As I’ve reported before our hottest product this year has been the M-Audio Keystation Mini 32. Not only is it a fantastic well-priced little MIDI keyboard but it comes with a complete version of Sibelius 6 First Software. This makes it such a great bargain, and the perfect entry to the world of Sibelius for those hundreds of you who want to get composing but aren’t ready to spend the several hundred pounds to get the (admittedly brilliant) full version of Sibelius. So once you’ve got the software how do you use it? Well we’ve read on the Sibelius Blog about a sequence of video tutorials that will get you up and running in just an hour. These tutorials do reference the full version of Sibelius 6 but you should find the principles in them very applicable to your new software.
http://www.sibeliusblog.com/tutorials/learn-sibelius-6-in-one-hour/
FAQs – products
Learn Sibelius 6 in an hour!
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012Testing your MIDI device on Windows or Mac
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012Sometimes it can be really hard to be sure if your MIDI keyboard controller or other your USB-MIDI interface is working correctly, particularly if you are using it with complicated software. My suggestion is to separate the two things! Test that the hardware is working OK with a MIDI diagnostic tool, then once you can see it is working you know that you need to work on the software configuration. If you are using Windows, then download MIDI-Ox, it’s a fantastic piece of software that shows the stream of MIDI data on your screen so you can check every key, fader, pad and wheel on your MIDI keyboard and be sure they are all working OK. Download it here:
MIDI-Ox MIDI diagnostic tool.
Then if you want a step-by-step guide on how to use it, this page on the M-Audio support portal is great, with easy to follow screen shots. Although it is referring to an M-Audio device you can use this software with any MIDI keyboard or interface.
If you are on a Mac then the SNOIZE MIDI Monitor software does a similar job and they have nice documentation on their site on how to use it.
Hope you find that useful!
Choosing the Right MIDI Keyboard for Notation and Composition
Thursday, November 10th, 2011Hello. You gave me some excellent advice a couple of years ago when buying a microphone, so now I’m looking for help on ‘which midi keyboard’. I’ve read your article on which keyboard, and found it helpful. All I need is a midi keyboard, but which one? My requirements are simple. 1. To be able to use it to help me work out chords for second accordion. 2. To practice vamping to accordion music playing on my pc. 3. I’ve music notation software which accepts midi input, so it will help me enter music into it.
My budget is £100 – £150. What would you recommend? Thanks.
Welcome Back! You are right your requirements are pretty straightforward, it doesn’t sound as if you need any additional faders and controls, just a straightforward keyboard. As all our USB-MIDI keyboards will connect easily to a computer to be used with music notation software, the only thing you really have to consider is how many keys you want, and whether you want them to be full sized?
We have two excellent mini keyboards, the 32-Note M-Audio Keystation Mini and the 37-Note Korg Microkey. But if you want full sized keys yet are tight for space, then you chould look at the Alesis Q25, a very neat 25-note keyboard with no bells and whistles at a very straightforward price.
If you want more notes without pressing the octave shift, then either the 49-key M-Audio Keyrig 49 or the Alesis Q49, the 61-Note M-Audio Keystation 61ES or the full piano keyboard sized 88-note M-Audio Keystation 88ES would all do the job admirably. All have full sized keys and every keyboard here is touch sensitive. I have listed all these USB-MIDI keyboards in one category so you can easily compare them if you click here. All our prices include standard shipping to any UK mainland destination. Good luck with finding the right one!
Making Music On Your iPad – Recording, Mixing and MIDI
Monday, November 7th, 2011
Will it work with GarageBand and will it work on my iPad? Two questions we get asked more and more frequently. There is a growing band of people who want to make music on their iPad, and build a neat mobile recording studio. So I thought I’d just have a quick look at some products that really lend themselves to the iPad market. First the mighty Samson Meteor Mic. What’s not to like about this fabulous little beauty. Crisp audio recording quality, cool shiny looks, neat self-contained design, the only other thing you need to connect it to your iPad is Apple’s USB connector. It’s never been easier to start recording… it’s spot-on for voiceovers and multimedia creations, great for home video production, perfect for podcasting, and essential kit for professional recording results. You can monitor through the mic with headphones, there is full control over the volume, you literally don’t need anything else but your imagination!
Then our other iPad favourite must-have is M-Audio’s new keystation baby, the M-Audio Keystation Mini 32 is a slick little keyboard for music making on the go. With 32 low-profile, velocity-sensitive mini-keys, edit button, octave/data up/down , pitch bend and modulation, and a sustain button, this little keyboard has all the features of its much bigger brothers but in a handy rucsack size! Perfect for iPad, again it connects effortlessly with the iPad Camera Connection Kit, and hey presto, you have a mobile studio.
Finally, Alesis have a whole range of great USB interfaces for special purposes. Whether you want to record your guitar, connect up a MIDI instrument, digitize your vinyl or tapes, record a line level signal or connect a dynamic mic, the Alesis Audiolink Series have got it covered, and all work with iPad with a suitable USB adapter
FAQ: Recording Guitars, Drums and Vocals
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Q: I am a computer novice. My son wishes to record himself playing guitar, drumming and singing.Would this device (Avid Pro Tools Recording Studio) do this? Our computer has Windows XP home edition,pack 3.Is this OK for your device? Hope you can help.
A: We have sold literally hundreds of Avid Pro Tools Recording Studio Packages to people in a similar situation and customers are generally very satisfied with what they receive at this price point. You get a dedicated device which just hooks up to your USB port, it has an XLR microphone input and a guitar input, so yes it is perfect for recording guitar and vocals. Be aware that this particular device does not provide phantom power and so should be used with a dynamic microphone such as the Samson Q7. You will also need an XLR lead for this if you don’t have one. Regarding recording the drums, you could position the microphone to take a recording of the drums. To be fair, drums benefit from being mic’ed up in several places, and then being taken through a mixer or a multi-channel device, but this will obviously significantly increase the price, as you will have to purchase multiple microphones and a more expensive device.
Regarding your novice status computer-wise, the Fast Track USB device is very easy to install and should work fine on your XP machine, you simply need to visit www.maudio.co.uk to get the correct drivers to match your operating system and service pack. The software should be OK, but I suggest you take a look at our sister post on Pro Tools Essential to find links to the compatibility. It’s not just your operating system but also your processor etc. which is important. However, the device will work very well with any recording software, such as the FREE and very effective Audacity, or Mixcraft or Cakewalk Music Creator among others – but again just check the System Requirements.
What else could you look at? Well the M-Audio Fast Track 2 is a similar device, but does provide Phantom power if you want to use a condenser microphone. It ships with Pro Tools SE which has slightly different system requirements which are available here
The Alesis IO2 Express is also a good choice and works in a similar way but has the benefit of dual mic inputs and also MIDI in and out if you want to hook up a MIDI device (and if your son is using an electronic kit then this would certainly be a useful addition)
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