Recording from synth?

[Elfstone]

I have a synthesiser conneceted to my iMac G5 (10.4) through a Midisport. Is it possible to record what I play on the synth directly into Audacity? I tried recording in Sibelius, saving as MIDI and then importing the MIDI file, but that didn't work. I have scoured the help section of this site but although there is a great deal of useful information available, I can't find anything specific to this question.

Elfstone.

[alatham]

Is it possible to record what I play on the synth directly into Audacity?

Not if the only cable running from your synth to your computer is a midi cable.

Remember that midi is not an audio format. It's more closely related to sheet music than it is to sound.

Also, Audacity doesn't support the playing of midi files, but it will display them.

What you should do is run a cable from your Synth's Line Out to your computer's Line In, and set Audacity to record from the Line In. That will capture the audio coming from the synth. You won't be able to do any fancy midi processing (like note quantization, or velocity compression). If you still want to do that sort of thing, you could use Sibelius to record and edit your midi files, then get them to play through your synth using a midi player (not sure how to do this on a mac). While your synth is playing the midi file, capture the audio using the Line In source using Audacity.

[Elfstone]

Many thanks for your reply and apoloigies for not responding sooner - work commitments got in the way.

Not if the only cable running from your synth to your computer is a midi cable.

The cable running into my computer is a USB cable form the midisport box - does that help?

What you should do is run a cable from your Synth's Line Out to your computer's Line In, and set Audacity to record from the Line In. That will capture the audio coming from the synth. You won't be able to do any fancy midi processing (like note quantization, or velocity compression). If you still want to do that sort of thing, you could use Sibelius to record and edit your midi files, then get them to play through your synth using a midi player (not sure how to do this on a mac). While your synth is playing the midi file, capture the audio using the Line In source using Audacity.

That is very helpful - I'll have a go at it!

[alatham]

That midisport box won't help you. It only seems to provide a MIDI signal and Audacity can't make use of that.