Recording My Korg R3 Sounds Directly into Ableton Live 8

Simonsimsy · Post by **Simonsimsy** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 1:41 am

Hey guys,

I am very new to this whole thing so I apoligise in advance for the possible stupidity of my inquiry.

Basically, I have my Korg R3 hooked up to my PC via USB cable and Ableton Live 8 recognises that I have it hooked up. In fact, I have been able to record what I play on my R3 into Ableton. I have my Korg's Audio Out R slot connected to an amplifier via a lead

HOWEVER, when playing back what I've recorded in Ableton, the program seems to rely on the setting I have on my R3, even when I'm just playing it back off Ableton.

In other words, when I playback what I've recorded in Ableton, it plays back the recording as whatever setting I have on my R3 at the time.

I want to simply directly record the sounds I'm playing off of my R3 to Ableton and for Ableton to save the sound as it is when I am recording so that when I playback what I recorded it shouldn't matter what setting I now have on my R3.

I want to do this since I'm keen to record various layers of sounds I create from my R3 so that the different sounds can all play at once through Ableton.

I tried to be as clear as possible! any help would be much appreciated

Pastor-of-Muppets · Post by **Pastor-of-Muppets** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 2:04 am

the USB cable is carrying MIDI data, so what you've recorded is the sequence of midi notes you played, and when you play it back the same midi notes are sent back to the R3, triggering whatever sound the R3 is set to at the time

to record the sound of the R3 you need to send the R3's Audio Output to the computer, to enable it to record the audio rather than only midi data

read this for a better explanation: http://www.tweakheadz.com/how_to_get_st ... _midi.html
http://www.tweakheadz.com/setting_up_your_audio.htm

Simonsimsy · Post by **Simonsimsy** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 3:06 am

Thanks for your help buddy.
So does this mean that I simply need to buy a cable that i plug into the Audio Out of my R3 which then connects to my computer?
Should this cable replace the lead that I have currently going from the R Output of my R3 to my amplifier?
Or should it be a cable running from the Midi Out slot at the back of my R3 to my PC?
Cheers

Blankman8503 · Post by **Blankman8503** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 3:46 am

To record the Audio Out of your R3 into Ableton you need either an audio in port on you computer or an audio interface. Plugging a MIDI cable from the MIDI Out of the R3 will result in the same thing as the USB, only your MIDI notes will be recorded by Ableton.

Simonsimsy · Post by **Simonsimsy** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 3:59 am

Thanks mate,
So this means that I need to get a cable that I hook from the Audio Out of my R3 (thus like a guitar lead cable) and then say hook it to my headphone jack or maybe microphone jack of my PC?
Cheers for your patience

winstonsmith · Post by **winstonsmith** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 7:49 am

Hi,

The recording of the sound that you have cooked up on your synth is recorded via your sound interface (soundcard) to the computer's hard drive as a wav file. To do this, as said above, get an audio cable out of the synth and into the soundcard's audio in.

Now plug your soundcard audio outs into your amp and you'll be able to hear what you are recording still.

Direct that incoming audio using Ableton onto an audio track which is set to record that audio info coming in on the audio in port which is connected with an audio cable to the synth.

Once you've made that recording, change that audio track from one that records sound to one that plays sound. Or leave the original audio track alone so you can record more, and set up a new audio track that is not for recording, just for playing. Either way, your wav is recorded and will play back the patch you cooked up.

HTH

Pastor-of-Muppets · Post by **Pastor-of-Muppets** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 9:16 am

Simonsimsy wrote:Thanks mate,
So this means that I need to get a cable that I hook from the Audio Out of my R3 (thus like a guitar lead cable) and then say hook it to my headphone jack or maybe microphone jack of my PC?
Cheers for your patience

did you read the links I sent?

Blankman8503 · Post by **Blankman8503** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 8:13 pm

Your headphone jack on the computer is an Audio Out so therefore can't receive audio from the R3. You may be able to convert the R3's 1/4in out to the 1/8in microphone input on your computer but I doubt that you will get good sound quality IF it works. What you really need is a Soundcard, either external or internal, that has either 1/4in or RCA Input. For example, I have a Edirol UA-101 that does the job wonderfully via 1/4in and XLR Inputs, the M-Audio FastTrack series has RCA and XLR inputs in varying numbers. There are countless examples of of external soundcards like this but I wanted to give you examples of the kind of sound card we are talking about when we tell you to route the R3 Audio Out into an Audio In to Ableton.