Newbie questions

deadserenity · Post by **deadserenity** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:53 pm

I recently purchased the R3 as my first synthesizer and I am enjoying it very much. I am still figuring things out and I could use a little help with some questions.

#1. Is the R3 compatible with plugging into a synthesizer workstation or midi controller, and can I control its basic functions and the vocoder with workstation synthesizer or midi controller?
#2. If yes to the first answer, what workstations or midi controller do you recommend to pair with the R3?
#3. For recording with a labtop computer which recording software would you recommend that works best with the R3?

Sorry for the stupid questions, am still trying to figure these things out and slowly am. If anyone could help me answer these it would be very much appreciated, thanks

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:33 am

Have you downloaded and installed the latest USB-midi driver and the editor librarian software? If not, that's your first step.

It's better to use the editor software to control it than anything else.

There is no best recording/DAW software for the R3. They all can record. It's more a matter of picking the best DAW software for what you want to do. For professional recording, Pro Tools is the industry standard. For live playback and control, Ableton Live is the most common. But you can use whatever you have, or whatever is most convenient for you, such as GarageBand if you have a Mac, or Sonar, or any free/lite/LE versions of software you got for free.

Have you already bought an audio I/O interface? You'll need one to get pro quality audio recording and playback.

deadserenity · Post by **deadserenity** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:14 am

Yeah I tested out the librarian software and am still currently learning it. I am confused I suppose mostly on making the R3 play multiple layered sounds rather then a few edited mixes but that is where the recording software comes in handy I suppose hehe.

I am going to be picking up a firewire interface soon as I have recently ordered a brand new notebook just for recording purposes. Would a firewire interface/notebook be all I need to control the R3?
The main reason I was thinking about maybe a workstation would be more for drum beats and some extra sounds but I might just be fooling myself thinking the R3 is a little limited huh?
Are the patches that can be downloaded for the R3 ones that will potentially give me much more?
Sorry for all the questions again lol, I thank you for your response.

xmlguy · Post by **xmlguy** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:11 pm

The R3 is a virtual analog synth, and a very good one at that, but it isn't a very good multi-timbral sound module, which is how I think you're trying to use it. I think you may have bought the wrong _kind_ of synth. A MicroX or X50 is much more suitable for multi-track recording as they can do 16 part multi-timbral playback with 62 polyphony. The R3 only has 8 polyphony and 2 timbres, with no drum kits. The MicroX and X50 also have VST software for control by DAW software, while the R3 doesn't.

There is no need to buy a firewire interface, since a USB interface will probably work fine for your purposes, like the M-audio FastTrack or FastTrack Pro.

deadserenity · Post by **deadserenity** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:14 pm

Well I would like something like that with more multi-track recording but I purchased the R3 first mostly for its vocoder, I've always wanted that more then many things. I was thinking that maybe I could use the R3 and attach it to something like the x50 or a workstation and keep the vocoder and its affects while getting the drum beats and multi-layering from a bigger synth. Or use the R3 as the controller whichever works but basically combining the 2 to get the vocoder and extra sounds. Is this an option at all? I figured using one of the purposes of using a VA synthesizer would be to pair it with something more like a controller or workstation. I love how the R3 sounds and what it does ultimately with the vocoder and I would like to keep it if it has the ability to be paired to accomplish something like this.

Synastikki · Post by **Synastikki** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:00 pm

what you actually mean by pairing? You can play your R3 with another keyboard by using midi and you can also play some other keyboard from R3 using midi and you can also control all the parametres if you just program them right... the thing is that you need to control your mic to R3 always to use the vocoder... but you can still play the notes from another keyboard while using vocoder... If you're thinking of using sounds from the R3 and another synth then you have to buy some additional equipment to hear them both simultaniously (a mixer or a soundcard with several inputs...)

meatballfulton · Post by **meatballfulton** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:43 pm

deadserenity wrote:Would a firewire interface/notebook be all I need to control the R3? .

You can "control" the R3 over the USB connection already, this acts as a MIDI interface to your computer.

It doesn't pass audio, for that you need an audio interface (doh).

deadserenity wrote:The main reason I was thinking about maybe a workstation would be more for drum beats and some extra sounds but I might just be fooling myself thinking the R3 is a little limited huh?

There's plenty of cheap/free software that can provide beats and other sounds (which you can use the R3 keyboard to play), no need to add more hardware right away. In fact most audio interfaces come bundled with sequencing/recording software and some software instruments. Look carefully at what software is bundled, it might be worth paying a little bit extra for a particular interface if it has a superior software bundle!

deadserenity · Post by **deadserenity** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 3:00 am

meatballfulton wrote:
deadserenity wrote:Would a firewire interface/notebook be all I need to control the R3? .
You can "control" the R3 over the USB connection already, this acts as a MIDI interface to your computer.

It doesn't pass audio, for that you need an audio interface (doh).

deadserenity wrote:The main reason I was thinking about maybe a workstation would be more for drum beats and some extra sounds but I might just be fooling myself thinking the R3 is a little limited huh?
There's plenty of cheap/free software that can provide beats and other sounds (which you can use the R3 keyboard to play), no need to add more hardware right away. In fact most audio interfaces come bundled with sequencing/recording software and some software instruments. Look carefully at what software is bundled, it might be worth paying a little bit extra for a particular interface if it has a superior software bundle!

This is another thing I was hoping the R3 could do is use other software, like drum beats for example, and can be assigned to the R3 to play. This will help me learn much more before adding more hardware if I can get all kinds of new sounds for it. I am glad it has this function.
Is there any interface you would suggest offhand? Right now the laptop I am using does have usb hubs and a firewire port.

Synastikki wrote:what you actually mean by pairing? You can play your R3 with another keyboard by using midi and you can also play some other keyboard from R3 using midi and you can also control all the parametres if you just program them right... the thing is that you need to control your mic to R3 always to use the vocoder... but you can still play the notes from another keyboard while using vocoder... If you're thinking of using sounds from the R3 and another synth then you have to buy some additional equipment to hear them both simultaniously (a mixer or a soundcard with several inputs...)

That is exactly what I mean by pairing

I want to play my R3 with another keyboard with the R3 mainly using the vocoder and the second keyboard playing more notes and both connected to a notebook computer for extra control and sounds.

Thank you all for your responses