Help Me Get Started, Please!!!, a mac G3 user Options

[vervy]

Hi there!
I am new to midi but have the keyboards and a Mac G3. I am interested in getting a copy of Cubase VST but am unsure of how to connect properly. I have seen midi interfaces advertised but the one's i mainly see are all of the USB type. Can I use a usb type to connect my keyboards (Yamaha DJX and Novation Bass station) to my G3? I have 2 usb sockets in my G3 and I'm running Mac OS8.6 . The VST handbook only seems to mention the modem/printer connection port and not the usb. I've seen a cheap usb midi interface for £50 (I'm on a bit of a budget!) but can I use it without any problems? Please help me out as I'm dying to get started up! Many thanks to anyone who will help me out!!!

This post has been edited by vervy: Mon 12 May 2003, 19:06

[Synthetic]

ok... so yes a midi interface is needed.... but to get the sound from say your DJX or bass station into Cubase you might want to get an audio interface as well or a sound card. Sound cards or interfaces are good for several things.... first, using the built-in sound inputs on macs is not really the best quality. It will work with right adapters but its limits your sound input to 16bit 44.1khz which is ok but even though a CD sound is same at 16bit 44.1khz sampling rate, to achieve the sound quality on that CD (from major labels for example) is to record at 24+bits and maybe even higher sampling rates such as 96khz... then this higher resolution will capture more dynamics of your sound giving it more depth and less background noise. Then just dither that high resolution sound down to 16bit 44.1khz for your CD.... see actually recording at 16bits really only gives true 14-15 bit sound due to loss of info when recording... that is why most use higher rates. So sound card or interface is good for that.

Also, a sound card or imight give you several inputs and or outputs which is nice for using outboard FX or recording multiple devices at once. Plus it might come with mic preamps which are nice to boost low level signals or for recording condensor mics.

Lastly, a sound card or interface will provide higher quality playback than built-in sound manager alone. If you are serious about your mixes sounding good... its advisable to get the best studio monitors you can afford and then connect to monitor outs of sound card or interface. You'll be amazed at how much difference it will make. Most computer based speaker systems are not built for audiophile quality sound and thack suffer from boosted low frequencies and often lack good midrange. Using headphones is ok but you will still get better sound if headphones are plugged into sound card or intgerface than Apple headphone jack.

So it all depends what your goals are with your music. Me, I wanted to get good sound quality, lots of flexibility and I knew I would never pay for someone to mix my music so I opted for a Digi001 interface that has lots of inputs & outputs, mic pre's, midi in and out, and monitor outputs. Then I added a Tannoy Reveal monitor and sub package that sounds seet. I like just using it as a jukebox in my home it sounds so good.

Hope that clears up some things for you. So you might want to look at some interfaces with both midi and audio inputs unless you don't think you'll need audio inputs.