Direct recordings from digital keyboard?

[gleeok]

Hello!

I mean, is this even possible? My keyboard can record 5 pieces (approx. 10.000 notes) to the internal memory, but that is only for local playback, what I could use for my advantage if what I have mind indeed works.

I was thinking about the "direct feed" way, I heard some people doing that with specific devices before but I don't know if I have enough resources for this or if this is possible with a keyboard. The idea is to basically use a 2 way 3.5mm cable (of course, using the 5mm adapter to the keyboard) plugged to the headphones jack and connect it to the computer, and then record whatever is played, directly. Using the built-in playback, in theory, would be perfect and ideal since no sound would come out of it for me, and quality would be dramatically affected by a splitter.

Now to the problems, I have no idea on how to do this with my computer? Can you recommend any softwares, preferably freeware if available. I'm really not familiar with this kind of tool, don't know where to start. And; will I need a strong processor and/or sound card? if yes then I'm screwed.

The other way is, to use the out to host USB port. Again, I have no idea where to start with this. Or if it is even possible by there. I know that port is supposed to go on the computer but can it exchange sound data that way?

I'm just starting to search around for this, and decided to start posting here to get comments from people who are used to get their recordings clean to the computer.

My keyboard is an Yamaha PSR-423.

Thank you for taking a look and sharing your knowledge ^_^

[quantum]

Looks like the Yamaha PSR-423 has a 1/4" output as your option.  Not too sure how the USB port works.  

The most straightforward method is:
Keyboard > stereo audio cable > computer Line In.  

You would preferably need some sort of "Line In" port on your computer.  This is different to a "Mic In" port which sets the gain for microphones.  In a pinch you could try the Mic In port but the sound might not be optimal.  As for the cable: 1/4" TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) for keyboard end, to 1/8" TRS or whatever you have on your computer.  

As for software, a good place to start is Audacity.  It is open source, and free.
https://audacity.sourceforge.net

Make sure your computer has hard drive space for your audio data.  44.1 kHz / 16 bit (CD quality sound) is about 10 Mb a minute.

Don't be discouraged if you get bad results on your first few tries.  Recording does take some experimentation and tweaking to get right.  

If you get a staticky, garbled, or very distorted sound from a direct cable connection, you may need to look at other options.  A direct connection to a consumer sound card can sometimes result in an impedance mismatch, which causes distortion.  Try plugging your keyboard and computer into different circuits to see if that improves the situation.  See below for more options.  


If you want a better quality solution, you would be looking into an audio interface or a flash recorder that does line level recording.  These start at a couple hundred dollars.  

An audio interface can be an external USB or Firewire device, or an internal PCI card.  These devices will accept various mic, line, MIDI inputs and outputs.  Generally they are much better than consumer sound cards at handling music recording.  

Some portable flash recorders also have line level recording capability.  These don't need to be attached to your computer.  They use common flash media like SD cards to store data, which can then be transferred to your computer.  

[gleeok]

Looks like the Yamaha PSR-423 has a 1/4" output as your option.  Not too sure how the USB port works.  

The most straightforward method is:
Keyboard > stereo audio cable > computer Line In.  

You would preferably need some sort of "Line In" port on your computer.  This is different to a "Mic In" port which sets the gain for microphones.  In a pinch you could try the Mic In port but the sound might not be optimal.  As for the cable: 1/4" TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) for keyboard end, to 1/8" TRS or whatever you have on your computer.  

As for software, a good place to start is Audacity.  It is open source, and free.
https://audacity.sourceforge.net

Make sure your computer has hard drive space for your audio data.  44.1 kHz / 16 bit (CD quality sound) is about 10 Mb a minute.

Don't be discouraged if you get bad results on your first few tries.  Recording does take some experimentation and tweaking to get right.  

If you get a staticky, garbled, or very distorted sound from a direct cable connection, you may need to look at other options.  A direct connection to a consumer sound card can sometimes result in an impedance mismatch, which causes distortion.  Try plugging your keyboard and computer into different circuits to see if that improves the situation.  See below for more options.  


If you want a better quality solution, you would be looking into an audio interface or a flash recorder that does line level recording.  These start at a couple hundred dollars.  

An audio interface can be an external USB or Firewire device, or an internal PCI card.  These devices will accept various mic, line, MIDI inputs and outputs.  Generally they are much better than consumer sound cards at handling music recording.  

Some portable flash recorders also have line level recording capability.  These don't need to be attached to your computer.  They use common flash media like SD cards to store data, which can then be transferred to your computer.  

Lucky! I'm already familiarized with audacity, I use it to edit songs and play around with some files to increase quality, decrease size, and cut unnecessary parts (and other stuff).

But overall, this sounds as complex as I expected it to be. I will learn more about the methods you introduced and eventually try them, thanks for the reply.

Looking forward more comments !

[49410enrique]

a bunch of youtubers seem to have success with recording direct audio to file vs picking up speaker sounds via microphone, you might use the comment boards or youtube messaging to get some feedback from those cats too.

[richard black]

You can use 'Line out' or the headphone socket on any keyboard to record to any recording device (computer with audio input, portable digital recorder, cassette recorder, anything at all) but the sound will of course be incredibly dry. You can also use the MIDI output (on MIDI 5-pin DIN connector or USB) to record a MIDI file on a suitably equipped computer, which you can play back later with refinements like a different piano sample file, different speed, individual wrong notes corrected, etc.