Sorry for being so detailed. I just wanted to be sure that you understood.
You said you wanted to use the built in sounds. A lot of people don't
understand that midi in and of itself won't produce sounds out the keyboard.
I have a real bad habbit of doing this and giving far more detail than
necessary, guilty as charged, but I would have hated for you to have gotten
an answer, then wonderred why just simply plugging a midi cable or whatever
in wasn't working.
Pardon the novel-writing. Did you get anything helpful though out of my
message? I hope so?
Chris.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Devin Prater" <d.pra...@me.com>
To: "OS X & iOS Accessibility" <mac-access@mac-access.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2015 7:02 PM
Subject: Re: [Mac-access]: midi keyboard usage within the mac
Well, goodness. I didn’t mean anything that detailed. I simply want a
program that uses pure midi, can export and import midi, and could
optionally save the midi as mp3. I’ve heard that GarageBand on OS X 10.10
is inaccessible in some ways, so I simply want a simple, easily learned
and accessible editor that’ll work with midi so that I can just play using
the keyboard. I have now, like in the last hour, gone through the keyboard’s
array of sounds and found them a little low quality, the keyboard is an
older model, so I may just play using the keyboard then export to mp3 or
something then all the tracks are good and all, so that’s what I want to
do.
On Apr 4, 2015, at 5:20 PM, Christopher-Mark Gilland
<clgillan...@gmail.com> wrote:
You're talking two totally different things here.
Let's get one thing totally straight. Midi isn't audio. All that midi
basically is are different numerical values for certain triggered events,
with 1's and 0's attached to it. Basically 0 means the event is off,
while 1 means it is on. Every single thing you do with the keyboard is
associated with a midi event, as they are called. I understand this
isn't what you're asking, but to answer your question, I have to define
this, so you'll understand in a second where I am going with this. So
what happens with midi is, these events are sent to your midi hardware or
software controller either on the input, or on the output side. Trust me
with this, I am an audio engineer, so I know what I'm talking about,
believe me. I've done this stuff for years. Not saying I'm God, and
know everything, cause I definitely don't, but this much, I do! know.
OK, so with all of that said, let's address your question at hand... The
short answer is, Garageband will definitely do midi. If you don't plan
to record, but just want to play, then Audacity or even Main Stage might
be your best bet. The thing however is, just know that if you want to
get the sounds from your keyboard, it may take a little more work. First
of all, does your keyboard have built in speakers? If not, you'll need
to somehow get the keyboard going to a line source like the line in of
your mac, or to a mixer etc. I don't know your setup, so it's kind of
hard for me to really determine e everything right up front without more
info.
You're going to most likely need a midi to USB converter, because
obviously, the mac doesn't have built in round midi in and out and
through ports. There is a nice device called the midi Uno that would work
with this. Basically, it's a Y cable. One end has 3 of the male round
plugs. One for in, one for out, and one for through. So, you'd connect
that end to your keyboard, and leave the through cable dangling if you
don't have a through port on the keyboard... it won't hurt anything. The
other end is a standard USB plug. That would go into the USB port on
your mac. I think they're somewhere like around $50 or so. Amazong
should have them. I've had mine for about 5 years now, so I can't tell
ya if they still exist, but, I'd definitely look.
If your keyboard actually connects via USB, not the round midi plugs,
then just use a standard plug and play USB cable, and you'll be good to
go.
If you want to then play midi with the built in instruments, then you'll
open up your DAW, (Digital Audio workstation,) of choice, be it
Garageband, Audacity, whatever, and you'll want to set your midi output
to your keyboard midi controller. So, if you're using an Uno, or some
sort of midi to USB converter, it should, provided you have the drivers
properly installed, show up in your output list. You'd just pick it, and
boom, you're done. Now you'll play the midi file just like you normally
would and it then should come out your keyboard speakers, or if no
speakers, it'll get routed to your keyboard's line out/headphone out
which you then have fed back into a line in source of some type.
If you wanna record using the sounds in the keyboard, this gets a little
more complecated. Basically, keeping it general, and elementary, you'd
need, even if there are! built in speakers, to connect a stereo patch
cable to the line out, preferred, or if you don't have one, the headphone
jack of the keyboard, and the other end into a channel on your
interface/mixer, or if you don't have one, then directly to your line in
on the mac. Fire up your DAW of choice. Open the midi file, or record
it like normal, then in your project, create a stereo audio track for
your final master mix, arm it for recording if needed, then making sure
none of your midi tracks are armed, so you don't accidentally record over
them, hit record in the software of your choice, and then basically allow
the midi to play through your keyboard, and get routed out the keyboard
to the line in of your mixer/interface/line in jack on the mac, therefore
capturing that audio and recording it to the stereo audio track you just
created. Then, once done, delete all the midi tracks from the project,
leaving only the one audio track, and then mix/bounce/render, however the
DAW calls it, it down to either a wave file, or an mp3. Preferably a
wave file, so that it won't be compressed or with any artifacts. You can
later go back and encode that wave to an mp3 file, if it be needed.
I do offer tech support on this type thing, so if you need help, give me
a call on Monday, and I can definitely help you with this. My rates are
$15 an hour, or $25 flat rate for unlimited tech support during business
hours for one whole month. I take PayPal, and I also can over the phone
process Visa and Mastercards if it be a last resort. I prefer PayPal
though as the other way can be a bit dicy for some people. Just know
though, it is an option. PayPal Here is my processor if you go that
avenue, so it's totally 100% secure.
If you want to do this and take advantage of my support options, my
support phone number is:
704-594-2225. Hours are Mon-Fri. 8AM to 5PM, closed on weekends and
holidays. These times are quoted according to eastern standard time.
I hope that I've been of help.
Chris.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Devin Prater" <d.pra...@me.com>
To: "OS X & iOS Accessibility" <mac-access@mac-access.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2015 4:35 PM
Subject: [Mac-access]: midi keyboard usage within the mac
Hi all. I mac a lovely midi keyboard… Well it will be when I find the
midi -to-usb cable… Its a Yamaha keyboard with its own built-in
instruments. I really would rather use its instruments instead of the
garageband ones, and would rather have a program that simply makes midi
files, like QWS on Windows. Are there any apps that can do that for the
Mac?
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