This should probably have been posted on ILM, but I don't usually post there. I just bought a Microkorg synth & I'd like to start doing some multitrack recording on my Mac. Do any musician folks out there have a good recommendation on a cheap (but decent) midi card & software?
― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 22:25 (twenty years ago)
You shouldn't need a MIDI card on any newish Mac with OS X. You can get a USB to MIDI adaptor, and your Mac should be okay with that, methinks. Newer MIDI controllers have USB in/outs. Either way, MIDI is a software thing rather than a hardware thing on modernish macs.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreaudio/
I really like Tracktion for a good and cheap all-in-one. It's a couple steps more "pro" than GarageBand, without all those features that you'll never use in Logic etc. It is also very very intuitive and easy to use.
http://www.mackie.com/products/tracktion2
― Matt LC (flightsatdusk), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 01:46 (twenty years ago)
Oh, I almost forgot: Seeing as you have a Korg, you'll probably want to get the sounds the Korg makes into your computer somehow (MIDI just allows your computer to control the Korg and the Korg to control the computer, but doesn't get Korg sounds into your computer). Cheapest way is to run the Korg through some amp, and use the computer's built in mic to pick it up. The built in mics on the last few generations of iMacs are actually pretty good (given that they're pin holes), but only pick up ambient sounds, or sounds of things close to the computer. If you want to mic something directly, you should use some sort of microphone pre-amp (and, of course, a microphone). This is probably your cheapest, but by no means best, bet:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB-main.html
A super cheap option is to use a mic-to-USB adaptor like the iMic:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/
But without an amplifier for the microphone, your sounds is going to be very poor. Also, there will be really annoying latency issues (i.e., the sound of what you've already recorded + your synthesized stuff will be out of sync with the sound of the thing you're recording coming back at you through your headphones), which you can avoid with a decent pre-amp.
I think in either case (actually, *definitely* if you use the iMic) you'll still need another amplifier for the Korg itself.
Hope this makes sense, isn't overkill.
― Matt LC (flightsatdusk), Wednesday, 19 October 2005 02:58 (twenty years ago)