Korg Forums

[Birduder344]

My first piano lesson was just over 51 years ago and 2 weeks ago I bought a MicroKorg S (I am in da house now bruv).

I have hooked it up (ish) to Garageband via a MIDI cable and can use it as a controller, that is fine. What I really want to do is play the MK through Garagaband.

I think from reading that the MIDI cable is irrelevant with this, so I used a guitar jack to USB cable which does not seem to work.

So can someone please tell me

1) what sort of cable I need
2) If the aforementioned cable is okay where do I stick it (be kind) in the back of the MK?

I think I have tried all the options but you never know!

Thanks in advance

Rob

[voip]

Welcome to the forum.

We all had to start somewhere.

Guessing that for using the MicroKorg-S as a controller, the MIDI cable is running from the MicroKorg-S MIDI out to the MIDI in of the computer running Garageband. To allow control the other way i.e. from Garageband to MicroKorg-S for triggering the MicroKorg's tone generator, requires another MIDI cable from the computer's MIDI out to the MicroKorg-S MIDI in port.

To pass Garageband-generated audio from PC (or Mac?) to the MicroKorg-S would require a suitable audio cable with 1/4" mono jack on the MicroKorg end, and a suitable jack on the other end to connect to the computer's audio out. To vocode the incoming audio, connect the MicroKorg end of the cable to the Audio in 1 jack socket. To use the incoming audio as the "carrier" for the vocoder, connect it to the Audio in 2 jack socket. To process audio via the MicroKorg's filters, connect audio signals to either or both audio ins on the MicroKorg, and set it up appropriately using the settings on the MicroKorg "menus" and selector knobs.

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[Birduder344]

Firstly thanks for your reply - no problem with the Korg as a controller that was straightforward. I have a USB to double DIN (MIDI IN and MIDI OUT) but that does not make it work to play the Korg through GB

But cannot get it to work the other way round. Reading elsewhere this is an audio issue not MIDI, so I put a guitar lead with a USB at the other end, but that does not seem to work.

Maybe I did not explain, I don't want Garageband to the Korg I want to play the Korg so I can record in Garageband (but not the Garageband sounds, e.g. not as a keyboard controller)

[voip]

OK. Sorry for getting the wrong end of the stick. For recording audio from the MicroKorg-S into Garageband requires some sort of audio connection. The guitar jack to USB device should work, up to a point, and should automatically have installed as a USB audio device, but it would still require configuring as the audio device for recording in Garageband, and there may need to be some sort of device assignment in the OS for recording (you don't say whether this is GB for the Mac or for Windows). Having said that, the MicroKorg has stereo output whilst the guitar jack to USB is a mono device so something will be lost, sonically. If your computer has an audio line-in connection, these are usually stereo, and would require a suitable audio cable to connect this to the MicroKorg. This might be a cable with an 1/8" stereo jack plug on one end for the computer to two 1/4" mono jacks, to go to the L and R outputs on the MicroKorg.

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[Birduder344]

Thank you - it is to a MacBook with a view to me buying a Mac later.

The 1/4" to USB seems to completely bugger up the rest of GB, so maybe I need 2 x 1/4" jacks to 1/8" (only looks like one input on the MacBook) as you suggest.

I am so irritated by this, I thought it would simply be plug and play!

[voip]

The specifications for the MacBook are confusing. The specification for one variant says the headphone output doubles as an audio input, whilst another variant only has headphone output. If there is only one audio connnector, you will need to make doubly sure that your MacBook is capable of audio input. If it is capable, and there is only a single connector, then input and output almost certainly cannot be used at the same time, making live monitoring of what is being recorded difficult, so not ideal.

People using the MacBook seem to favour using an external USB audio interface, so that's an added expense to consider, unfortunately, and the necessary audio cables will depend on the interface that is used. It's worth spending some time using a search engine for something like "using a macbook for music recording production" to find out what other people are doing.

Also, these links may be of use:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201739

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/record-through-your-macbooks-headphone-jack/
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[Birduder344]

Thanks for your help - I think I have gone right off the idea of this - I had hoped it would be simple (these days I thought most things were compatible with each other).

I am not conversant enough with firstly MacBooks (I use PC 100% of the time, only used the MacBook to try to test out the Korg before I committed to a Mac) and MIDI etc so really unless someone came and showed me how to do it, the Korg is going to remain an expensive toy!

It is a great shame, I thought I would simply be able to plug and play, should've done more research.

Thanks for your help

Rob

[Birduder344]

This is annoying - I looked at one of those links and in fact can see the Korg (or at least the cable) in the sound preferences - there must be a simple way to solve this - any idea where it needs to come from on the Korg - audio out I would have thought?

I can see that the Mac is connected with the keyboard as I can see that the volume level is affected in preferences when I click on the 'cable' name.

Arggh, so the Mac knows the keyboard is connected just can't get any sound out of it.

So annoying!

[voip]

Try the L/Mono output, although if the interface is meant for a guitar, the MicroKorg's output may be too high, and distort, though it may be possible to adjust input level on the mac and output level on the MicroKorg to prevent this.

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[Birduder344]

Nope still does not work - I will see if the new cable makes any difference

[vijkumar219]

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