backing tracks / wav playback

ebrown1942 · Post by **ebrown1942** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:11 am

Hey all, first post w00t

I am looking into purchasing one of these fine behemoths, as I am in need of a solid keyboard and I love all the sounds this one has.

My main concern is for live use, the guy at GC said this was possible but he makes commission so I have my suspicions.

Right now I use a laptop on stage, and would like to negate the need for such. Is it possible to load WAV files of my backing tracks, and play them back through the keyboard???? Additionally, would it be possible to rearrange the song order if I feel the need to while I'm already up there??

Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!! I look forward to stealing all your knowledge on these forums!!!

Rishat · Post by **Rishat** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:35 am

Nope... There is no sampling/mp3/wave playback or line in/mic in option available on M50. So the answer is NO for sure...

What I do for live is load and play my backing tracks from my laptop and play the korg along with it

ebrown1942 · Post by **ebrown1942** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:41 am

crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why not!!?!!?? Is there any keyboard in this price range, that sounds as good as this one, that can do this? I feel as though technology has advanced enough in our day to make this possible. Prove me right!!!

mocando · Post by **mocando** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 4:46 am

You might be looking for an M3 which has sampling option or a combination of an M50 with any other kind of hardware, like an Electribe, a MicroSampler or an good old Triton.
Or you can always resort to your trusty Laptop like Rishat said, that is what I do when I need some sampled tracks to play with.
I'm looking into the Electribe option, though, since I don't like the idea of hauling a Laptop with me live. Microsoft might decide to release a crucial update and reboot my laptop on the middle of a gig, or the Antivirus may start doing a full system scan rendering the operating system useless.
Of course I disable Windows Update (turn off wifi/bluetooth, etc) and the AV before starting, but if I for one tiny reason might forget to do so, and anything can happen.

ebrown1942 · Post by **ebrown1942** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:00 am

I use a macbook, and it is rock solid for both production and live performance (has been thus far), but as I said I would like nothing more than to take the stage with a single piece of thing, i.e. simply a keyboard, and not use/have to rely on a laptop, or chain a million (2) devices together.

You mentioned Triton, do any of the old Tritons do WAV playback goodies? Also had my eye on the TRITON EXTREME, because I would like to have all those nice sound banks, was curious if it did that as well.

Rishat · Post by **Rishat** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:23 am

Get an M3, it probably would satisfy your requirement.. Triton EX has some Xtreme sound set in it and also has sampling (.WAV, AIFF, AKAI S1000/S3000 and KORG format sample data) option with 16-bit, 48kHz so you can go for it as well...

ebrown1942 · Post by **ebrown1942** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:45 am

ebrown1942 wrote:in this price range

eh??? like the $1000 range.... also the m3 seems like TOO much keyboard... like using a Ferrari to drive to my next door neighbor's house

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 6:09 am

Choosing a new keyboard based on whether it has audio inputs for an MP3 player is like choosing to purchase a new car based on the cupholders. It's a gimmick, not an essential or important feature, because you can easily add the capability through accessories.

You don't need a keyboard that does that because you can play mp3s without the keyboard involved in the loop, except for contributing audio when you play along. All you need is an MP3 player and a minimixer. I suggest an iPod Touch 8GB and an Alesis ProTrack. You can rearrange a playlist with drag and drop on the touchscreen.

Or you could buy the Casio WK-500, which has an MP3 audio input built-in, but you won't have the Korg EDS engine, and you'll still need an MP3 player. The Roland Juno-Di and Juno-Stage have MP3 playback from USB flash key, but again, I think anyone who buys a keyboard based on this feature as a significant factor has their priorities backwards. No keyboard does MP3 playback/recording as well as an iPod Touch. The iPod touch has lots of keyboard/music uses too. Check out the Akai Synthstation which converts it into a full synth keyboard for $99.

outsider9 · Post by **outsider9** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:17 pm

The Juno G by Roland can sequence and record wavs and is a powerful synth. But beware. it had bad-screen batch problems, don't know how that turns out today.
I almost buy one but I found that out very soon, just the day before. That scared the s**t out of me

. So M50 is like sent from heaven.

As xmlguy pointed, if all you want is playing backing tracks, you absolutely don't need a sampler. Just an Mp3 player an minimixer will suffice.

somnambulist · Post by **somnambulist** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 4:50 pm

ebrown1942,

I think you would be interested in the Roland GW-8 or Roland Prelude. I owned a GW-8 for a while and it sounded great. It has the mp3 playback you are looking for.

kikedeolivos · Post by **kikedeolivos** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:07 am

I program all my sequences (right now, with SONAR on my PC before which is gone forever) with Garageband on Mac, save it, convert it to Wav and the ONLY thing I take along with me is my Sony Walkman Wav/Mp3 player.

I use loops, no MIDI.

phly23 · Post by **phly23** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 6:55 pm

In my experience....The simpler the better....If the power went down, imagine the downtime loading all your wav's into memory!

Plus the compact mp3 from a trusty Ipod/mp3 player through a 5 channel mixer would be fine and will work everytime.
no one will care if it is coming from the keyboard or the Mp3 player.
plus more controll over volume, separation , order, and eq. etc.

But you will because it will work and perform flawlessly!

PHly23

kimu · Post by **kimu** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:34 pm

ebrown1942 wrote:crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why not!!?!!?? Is there any keyboard in this price range, that sounds as good as this one, that can do this? I feel as though technology has advanced enough in our day to make this possible. Prove me right!!!

Roland Juno-Stage and Roland Juno-Di

glynbob · Post by **glynbob** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:59 pm

I've just played a gig with my songs mixed together on a tonium pacemaker portable dj system playing my M50 and Microkorg XL over the top of it. Its basically a 60gb mp3 player. It takes any format but i use oggvorbis. Sounds awesome. Much better than mp3.

kikedeolivos · Post by **kikedeolivos** » Thu Jun 24, 2010 1:27 am

glynbob wrote:I've just played a gig with my songs mixed together on a tonium pacemaker portable dj system playing my M50 and Microkorg XL over the top of it. Its basically a 60gb mp3 player. It takes any format but i use oggvorbis. Sounds awesome. Much better than mp3.

I convert sequences to WAV for playback, never Mp3's.

Korg Forums

backing tracks / wav playback

backing tracks / wav playback

Wav's?-just use IPOD

Pacemaker

Re: Pacemaker