Kawai K3 + Sonar= help with midi

[gettinthatfosho]

Hey everyone

So I've got my Kawai K3 synth (old school, I know). This is my first synth. I also went to guitar center and got a cool little M-Audio midisport uno cable (MIDI to usb) http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Uno.html. Then I got the trial version of Cakewalk Sonar X1. I've got everything all connected but Now What? I can't seem to record anything! I've read all the steps for selecting MIDI device and input/output stuff like that, plus installed the midisport driver, and also looked at the Kawai K3 manual http://www.kawaius-tsd.com/OM/K_SYNTH/K3.PDF . I sorta don't understand any of it but can't I just record?? Please help I am totally stumped (and new to all this) and am putting a lot of time and money into just making some cool ambient music! What am i doing wrong? Am I screwed because its an old synth? Or did I get the wrong MIDI thing? How do I put it all together to record tracks? in newbie terms please! Thank you all

[blackdiscoball]

Are you trying to use the K3 for a midi controller or record the audio out of it?

[gettinthatfosho]

I think just record. I don't really know what the other is

[Z]

The MIDISport transmits MIDI information, not sound. If you want to record sound, you will need an audio interface.

For the past 25 years, I have been using the analogy that MIDI sequencers is to music as a word processor is to writing. With a MIDI sequencer, you can record note information and then manipulate it (cut, copy and paste, transpose, quantize, add or remove notes and more). Once you get the sequence to your liking, then you can record it whether it be to tape (analog or digital) or computer.

[gettinthatfosho]

Well how do I do that?? Have I got all the right things to simply make some ambient music? The midisport thing was like 50 bucks and I can't even transfer stuff (record) onto my PC?

[Yoozer]

The problem - in 9 out of 10 times it's because you try to match up the labels. Don't!

Mnemonic: MIDI goes OUT of the synth IN the computer. So, first do that; connect the synth's MIDI out to the Uno's MIDI in. Then open up a software synth in Sonar, and see if you can get that to play over the computer's speakers.

That works? Awesome, next step. Connect the MIDI out of the MIDIsport to the MIDI in of the K3. Now you can record the melody as MIDI on the computer, and the computer can then tell the K3 what to play again.

MIDI is to sound as sheet music is to a CD. MIDI tells something what (which notes) to play, but not what it sounds like: a CD tells you what it sounds like, but not how (which notes) to play it.

You're not screwed since you'll need that MIDISport anyway, but you do need an audio interface. This is a fancy way of saying "sound card for music product" (as opposed to the on-board card which is good for playing mp3s at disappointing quality).

These come in several sizes. What you should get depends on the following:

* your budget, in a number of USD/GBP/EUR
* format. If you have a laptop, Firewire or (safer bet) USB. If you have a desktop, then a PCI(x) card will do the job too, though audio interfaces with a little box and USB/FW are really convenient since you don't have to reach at the back of the computer.
* what you want to hook up. If you plan on buying more synths than just the K3, it's really convenient to have multiple ins/outs. Interfaces are usually specified like "6x8" which means you get 6 mono inputs (but not necessarily all analog line inputs, SPDIF/ADAT are in there, too) and 8 outputs. What are the outputs good for? Well, first, speakers/amplifier; second, you could have a stompbox and thus pipe sound from an output back into an input so you could use a cheap distortion pedal on a VST plugin or the K3 synth lines you just recorded, or whatever.

Oh yeah, furthermore: you have a K3, you want to use it with Sonar, and you've got troubles with MIDI. A better topic title than this one is "Sonar + Kawai K3 - How do I get MIDI to work?" because everyone needs help in this forum, so you're not giving us any information. By choosing a good topic title, you get people who know Sonar better than you or who also have a K3 and have successfully hooked it up to a computer.

[gettinthatfosho]

Then open up a software synth in Sonar, and see if you can get that to play over the computer's speakers.

^^ I can't even do this,

[gettinthatfosho]

I'm gonna return the MIDISPORT thing and get an auxilary cord hooked up out of my amp's headphone jack and into the mic jack on my pc, and record tracks on Audacity, which is free and easy to use. WHoomp there it is!! just saved about 50 bucks. Brian Eno status here i come

[madtheory]

You will probably find that you'll need the MIDI interface, to fix bum notes you play on the K3, especially if you're going to be improvising.

So: record a performance as MIDI, fix bits, then send it out the the K3 and record it as audio.