Korg Forums

[marshy]

Please bare with me here as i'm a teenage UK student who's completely new to this area of music, but i'd love to learn.

I've recently become fascinated with synths, and i'm about to purchase the MicroKorg.
I know this can easily be used to input MIDI (I'm using Cubase SX with a Hypersonic VST), but i'm interested in recording the actual sound that would come from the MK if i was playing it through speakers as an audio file on Cubase.

What's the most (cost) effective way of doing this? As i said i'm here to learn, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, sorry if this topic has been raised before, as i'm sure it has been hundreds of times.
Everything i've previously read i've been unable to understand due to the complexity, so any newbie help would be fantastic.

[musikmachine]

Not familiar with SX3 but it should be straightforward.As well as midi cables you need a pair of audio cables.

Connect these from the L/R out on the mkorg to L/R in on the mbox.Now you have audio routed into your daw and you should hear it coming through your speakers when you play a note on the mkorg.

Now it should be a simple case of setting up an audio track in Cubase,arming it and recording your performance
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Soundz musik

[marshy]

musikmachine, thanks for the reply. I'm learning more and more about this world and i'm having great fun. If i've any more questions i'll be sure to post here.

[musikmachine]

[marshy]

Well i've got my MK now and it all works perfectly, but i'm still having problems connecting it to my computer (I'm not after MIDI, but audio like you mentioned in your first post).

I've set my computer so that Cubase can record any audio played through the speakers, and i have all the correct cables to connect the Korg to my soundcard. But where do you exactly plug it in?

I've tried it in every possible input of my computer but it isn't working, i don't even know if it'll work looking at it now.

I've just got out my manual and it shows the computer as having either the "sound card" or "Intergrated sound", it looks like i have the 2nd.

What's the difference, and can i still use the Microkorg through it?

[musikmachine]

Sorry for the late reply.It sounds like you need an audio interface with input jacks to connect the microkorg to your computer.

So it's integrated audio and not an internal(pci) soundcard?If so you need an audio interface to connect the microkorg to your computer for best results

I use a focusrite saffire le connected to a firewire pci card in my desktop and i connect my gear to that.Firewire or usb offer the most straightforward means to get audio into your daw.You could got the pci route but you'll need cables long enough to reach from the microkorg to the back of your pc or a mixer.Usb or firewire cuts this out as each type will have a cable to connect to your pc and you can have the interface itself in close proximity for connecting your gear,headphones etc...

But yeah, sounds like you need something to connect your microkorg to your computer.Audio interfaces come with drivers that you need to install so that cubase will recognize the soundcard.Once get a card and install it you will need go into cubases prefs and select it as the audio interface,this is necessary for cubase to receive the audio from the inputs on the soundcard (the microkorg) and route them to an audio track in cubase so you can record the output!

There are lots of cards available these days ranging from basic usb to high end firewire,depends on your budget really.Have you got line in on your integrated soundcard?
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Soundz musik

[marshy]

nope, the integrated audio doesn't have a line in, which is why i obviously can't get my Korg going through the speakers.
I'm having a look online for a nice budget Soundcard, and i've seen a few external USB soundcards.

This would be great as i could use it both on my desktop and laptop, but i'm unsure as to how easy it is to just 'plug in and play'.

Would i need to install the external sound card as my primary sound (overiding the integrated sound) before being able to use it? In a perfect world i'd like to just be able to plug in the externcal card when it's needed and then return back to the integrated.

Is this possible? If not and i can only use one, i'll obviously get a proper souncard put into the computer.

Thanks for all the help Musikmachine!

[djezballz]

you can find cheap external usb audiocards all over the place now. even a quattro would be great for you!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Maudio-Quattro-USB-Audio-Interface-24-bits-96-Khz_W0QQitemZ160230622053QQihZ006QQcategoryZ41784QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem