Logic Express 7 And Midi, Sounds? Options

[hushhurt]

Hi - I am very new to the whole recording music, so you will have to excuse the "noobness". I recent bought a mac g5 with logic express 7 and a karma korg keyboard. I can trigger sounds within logic via the keyboard, but I was wondering how I could dump the sounds already on the keyboard so I can use them in logic. I bought the apple pro series book but haven't seen where I am able to do this in the book. please help!

david

[mortalengines]

You probably don't have to worry about dumping your Karma sounds into logic- just record your Karma's audio & midi in logic (or maybe just midi to edit until you're happy & then record the audio) on a track by track basis- there are tons of Freeware AU synths & samplers out there with great sounds also - if you look around you may find some Karma sample sounds already out there as well. Maybe I am side stepping the issue as well.... I am sure that logic express has some sort of onboard sampler. You CAN make your own samples from the Karma by sampling sounds from it & mapping them across the Keyboard via the Sampler that logic has, but it is a lot of work to do it well.
I hope this helps.

[hushhurt]

thank you -
can you give me some sites with this freeware au synths & samplers?

[mortalengines]

Try:
www.samplepoolz.com - if you join, they have cool links to many places. Gooda place to start as any.

[coldharbour]

how I could dump the sounds already on the keyboard so I can use them in logic.

You don't have to sample the sounds in order to use them in Logic. You can connect your synth's audio outputs into your audio interface (if you have one) and then you'll have the synth playing in Logic's audio mixer. You can then use Logic's effects etc. and mix the synth into your song among the softsynths you have in Logic.

I'm not sure if that's what you're after, but IMO it makes no sense to sample Karma into a softsampler, you'll lose all the editing capabilities, filters etc. of your synth.

[hushhurt]

thanks guys -

coldharbour - that is exactally what I need to do, except I am using an audiophile firwire to connect to my mac - and it only has midi and rca outputs. Should I can a new connection device?

[coldharbour]

I am using an audiophile firwire to connect to my mac - and it only has midi and rca outputs. Should I can a new connection device?

Yes, you should get a (preferably FireWire) audio interface that's capable of zero latency direct monitoring (like for example Digidesign MBox). Zero latency means that there will be no latency (delay) in between you pressing a key on your synth keyboard and hearing the sound being played through Logic's mixer.

And naturally your audio interface must have proper (analogue) audio inputs so you can connect your synth in it.

Once you get the system going your hardware synth will be perfectly integrated to Logic and you can use the sounds just like the soft-synths in Logic.

[hushhurt]

coldharbour - again thanksfor the help. hopefully this wil be my last question. I looked up the Digidesign MBox and I am thinking about buying it. So if I output from my karma (which have quarter inch audio outputs) and plug that into the digidesign mbox and connect it to my comp via firewire - I should be able to get sound to record in tha audio mixer in logic?

sounds like it makes sense - but im just double checking before I invest some more money

David

This post has been edited by hushhurt: Tue 13 Sep 2005, 20:57

[mortalengines]

I wouldn't sweat the M Box (which is USB by the way, & I think that MBox 2 is latency free direct monitoring, not the original M Box). Owning an Mbox will only pull you into the world of Pro Tools (another audio editor app) which is unneccessary if you have Logic Express 7- Save yourself some bucks & buy something like one of the cheap M-audio interfaces & you will be well on your way....they (M-audio audiophile interfaces) start at a couple hundred bucks at the most as opposed to the MBox, which is about 450 bucks. If I remember correctly the audiophile has 2 -1/4" TRS inputs which is what you should be looking for in any interface you wind up buying - You should also check websites at both Logic & the interface manufacturer of your choice for known incompatiblities.

This post has been edited by mortalengines: Wed 14 Sep 2005, 02:46

[hushhurt]

ok - I currently have a firewire audiophile and it doesnt have 1/4 - only midi and rca. I was looking at the M-audio MobilePre USB. Will that be good enough? There is also: M-audio Fast Track USB, and FireWire 410.
Help!

[mortalengines]

Sorry, I didn't realize the audiophile was RCA only - The 410 would probably be fine - the USB models....well, I don't know - you really want to check at their website (m-audio's) & see if their USB units offer "latency free monitoring" as well as the aforementioned 1/4" inputs-
Have you tried 1/4" to RCA adapters for recording your synth? You might get pretty good results for what amounts to a 5 dollar investment from Radio Shack. If you hate it, what the hell, you blew 5 bucks.

[MoonDark]

I don't quite recommend you a Firewire 410 , the drivers show only problems to me and many other ppl ( I had to sell mine )

Just look here

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/13634

[hushhurt]

thanks for the help - i bought some quater to rca cables and I am going to see how that works. All I want to do is lay down some drum tracks; this has been an trying experience. I thought when I bought the software and keyboard - it would be all of a matter of me hooking it up and banging out beats with the keyboard. It seems like there are little to no softsythns that come with logic, and the garageband instuments sound a little weak to me. Should I just go back to the drumset and leave the keyboard alone?

[mortalengines]

Well, I would guess that your Karma probably sounds pretty big... any kind of hardware synth generally sounds really good right off the bat - Don't be put off by the facory bundle synths. I generally have to work pretty hard to get a good sound sometimes with Reason even. It takes alot of combining effects (especially compression) to get them going. Go to samplepoolz.com & I think they have links for virtual synths that work pretty well for free. I hear good things about Crystal as well (crystal.com or krystal.com I'm not sure, but its easy enough to find) & the downloads are generally small. Native Instruments' Reaktor is not cheap, but it is an AU bundle of synths, drum machines, tone generators, samplers, etc that sound incredible right out of the box (a bit of a CPU hog though) and is worth every penny.