmz118]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but it's about a computer I don't have yet. If I want to record MIDI and audio at the same time, do I need to use an interface with both MIDI and audio?

Would it be possible to record the audio with a FireWire audio interface and the MIDI through a separate USB MIDI interface -- at the same time? Would this depend on the software at all?

Thanks for any help.

Patrick

[macmidi]

This may take some explaining.

Midi is information and audio is live sound. I don't quite understand why you'd want to record both at the same time? Since midi can be recorded and played back at any time. Then the audio can be recorded later over the midi while it's (midi) playing back what you 'recorded' days earlier. Does that make sense?
Yes, you can do audio and midi at the same time and you have some options.
You can buy them separately too. A Midiman 2x2 will put you back $70 or so and a cheap audio card about $200+. Total $300.
Or if you go with a soundcard with midi ins, it'll cost a minimum of $400 - $1000.
Yes, you can run a firewire audio and a midi interface at the same time, just like a soundcard can. All sequencer software support that.
Logic, Cubase, Performer.

[brahmz118]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Here is my thinking, which could be way off, but I'm new to much of this.

I'm a music therapist. I'm trying to capture improvisations that I create with my patients on the first take. I thought that recording the patient's keyboard playing on MIDI would take up less space on the computer than audio.

However I don't have a MIDI guitar, and sometimes I play guitar, or the patient plays a guitar. Still, I am interested in capturing the musical expressions of my patients in real time. Same with singing.

For the TiBook I plan to buy, the Tascam US-428 seems to have what I want for both MIDI and audio. But I've heard that FireWire is better than USB, so I'm looking at the MOTU 828 or the Metric Halo Mobile I/O, both of which I'm having a hard time understanding. Then I'll need a MIDI interface, and again I don't know what's good.

Does this make sense? Any further advice would be greatly appreciated. If you could point me to any FAQs that would be helpful as well.

Patrick

[brahmz118]

Oh, one more unenlightened question. When you say "get a soundcard" in the context of a Mac, you're not talking about a PC card are you? Are you referring to something that can be attached via the FireWire or USB ports? Or is this something that has to be installed internally? On my PowerBook 1400 G3 I just attached the MIDI interface to the serial port, no card was required.

Patrick

[macmidi]

Actually that makes sense to me now and it sounds like you know a lot more than I suspected, so that's great!
Yes, midi takes up a lot less space than audio (audio is about 10Megs per minute; midi about 100k for a 4-piece arrangement)
A US428 would work in your situation (both midi and audio) and Firewire is supposedly better but I have yet to read about that as fact.
Plus the MOTU 828 (firewire) doesn't have midi ins/outs. So you'd be stuck dishing out more money for a midi interface.
also, in all of the USB Midi interfaces out there the 428 is the only one I see people are using successfully.
As long as you can monitor separately from your computer, you will not encounter any latency (delayed time from when you play to when the computer translates the information and spits it back out for you to hear) and that can range from 10ms to 45ms.
So if you hook up the 428 to your computer and have speakers out of the 428 and NOT from your computer, you can monitor sound and play without any latency. Does that make sense?

For the laptop, you also have another option, Digigram's VX Pocket which is a soundcard designed for the portable. Basically, it's plugged into a free space (like the modem bay on a TI).
When I said earlier about soundcards, I thought you were using a tower, and a soundcard pops into one of the slots in the back.

Check out this site on soundcards as they also list reviews, and suggest soundcards.
http://audiomidi.com

Another good resource is Computer Music magazine that's geared a bit toward the beginner. With some bookstores you'll have to order it but here's their website:
http://computermusic.co.uk/main.asp

[squidpop]

First, and most directly related to your post, firewire is far faster than the current USB. If you are planning to develop soundscapes or samples, or for some other reason need to keep your mix fastidious, then use Firewire. But for the projects you are talking about, USB should work just fine. I do not know about the little digital USB mixer decks first-hand, but I think a check-out of the Event EZBus might be worth it. All depends on usage.

Second, in addition to my life as a composer, I am a Clinical Psychologist, using Metasynth, Artmatic and AcidPro with clients. Sometimes, they come to the studio for a session. Metasynth is in an iBook, which allows me to take it to my office, or to schools I consult. Sometimes we do something like you described, sometimes we take turns making tracks up in AcidPro and sometimes they just invent whatever they feel like (my answer to Sigmund's ideas about automatic writing).

I am now making a couple of CD's using pure sound waves in a binaural headphone environment to generate certain brainwave states.
In one case, for a severly abused child, who has little idea of what an alpha state feels like, the other for a co'worker suffering from what medicine refers to as an A/D reversal. The recording equipment available to us is amazing in its potential. And sites like this one are very beneficial to our processes. Metasynth is invaluable. And Artmatic can take our work to new levels. Check-out U&I Softwares. Demo's available.

The direction I am taking is toward the relationship of music to light and Metasynth/Artmatic offers more to this end than any readily available software I know.

Best Wishes in All You Healing Endeavors. Enchantment abounds,

Dr. SQUIDPOP

[voxatron]

I am a newbie to midi and audio, and I find the choices overwhelming. I did search the boards and found only this.

I have a similar problem to brahmz118 - I am getting a monosynth and want to explore multitrack recording, with midi thrown in for good measure (no pun intended). I just want to make sure that the Tascam 428 (or the smaller 224) is what I should get.

(I am already in over my head, looking at over $3K worth of synthesizer. I don't want to buy recording equipment for a pro when I don't really know what I'm doing, but I also want the functionality that I need.)

Thanks

[transatlantic]

Originally posted by macmidi:
I don't quite understand why you'd want to record both at the same time?

Actually, aside from the therapeutic application, there are quite a few situations where this comes in handy. I recorded a drumset for an entire album that way: Miced the drums, recorded the audio (to tape, actually), and at the same time, used ddrum triggers to record the same performance to midi tracks, as well. This enabled me to double some sounds with samples later in the production, or create my own loops for use in breaks and transitions in the same song, using different sounds for the original drum performance. It worked out really well. I was using Logic, but since the audio went to tape, is was no problem, really.