How do I keep my original keyboard sound in Garage Band?

Question

How do I keep my original keyboard sound in Garage Band?

I'm abandoning Cubase as I am tired of fiddling with computer stuff and just want to play music. I think Garageband is the right choice to do this, but I am losing the neat sound that my keyboard makes, that I was able to preserve in Cubase. Garage band wants to use it's built-in midi sounds which in no way come close to the on-board sound of the KORG SV-1 keyboard. With Cubase I just selected the midi 'in' and 'out' as the SV-1 keyboard and Cubase worked as a sequencer and used the sound coming out of the keyboard. I don't see any control to tell Garageband what instrument I want to specify as midi in and out so the SV-1 is only working as a 'slave.' Do I need to buy Logic Pro to be able to do this? or is it possible in Garageband?

TIA,

Ken

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion, 8G RAM

Posted on Mar 22, 2013 10:16 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Christoph Drösser

Level 6

11,318 points

Mar 23, 2013 1:12 AM in response to Kenneth Nielsen

GB doesn't send midi out so you can't use your synth as a slave.

If you want to record your keyboard's sound, you have to have an audio connection between the keyboard and the computer, not a midi connection, and record to a real instrument track.

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Answer 2

Mar 23, 2013 9:11 PM in response to Christoph Drösser

This sounds so simple. I am going to hire a professional consultant to come over to listen to what I am hearing. When I use Cubase, it seems that the sound I recorded from my keyboard is the same sound that plays back when I listen to the MIDI track. What you have answered makes sense, but I still cannot figure how the keyboard sound is playing back. This does not happen in Garageband (in garageband the sound is definitely a midi instrument sound) and I was wondering if Cubase sent MIDI out to make this happen? This is why I want someone to come over to listen to see if they can explain what I am hearing.

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Answer 3

Mar 24, 2013 4:37 AM in response to Kenneth Nielsen

The short version: Midi is just a series of commands like "key down", "key up", etc. So when you have a midi connection from your keyboard to the computer, no sound is transmitted, just the key events. GB uses these to trigger its software instruments. In more professional programs, midi signals can also be sent back to the keyboard. So in Cubase, you can tell a track to send midi signals out on playback, and your keyboard will pick up these events and play them with its internal sounds.

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Answer 4

Mar 24, 2013 4:01 PM in response to Christoph Drösser

Great! Thanks Christoph, That must be exactly what is happening. I have both my in and out in Cubase set to the keyboard.

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