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mahlzeit,

I checked again and yes I am recording two channels. Here are screenshots of the two normalizing areas. I can't select 0db for some reason. It's -3 or nothing. Is this option hidden somewhere?


Noise Removal

Normalize

Ah, what version of Audacity are you using? I use version "1.3 (beta)". Even though it says beta, it works just fine. (I probably should mention this in the article as well. )

Note that normalizing to -3 dB will do just fine for piano recordings; that's still loud enough. So it's not a big deal.

If you *are* recording two channels, then I suppose your digital piano just doesn't output very stereo sound, i.e. it has a "narrow stereo field". Maybe the instrument has an option to "widen" it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mahlzeit:
[QB] Hi all,

Here it is:
http://www.originalsolopiano.com/how-to-record-piano.html

THank you for the link and the help.
After years of recording midi direct to computer via the game port, my new laptop had no such gameport entry/
My piano shop tells me midi is on the way out and will be replaced by USB. Do not know if that is so, but I bought a Tapco Traction USB connection between piano and laptop and it works beautifully. You can record via microphone with it also. Excellent sound quality.
Have to edit by sound waves, though. Still trying to find a way to take the music to a programme which will put the music as notes on a stave, as Cubase and Personal Composer did with midi input§
Any help and suggestions always welcome!

Iris

Hi Iris,

MIDI isn't going anywhere soon; what the people from your piano shop probably meant is that most MIDI now uses USB connections instead of the old 5-pin DIN plugs and gameport connectors.

What you have -- the Tapco Traction USB thing -- is an external sound card, so yes, that only records audio. But you can also buy a MIDI-to-USB interface that can record MIDI.

Oh....that would explain the differences I guess working in the computer field has made me Beta adverse. I'll download 1.3 and start using that. I'll also look into widening the stereo field of my keyboard.

tHANK you, Matthijs, for putting me straight on that. I shall look for the midi-USB interface, which, to be honest, is what I THOUGHT I was buying when I bought the Traction. Then I can continue to use the old software and edit real notes...........
THanks again
Iris

First make sure the Traction doesn't already have a MIDI input/output. Would be a shame to buy something new if you already had the functionality available to you...

mahlzeit,

How about this recording with your suggested changes?

Casio PX310

Hmm,

It's actually worse than the previous one. There's this weird "echo" on loud tones. I don't know what causes that. Maybe it's the noise reduction. Remember that this step is optional, and you're better off without it if the noise is neglectable.

mahlzeit,

Thanks for all the help. I hope you don't get tired of this. Here's another try.

Casio PX310

It sounds alright, but there is a slightly noise on the line. I guess you did this without noise reduction? Then I suppose this is as good as it's going to get...

By the way, most people will listen over speakers and to them the noise is inaudible anyway. Only a sound nerd like me with headphones on might hear it.

And no, I don't mind... In fact, I have to thank you for helping me make the article clearer.

Ok. I'm not satisfied. I really want to find out what I'm doing wrong. Do you think it could be the cable? It's a cheap $7 cable with 2 mono 1/4" to 1 stereo 1/8". I plug it into the on-board soundcard's input jack. Maybe it's my soundcard? I'm going to make an unedited wav file to see if you can tweak it. That will rule out my equipment.

link

Looking at your WAV file, the volume is really really low! If this is the level at which you've recorded it, you may want to move your volume sliders/knobs up quite a bit.

If this is as loud as it gets, then putting some kind of amplifier in the middle would help. Normalizing a recording amplifies the sound (and the noise in it!) digitally, so maybe an analogue amp would produce a better result. I don't know.

By the way, I don't think you're doing anything terribly wrong... maybe you just have reached the level of recording quality that your equipment is capable of.

If you want to get better sound, buy a digital piano or sound module with balanced outputs, shielded cables, and a better soundcard.

Audacity = excellent software ...
thx for this suggestion,,

To Agent,

make sure if you have a microphone input, that it is muted during the recording.
And any other inputs besides the Line-In.

(Maybe Matthijs already mentions this on his page?)

Double click the little speaker for the volume control,
In the Options menu, pick properties.

Choose the recording radio button.

Mute anything other than your line in.


Not sure if this will do the trick, but it's worth a shot...

...Steve

Heh, good suggestion. I hadn't mentioned that in the article, but I'll add it. I think most soundcards only allow recording from a single input at a time, but no doubt someone will have a soundcard that allows more than one. Thanks, Steve.

Thanks. I did mute the mic in but I'm not sure if there are other inputs to consider. I'll check it out.

Hi Mahlzeit,

I'm looking for an app to convert midi files into mp3 but with the voice that came with the art vista virtual piano (and maybe some other virtual pianos in future). Your faq recommended VST host and Cantabile, will they allow me to do this?

Also, will they allow me to convert the midi with multiple voices (i.e., combine the voices from 2 different plugin apps?)...haha, I'm new to all this plugin stuff so forgive my ignorance.

Thanks in advance!

Hey Mahlzeit,

I think I figured it out, went with Cantabile Lite that you recommended, very easy to use with the one plugin I have (do you know if I can play a midi with two voices at the same time on catabile lite?)

Anyway, finished my first conversion from midi to wav to mp3 (via audacity with lame).

Kudos, mate, you have my vote for most valuable member. BTW, what commercial program would you recommend? I've only heard of cubase and cakewalk...

Thanks again.

Hi sid, I'm glad you figured it out.

Hmm, I haven't tried this, but if a MIDI file thas two voices then each of these voices has its own "channel". Maybe you can map the channels to different VST plug-ins? That's how I would expect it to work, anyway.

I wouldn't know. I use a very old version of Cool Edit Pro. If I ever get a new computer then I might upgrade to Cubase. But you're better off asking others for recommendations here.