Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Recording from midi keyboard is choppy, & no sustain pedal, etc. (Read 4849 times) previous topic - next topic

Recording from midi keyboard is choppy, & no sustain pedal, etc.

I have a Yamaha midi keyboard hooked up to my Dell laptop's USB port using an Edirol UM-1X midi/USB cable.  I can record a song fine by creating a "timing" staff, then using the record button but when I stop recording and play back my recorded song, it's never smooth.  In other words it doesn't sound exactly as I played it, almost like the conversion can't handle notes that are played quicker than say an eight or 16th note.  I've tried setting the playback staff to use 64th notes thinking this would help convert the faster notes but no luck.  Can anyone help me?

Also, NWC doesn't seem to recognize my sustain pedal, bendy wheel, or touch sensitivity, is this just a limitation of NWC or am I not doing something right?

Fred

Re: Recording from midi keyboard is choppy, & no sustain pedal, etc.

Reply #1 –
NWC has many "sequencing" capabilities, but is not the same as a dedicated sequencing program (such as Cakewalk, etc.).

Re: Recording from midi keyboard is choppy, & no sustain pedal, etc.

Reply #2 –
Does that mean there are ways on NWC to smooth out the recording and make it sound more like the actual song I played even if it's not perfect?  If so do you have any suggestions?  I've spent some good time playing with it and reading the help me files but still my recording sounds (for lack of a better word) "choppy".  Also, any ideas about NWC being able to recognize the sustain pedal?

Thanks,

Fred

Re: Recording from midi keyboard is choppy, & no sustain pedal, etc.

Reply #3 –
NWC is not a sequencer, and it does not capture exactly what you play during recording. NWC analyzes what you play during recording, and converts it into NWC notation. When you play this back, you are playing back the notation, not your original performance.

If you have more general sequencing needs, you would probably be much happier using a program dedicated to this task.
 

Re: Recording from midi keyboard is choppy, & no sustain pedal, etc.

Reply #4 –
Thank you , that certainly answers the question :)

Re: Recording from midi keyboard is choppy, & no sustain pedal, etc.

Reply #5 –
For the benefit of others who may come across this thread: Some programs are intended for "sequencing" MIDI instruments. They will capture whatever you play, to the extent that your instrument issues the appropriate MIDI data. This may include note durations to the nearest millisecond, pitch bends, velocities, etc. Not every MIDI instrument issues all MIDI commands (my low-end keyboard only issues pitch and duration information, not velocity or pitch bend).

Sequencing programs are optimized for those who play live electronic music, not for those who wish to deal with music notation (sheet music). Although sequencers can produce something like sheet music, you will discover that the result may be confusing or unintended. That is because sheet music and "as played" music rarely coincide.

NWC is optimized for music notation, to produce sheet music. When it captures MIDI, it captures the events that most coincide with what sheet music normally displays. When played back, the captured information (now in NWC internal format) may sound choppy, and be missing some information, because that's the way sheet music is.

Before I came across NWC (back at version 1.55, I believe), I had Cakewalk Home Studio. But I cannot play keyboard well (I am a singer), so the sequencing capabilities of Cakewalk didn't do anything for me, because I couldn't use its capabilities the way I needed them. NWC did the trick. I also have another program that I use for specialized audio needs.

Re: Recording from midi keyboard is choppy, & no sustain pedal, etc.

Reply #6 –
Excellent explanation, thanks for all your help everyone.