hooking microkorg with laptop via MIDI

nzimas · Post by **nzimas** » Fri May 13, 2011 9:57 pm

Hi all.
I'll start by saying that, although not a complete noob when it comes to electronic music making, I definitely fall into that category when it comes to MIDI.
Have been roaming the web back and forth in search of a good step by step tutorial and actually found some (suggestions are much appreciated, nevertheless).
Here's the deal. My current mini home studio line up includes a microKorg, a microStation, a Boss DR-5 drum machine, an analog theremin and a laptop with some DAW's installed on both Win 7 and Ubuntu 11.04.
From what I've read, I should have a midi to usb interface so that my MIDI devices can communicate back and forth with the DAW.
On the microKorg owner's manual they say that not all interfaces support some exclusive parameters found in this synth.

Couple of questions.

-Which midi to usb interface would you guys recommend to play nicely with my Korg gear?

-Which DAW is more intuitive when it comes to sequencing from external MIDI sources?

-Which external soundbaord is able to play the microKorg's tones the way they sound on the device itself? (if i am not mistaken, most onboard sound cards are way too flaky).

Thanks in advance!

DaniH · Post by **DaniH** » Sat May 14, 2011 5:07 am

For midi I always go with M-Audio/Avid. They have been the best in my experience with midi data and the best prices.

A basic daw for just sequencing I would say FL Studio. Very basic and beginner friendly.

And for sound I would say again M-Audio. They have a wide variety of internal and external soundboards. If you want to get a good cheap soundboard get the Behringer UCA222. It is only about $35 and works and sounds great.

nzimas · Post by **nzimas** » Sat May 14, 2011 1:17 pm

DaniH wrote:For midi I always go with M-Audio/Avid. They have been the best in my experience with midi data and the best prices.

I believe you are referring to the M-Audio Midisport Uno, is it correct?

Another doubt I have about MIDI.
The ports on the microKorg and on the Boss DR-5 look somewhat different.
They both feature five holes, but the shape is not exactly the same.

Would something like this suit any device?

Oh, and thank you so much for the valuable input![/url]

X-Trade · Post by **X-Trade** » Sat May 14, 2011 2:40 pm

5-pin DIN is an international standard connector format that goes beyond MIDI. Computer keyboards used to connect by it, and there are four, three, two , six, eight, etc pin variants too.
Similarly S-video, PS/2, and other connections use its relative mini-DIN.

So any 5-pin DIN should fit any other 5-pin DIN. The implementation of the sockets sometimes looks different but any cable will still connect.

nzimas · Post by **nzimas** » Sat May 14, 2011 6:07 pm

I assume this one may do the job, then.
Looks quite standard.

crofter · Post by **crofter** » Sat May 14, 2011 6:34 pm

That's a standard midi lead you still need something to connect that to your computer, I suggest an audio interface with midi connections,something like this,
http://www.soundsliveshop.com/p/Cakewal ... ROL-UA25EX
although there are many others similar available.

nzimas · Post by **nzimas** » Sun May 15, 2011 4:11 pm

Here's the set up I have in mind.
My 3 MIDI instruments will connect to an Icon ReoMIDI4 unit (through regular 5-pin DIN cables), which in turn connects to an external sound board.
As far as I could sort out, the ReoMIDI4 should be capable of handling SysEx messages from most devices, including the microKorg.

Would be helpful to know if anyone here has experience with this particular interface.

In regards to the external sound card, I'm wondering if the Behringer UCA222 has a built-in synth engine, that is to say, if it can play MIDI events sent from the instruments. In all reviews and demos I saw, it looked more like a USB audio recorder.

Bottom-line, do I need any special equipment to have a DAW playing MIDI events precisely the way they sound on the instruments themselves? I'm afraid this may depend largely on the quality of the MIDI capabilities a computer sound card can offer.

Sorry if my question is not formulated with tech precision, but as I said, MIDI is pretty much of a new challenge to me (one I have been postponing since mid 90's

)

Thank you all!

Mystic38 · Post by **Mystic38** » Sun May 15, 2011 4:37 pm

the UCA222 is simply a USB audio interface...specifically it can convert audio into a USB data stream and vice versa..it is not a synthesizer.

In a DAW environment you have soft synths and your hardware synths (in your case the microkorg) all of which can play back midi files... as a general rule if you want a track to sound the same on playback as it did in record you need to use the same synth

nzimas wrote:In regards to the external sound card, I'm wondering if the Behringer UCA222 has a built-in synth engine, that is to say, if it can play MIDI events sent from the instruments. In all reviews and demos I saw, it looked more like a USB audio recorder.

Bottom-line, do I need any special equipment to have a DAW playing MIDI events precisely the way they sound on the instruments themselves? I'm afraid this may depend largely on the quality of the MIDI capabilities a computer sound card can offer.

Sorry if my question is not formulated with tech precision, but as I said, MIDI is pretty much of a new challenge to me (one I have been postponing since mid 90's )

Thank you all!

crofter · Post by **crofter** » Sun May 15, 2011 4:45 pm

Midi is purely control information, your instruments will sound precisely as they do when you play them, you have an Alesis multimix 8 Usb mixer, that is all the soundcard you should need for your set-up.So use the midi interface to connect your synths to your computer, the DAW will send midi control info to play the sequences and route all the audio outs from your synths back to your computer with the Alesis mixer, it's only stereo though so all your synths will be mixed to a stereo track.

nzimas · Post by **nzimas** » Sun May 15, 2011 9:14 pm

crofter wrote:use the midi interface to connect your synths to your computer, the DAW will send midi control info to play the sequences and route all the audio outs from your synths back to your computer with the Alesis mixer.

Let's see if I got it right.
The MIDI ports of the instruments connect to the MIDI ports in the interface.
If the DAW is set as master and the instruments as slaves, they will play whatever is scored on the DAW. The playback is then routed through the alexis mixing desk back into the laptop for recording (by a different application than the DAW I use for MIDI?)
This obviously requires a couple of USB ports available in the laptop.

Things might be a bit less complicated if I hook the microKorg directly into the microStation for sequencing, I guess.

To recap, I should only need standard 5-pin DIN cables and a MIDI to USB interface.

Yet another question.
In this kind of set up, would I get any practical benefit from a multi-port MIDI interface like the M-Audio 4x4 or the Icon Reomidi4? Do these devices actually sync MIDI instruments or they are only used to route messages?

crofter · Post by **crofter** » Sun May 15, 2011 9:25 pm

You just route the audio back to an audio track in the DAW you are using (Cubase for example) no need for a different app. as far as using a multi-port midi interface, it's easy to route different midi tracks to specific devices as opposed to daisy chaining from one to another using different midi channel numbers. devices will sync to the DAW tempo via midi.