home recording stress - please help!

timshel.

Hi,

Im attempting to start recording songs at home and im having alot of trouble getting started.
I have a yamaha p70 connected into a focusrite sapphire 6 interface (into which my headphones are plugged in) and that is connected to my laptop and the software im using is cubase 5.
My problem is that even though i have everything connected, nothing seems to be picking up the keyboard (the sound is coming from the keyboards inbuilt speakers)
the interface has a light on indicating 'MIDI in' but the sound is not being picked up in cubase at all.

Can anyone shed any light on this at all? I genuinely have no clue as to why its not working. and apologies if its something painfully obvious, im new to this.

SeanHurley

It sounds like you have only connected the midi part of the equation. Midi does not transmit audio, it is simply telling the sequencer (Cubase in this case) which note to trigger for how long etc etc.

Have you connected the audio outs of the P70 to the audio in of the sapphire?

timshel.

yeah i have a MIDI lead going from the midi out on the keyboard to the midi in on the sapphire 6....

SeanHurley

But have you got the "Audio" outs of the P70 connected to the Audio in of the Sapphire interface? You have to connect the P70's midi out/in AND P70's Audio out/in to the Sapphire.

timshel.

no, i was told i only needed to connect the keyboard out to the sapphire in.
i knew it was gonna be something painfully obvious!

will get another lead and try that. thanks!

SeanHurley

Actually I have just looked at the specs of the P70 and there is no audio out so I'm afraid you won't be able to record the output of the P70 into Cubase unless you mic up the inbuilt speakers of the P70. You could also connect the headphone out of the P70 to the sapphire 6 inputs using a stero mini jack to 2x mono jack lead.

timshel.

SeanHurley wrote: »

Actually I have just looked at the specs of the P70 and there is no audio out so I'm afraid you won't be able to record the output of the P70 into Cubase unless you mic up the inbuilt speakers of the P70. You could also connect the headphone out of the P70 to the sapphire 6 inputs using a stero mini jack to 2x mono jack lead.

there's a midi in though?

studiorat

I'm not a Cubase user. But probably the best method is to set up a VST instrument and record the midi. The VST instrument can be set to a sound that resembles the sound on the P70 if you want.

Basically record the midi and not the audio from the keyboard.

http://www.steinbergusers.com/cubase/newbie/cubase_newbie_midi.php

The link might help.

If you really want you can record the midi and then output that midi back into the keyboard for editing etc.

timshel.

thanks studiorat, i didnt think to check the devices, turns out it wasnt picking up the interface. got it sorted now.

SeanHurley

timshel. wrote: »

there's a midi in though?

I have done a diagram out of how best to hookup your system. As Studiorat says you could also use VSTs in cubase.

timshel.

thanks sean, thats great...

another problem though, the delay between my hitting the key and the sound being triggered on cubase is immense (latency?) is there any way to fix this?

SeanHurley

timshel. wrote: »

thanks sean, thats great...

another problem though, the delay between my hitting the key and the sound being triggered on cubase is immense (latency?) is there any way to fix this?

I don't use Cubase myself but check the latency settings in the Cubase Device Menu.

timshel.

it says input latency is 325.079ms & output latency is 75.692ms.... i dont see how i can adjust it?
also a problem with the click, its playing off my computer - not through my headphones that are plugged into the interface. not a problem now but when i record vocals it will be...

SeanHurley

timshel. wrote: »

it says input latency is 325.079ms & output latency is 75.692ms.... i dont see how i can adjust it?
also a problem with the click, its playing off my computer - not through my headphones that are plugged into the interface. not a problem now but when i record vocals it will be...

That amount of latency would definitely be a problem alright. I don't use Cubase at all so I wouldn't know how to fix this problem for ya. It stikes me though that Cubase is using the computers internal souncard as the audio engine (based on the click coming from the computer itself). Make sure that you have the right device selected. This might help:

http://www.steinbergusers.com/cubase/newbie/cubase_newbie_audio.php

Hope it works out for ya.

madtheory

Just record the audio from the P70 via the headphones output, and your own headphones in the other socket on the P70. Don't use a VST. There will not be any latency.

Your interface can be st up to monitor without latency, RFM.