How to connect your midi keyboard or any keyboard to record

It’s well known so far ,that all you need to build a basic home studio, is just the basics. You don’t need all that hardware that you may keep searching ,neither all these fancy software that you ‘d like to have ,so you van work along with your DAW. Simplicity and creativity is the key!

In today’s post I would like to help all these beginners ,who want to use a keyboard that already have ,as a midi keyboard to record their songs. What is a midi keyboard? It’s a tool that helps you use some sound samples in vst instruments and record them. If you don’t have a keyboard, there are plenty of midi keyboards or midi controllers that you can buy. It’s exactly the same with your keyboard. Both of them are very easy to connect and use them for your recordings in your home studio.

How do I connect my midi keyboard with my DAW?

It’s very simple and very easy to connect your midi keyboard and you re ready to record! The latest models of keyboards usually have a usb port where you can connect them directly to a computer.If you have previous models then you may need midi cables to connect your keyboard using your audio interface. We are going to talk about this later. So all you need is a usb cable and connect your keyboard on your computer and not on your audio interface.

I have to be specific on that ,because I get asked a lot from my students or subscribers here in HomeStudioProject,how to connect a midi keyboard. The audio interface is only for audio recording, such as recording guitars ,vocals and anything else you may think for your songs,using your microphone. You can connect your midi keyboard on your audio interface ,when you want to use a sound from your keyboard or your workstation. You connect your keyboard using a jack ¼ cable and you are ready to go!

Once we connect our midi keyboard ,we start our DAW and create a new project. It’s better to have your keyboard turned on and after that your DAW ,because it’s most common if you do the opposite ,it may not work properly.

We create a midi track or an instrument track. On the midi inspector ,there is a little window that says All midi inputs. If you click on this ,you will see all the midi keyboards that you have connected. If you have only one ,then you will see only this one. You can check if your midi keyboard works properly by checking the bar in the transport panel. While you are playing there is a red bar ,that shows you that there is a signal through your midi keyboard.

On the midi inspector ,below the midi inputs you have a small window where you can choose the output of your midi. You select the sound you want to use for your recording. If you are using a vst instrument like Embracer for example that is included in Cubase ,then you have to select this vst instrument as an output for your midi recording. It’s very simple and easy to use,especially if you want to record midi a lot.

Now ,if you want to use a sound from your keyboard,then you have to use audio track to record this sound. You connect your midi keyboard on your audio interface with a ¼ jack cable ,you create an audio track ,mono or stereo,according the sound you want to record,and you are ready!

I think you will find it very useful and you will be able to get better on your recordings!

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