A Guide To USB Controllers, MIDI And Audio In Music Recording

Audio Interface Basics

The are numerous Control Surfaces (knobs, buttons and screens to you and me) and USB Controller Keyboards currently on the market, offering users a huge variety of products to hook up to their PC or MAC based recording platform. Many of these interfaces now offer tight integration with the big name audio/Midi sequencing and computer music packages, like Cubase, Ableton, Propellerhead Reason and Avid Pro Tools.

This is useful when you understand how to use them, but it may present barriers for potential users who are trying to select the best option for their particular needs. For example, someone looking to work predominantly with loops and samples may opt for Ableton, whilst a songwriting guitarist might opt for Presonus Studio. In this article, we're looking to shed some light on these products and hopefully take some of the undoubted mysticism that can surround computer recording. Essentially, we want to help users to better assess what products they need for the results they are striving to achieve.

USB MIDI Interfaces

There are currently more USB interfaces and products within the music industry than you can shake a stick at, with more being released on what feels like a daily basis. To me, it makes perfect sense to cover what constitutes a USB interface before we go any further, as moving forward without understanding this fundamental concept is akin to walking into a minefield.

In short, a USB interface can be classified as basically any device that plugs into a PC or Mac via USB, however some USB devices offer only MIDI support whereas others support both audio and MIDI interfacing (see this SoundonSound article for an interesting commentary on MIDI over USB speeds). This point is of fundamental importance as, if you buy a USB MIDI controller keyboard to run soft synthesizers on your computer, you are not going to hear anything unless you also have an audio interface, a pretty important point to note! So what is MIDI, how does it vary from audio and what products tend to only feature USB MIDI interfacing without support for any audio?

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Message Board for Iphone: Free Sound Board Creator

A friend of mine is working on an online radio show. Their budget is limited, though popularity has been steadily growing, and they are always looking for cheap or free ways to get by. He enthusiastically recommended this application for review, and I can see why. Coming from the point of view of a radio show/podcast creator, it has all the tools you would need for a great sound board experience.

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First Look: Samson MK-10 Professional Mic Stand

Before we trudge onward into the plethora of new videos I have in store for the channel, I thought it would make sense to introduce you all to my new microphone stand: the Samson MK-10. I'd highly recommend this boom stand to anyone with a small studio or home setup. Check out the video for more!



Some of my favorite features of this microphone stand include the built in boom arm and the build quality. The strength and resistance you can feel when setting height is very comforting. You know that your microphone will be safe and sound when attached to this guy.