Hello all,
What is the best way to record Roland sounds into a DAW?
I currently use Logic Pro X.
I can get all of the midi fields together, but there seems to be a communication error between the two.
For example, my solo doesn't work in logic when I have my roland tracks. (Not sure what settings I should use)
Everytime i record the midi track to audio, i feel like I lose a ton of quality.
Lastly, what is the most efficient way to send a project to someone who doesnt have a Roland. So that they can hear those sounds.
Recording sounds into a DAW
Re: Recording sounds into a DAW
1. There are two options for recording sounds from the FA-06 into your DAW:
a. Using the USB cable, the FA-06 can act as an audio interface, recording audio directly into Logic.
b. If you have a separate Audio Interface (or theoretically, the computer's sound input jack, like a microphone input, though not the best quality!) you can record the Audio output from the FA's 1/4" Stereo L/R jacks on the back.
In theory, the audio coming across the USB cable is better becuase it can come in at 24 bit (I believe that's what it is). The 1/4" outputs have to go through a DAC - digital to audio converter, which converts the Digital signals to Electrical signals. When it gets to your computer, you've got to convert it back to digital again - usually through an interface. So it really depends on the quality of your D/A and A/D conversion at both ends. But realistically, the quality over audio cables shouldn't be as good as the direct USB signal, which goes through no such conversion.
However, unless you have high end monitors and a tuned room, it's doubtful you'll notice any significant difference. In fact, given that Roland had to put some kind of effect on every single sound means they weren't "perfect" to begin with - even the most basic of insturments sometimes have an EQ on them to make them "sound better". Plus so many people soak modern productions in effects that the difference in the quality of the audio cables versus USB is not going to be worth the effort.
2. I'm not really clear on what you mean about "getting the fields together". There are so many ways to route signal (both MIDI and Audio) in LPX I'd have to know how you have things routed on a real simple level first to help. How you monitor your tracks makes a big difference and it can affect how mutes and solos work.
3. How are you recording the MIDI track to Audio?
I'm going to make a guess here and think that you are using the FA to play a MIDI track into LPX and then play that back to the FA while recording the FA's sound onto an Audio track. Yes?
If so, a common problem - which may tie into #2 above - you might be hearing a doubled version of the audio signal which sounds like a loss of quality. Are you monitoring with headphones at the FA?
If so, when you play the FA, if you have a MIDI track armed and it's passing signal, you're going to hear not only the sound from the FA, but the sound that the MIDI messages send to LPX, which then come back to the FA and tell it to play that sound again! The round trip time to the DAW and back means it's slightly delayed from the original signal - sometimes this is very slight and causes "phasing" or phase cancellation, which can make the sounds sound very thin.
One solution is to turn the Local Control on the FA off, so that you don't hear it's sounds *directly*, but only the sound triggered by the MIDI message coming from LPX that came from the FA when you just played the key, if that makes sense.
Another option would be to leave Local on and listen to the FA sounds directly, and turn off the monitoring in LPX. It will still record MIDI, and when you play back, it will send it to the FA, but while you're playing the FA, it won't pass it *through* LPX and back on to the FA again.
A similar problem can exist with audio tracks when you monitor at the DAW (or your interface) instead.
Not knowing how you're set up, it's hard to diagnose that problem.
4. If you're emailing a file to someone, or putting it on Dropbox or some other similar cloud based sharing site, mp3 is going to be the best way to send it.
You would mix down all your audio tracks (which I assume you're generating from the MIDI tracks) in LPX and export them as mp3.
mp3 is not the best audio quality though. For that, you want AIFF (or WAV). If you're not sure if the person is on a Mac or not, I'd send WAV files. If they're on a MAC, either is fine, but I prefer AIFF just because it's Apple. WAV is a little more universal though - but both are the same quality.
mp3s are 1/10th the size of AIFF/WAV so they're better for emailing and uploading/downloading.
LPX may have an option for AAC or M4A which is the same quality as AIFF/WAV but is compressed to a smaller file size (about half). That reduction doesn't really gain you that much for emailing so if the quality can suffer a little, it might as well suffer down to mp3, which is pretty darn good now. In fact, young people are starting to prefer the sound of mp3s because that's what they're used to.
What you should always do is save your mixdown as AIFF and if you want (or need), WAV.
Then also make an mp3 mixdown as well.
You don't want to ONLY mixdown to mp3 becuase if you delete the original file or otherwise lose it (or decide you want to remix it, etc.) you can't work backwards from mp3 - it's quality won't improve.
