Hi all
Newbie here - my friend has a Roland KR107 and we would like to be able to record directly into GarageBand. I guess we need to download the latest drivers for Mac first and then connect via USB B cable to the iMac. I think the iMac is fairly recent, probably 2015 or so - will have to check if this is relevant to the issue.
Is it as simple as this, or are there likely to be further things required before the connection is made.
Please excuse the simplicity of this question for some of you, but I am very new to midi and GarageBand
Many thanks for any help you can give
Cheers
Mike
Connecting KR107 to iMac
Re: Connecting KR107 to iMac
Hi Mike,
Here are some basics which you may already understand. First, there are two kinds of data you can record into a DAW like Garage band. The first is MIDI data. This will be the sequence of keys that were pressed on a connected keyboard. The recorded midi data are then played back in Garage band using software instruments within Garage band itself. This is quite easy to do. Just connect the correct USB port of the KR107 to the iMac with a usb cable. No other drivers necessary. Just understand that what you hear from the computer is not the sound of the KR107, but of the software instruments. The advantage is that you can edit the MIDI data to correct mistakes or even add and delete notes and, of course, change the instrument.
The second way is to record audio into Garage band. In this case the actual sound of the KR107 is being recorded. The advantage is that you now have the complete sound including anything like drums or chords that the KR107 has added to the performance.) The disadvantage is that it is much more restrictive in what can be edited once in Garage band. This type of recording is a little bit more involved. I believe you could record to a usb stick and then transfer the file to the iMac as a wav file and then read that into Garage band. If you wanted a real time connection, you would need to get an audio interface for the iMac. The interface digitizes the audio out of the KR107 and typically converts to digital audio over usb. Garage band will accept that interface. These interfaces range from relatively inexpensive to to quite expensive depending upon how serious you want to get.
What you are trying to do is not complicated, but often when just starting out the problem is getting it clear in your own mind what you want to do. This will be a lot of fun. Good luck.
Rodan
Here are some basics which you may already understand. First, there are two kinds of data you can record into a DAW like Garage band. The first is MIDI data. This will be the sequence of keys that were pressed on a connected keyboard. The recorded midi data are then played back in Garage band using software instruments within Garage band itself. This is quite easy to do. Just connect the correct USB port of the KR107 to the iMac with a usb cable. No other drivers necessary. Just understand that what you hear from the computer is not the sound of the KR107, but of the software instruments. The advantage is that you can edit the MIDI data to correct mistakes or even add and delete notes and, of course, change the instrument.
The second way is to record audio into Garage band. In this case the actual sound of the KR107 is being recorded. The advantage is that you now have the complete sound including anything like drums or chords that the KR107 has added to the performance.) The disadvantage is that it is much more restrictive in what can be edited once in Garage band. This type of recording is a little bit more involved. I believe you could record to a usb stick and then transfer the file to the iMac as a wav file and then read that into Garage band. If you wanted a real time connection, you would need to get an audio interface for the iMac. The interface digitizes the audio out of the KR107 and typically converts to digital audio over usb. Garage band will accept that interface. These interfaces range from relatively inexpensive to to quite expensive depending upon how serious you want to get.
What you are trying to do is not complicated, but often when just starting out the problem is getting it clear in your own mind what you want to do. This will be a lot of fun. Good luck.
Rodan