If you're sending it for professional work, WAV, or copy it on to a USB Drive or CD-R and mail it to the person (old timey mail, like the postman). But if you're just emailing it to someone to evaluate, yeah, mp3 is fine. It can also be put on a drive or usb etc. It's also better for uploading to music sites because unless you have super fast internet at your house, a WAV file can take a long time to upload.
a. Using the USB cable, the FA-06 can act as an audio interface, recording audio directly into Logic.
b. If you have a separate Audio Interface (or theoretically, the computer's sound input jack, like a microphone input, though not the best quality!) you can record the Audio output from the FA's 1/4" Stereo L/R jacks on the back.
In theory, the audio coming across the USB cable is better becuase it can come in at 24 bit (I believe that's what it is). The 1/4" outputs have to go through a DAC - digital to audio converter, which converts the Digital signals to Electrical signals. When it gets to your computer, you've got to convert it back to digital again - usually through an interface. So it really depends on the quality of your D/A and A/D conversion at both ends. But realistically, the quality over audio cables shouldn't be as good as the direct USB signal, which goes through no such conversion.
However, unless you have high end monitors and a tuned room, it's doubtful you'll notice any significant difference. In fact, given that Roland had to put some kind of effect on every single sound means they weren't "perfect" to begin with - even the most basic of insturments sometimes have an EQ on them to make them "sound better". Plus so many people soak modern productions in effects that the difference in the quality of the audio cables versus USB is not going to be worth the effort.
2. I'm not really clear on what you mean about "getting the fields together". There are so many ways to route signal (both MIDI and Audio) in LPX I'd have to know how you have things routed on a real simple level first to help. How you monitor your tracks makes a big difference and it can affect how mutes and solos work.
3. How are you recording the MIDI track to Audio?
I'm going to make a guess here and think that you are using the FA to play a MIDI track into LPX and then play that back to the FA while recording the FA's sound onto an Audio track. Yes?
If so, a common problem - which may tie into #2 above - you might be hearing a doubled version of the audio signal which sounds like a loss of quality. Are you monitoring with headphones at the FA?
If so, when you play the FA, if you have a MIDI track armed and it's passing signal, you're going to hear not only the sound from the FA, but the sound that the MIDI messages send to LPX, which then come back to the FA and tell it to play that sound again! The round trip time to the DAW and back means it's slightly delayed from the original signal - sometimes this is very slight and causes "phasing" or phase cancellation, which can make the sounds sound very thin.
One solution is to turn the Local Control on the FA off, so that you don't hear it's sounds *directly*, but only the sound triggered by the MIDI message coming from LPX that came from the FA when you just played the key, if that makes sense.
Another option would be to leave Local on and listen to the FA sounds directly, and turn off the monitoring in LPX. It will still record MIDI, and when you play back, it will send it to the FA, but while you're playing the FA, it won't pass it *through* LPX and back on to the FA again.
A similar problem can exist with audio tracks when you monitor at the DAW (or your interface) instead.
Not knowing how you're set up, it's hard to diagnose that problem.
4. If you're emailing a file to someone, or putting it on Dropbox or some other similar cloud based sharing site, mp3 is going to be the best way to send it.
You would mix down all your audio tracks (which I assume you're generating from the MIDI tracks) in LPX and export them as mp3.
mp3 is not the best audio quality though. For that, you want AIFF (or WAV). If you're not sure if the person is on a Mac or not, I'd send WAV files. If they're on a MAC, either is fine, but I prefer AIFF just because it's Apple. WAV is a little more universal though - but both are the same quality.
mp3s are 1/10th the size of AIFF/WAV so they're better for emailing and uploading/downloading.
LPX may have an option for AAC or M4A which is the same quality as AIFF/WAV but is compressed to a smaller file size (about half). That reduction doesn't really gain you that much for emailing so if the quality can suffer a little, it might as well suffer down to mp3, which is pretty darn good now. In fact, young people are starting to prefer the sound of mp3s because that's what they're used to.
What you should always do is save your mixdown as AIFF and if you want (or need), WAV.
Then also make an mp3 mixdown as well.
You don't want to ONLY mixdown to mp3 becuase if you delete the original file or otherwise lose it (or decide you want to remix it, etc.) you can't work backwards from mp3 - it's quality won't improve.
If you're sending it for professional work, WAV, or copy it on to a USB Drive or CD-R and mail it to the person (old timey mail, like the postman). But if you're just emailing it to someone to evaluate, yeah, mp3 is fine. It can also be put on a drive or usb etc. It's also better for uploading to music sites because unless you have super fast internet at your house, a WAV file can take a long time to upload.