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?

Click to read more ...

How to Synchronise Devices For Multitrack Recording

Many musicians start out by making simple recordings, often on computers these days. However, things tend to get a bit technical when you step-up to 'proper' multitrack recording, as used in most studios and by many serious artists. In this environment, adding drum tracks and synths isn't done 'in the box', but by recording external drum machines and synths.

When recording using more than one device, for example when using a drum machine and a digital multitrack recorder, you suddenly find youself needing to consider the issue of synchronisation. During any recording process it is normal practice to start laying down the drum or rhythm track, which will define the tempo and feel of your composition. However, you will generally use a separate drum machine/groove box for this. The next step is to look at overlaying audio, e.g. bass, guitar and vocals, etc.

Click to read more ...

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.

Recording Video Game Footage (For Under $90)

Have you ever wanted to record your gameplay and upload it to YouTube? Many people want to do this, but find it very expensive to buy an HD-PVR. If you are like me, you want an affordable method of recording, while being able to play on your TV.

In this video, I will show you just that. Introducing the EZ Grabber 2, with the Video Distribution Amplifier. With these two magnificent products, you will be able to do just what I explained. Where can you buy these two items?

Video Distribution Amp

EZ Grabber 2

Did you find this video useful? Well check out more videos here.

The Screen Recording War: Who Is King?

A challenger appears! For as long as I could remember, there has always been a battle between which screen recording application is the best. ScreenFlow, iShowU HD, and now Camtasia. But now we have someone new in the fight, Apple's own Quicktime X. I have used all of them, pit them against each other to see which one is the best out of the 4. The criteria were video quality, ease of use, features, and how easy source video can be integrated into video editing software like Final Cut.

Let's start off with video quality. All 4 have very good video quality, but for this test I used the same compression I use to upload videos to YouTube. These are H.264 compression, 30 FPS, 1280x720 resolution, and a 1800 Kbit/sec bit rate. With Quicktime X, you don't have much choice in compression, your options are medium and high. That's it, no specifics at all. It does encode it in H.264 but at a very low frame rate of 12 FPS. The quality is pretty good, but there is some pixelation near darker colors. ScreenFlow on the other hand does great with this compression, the quality is amazing, it looks as if it were the screen itself. iShowU HD has some nice quality, but there are some issues with choppiness. If you activate Exposé or minimize a window, it does seem to skip a few frames, and sometimes not show the animation at all. Camtasia, in my opinion, did the worst with this compression. At full quality, the video looked great, but at this compression, the video was very fuzzy, and unappealing to the eye. So for this round, ScreenFlow is the winner.

And now to ease of use. Quicktime X is by far the easiest to use. You open up Quicktime X, hit File>New Screen Recording, and thats it. A little window comes up with a big record button in the middle. You have a little arrow on the side to choose your quality and audio source, but thats about it. After you hit record, a stop record button shows up in your menu bar. Can't get any simpler than that. ScreenFlow is basically just as simple, as soon as you open up ScreenFlow, a HUD comes up that gives you the options to record your screen, your iSight, and your computers audio. You choose your options, hit record, and go. A little icon appears in your menu bar too, but with a few more options than just to stop recording. Camtasia is just as simple as ScreenFlow, a window comes up with options for audio and video. Then you hit a record button and boom, you're ready to go. iShowU HD on the other hand, is simple to use, just not as simple as the others. You get a window with a small preview of your screen, then you can choose the area you want to record, the compression options, and some extra effects.

Now it's time for the feature list. Quicktime X doesn't really have any features besides screen recording. The others are full of features though. iShowU HD has one feature that none of the others have that can be quite useful, the ability to capture a certain part of the screen. Quicktime X, ScreenFlow, and Camtasia all default to recording the whole screen. On the other hand, ScreenFlow and Camtasia have many features including video effects, transitions, and callouts. Camtasia has just a little bit more than ScreenFlow does though.

And finally, how easy is it to use the video we captured with video editing software? Well, Quicktime X and iShowU HD are tied. Both of them send the raw recorded video to any folder you choose. From there you can just import those files to any video editing software you have. Now, both ScreenFlow and Camtasia are video editing apps in themselves. So you will have to either edit the whole video in the app or export everything unedited and then take it into another video editing application. I am a huge Final Cut user, so having the raw video saved on it own rather than having it needed to be edited first is very valuable to me. But for others it isn't. But for my needs, I have to give this round to Quicktime X and iShowU HD.

In the end, these applications are all great, but there can only be one winner. Remember, everyone has different needs, so you might have a different opinion on which is best. In my opinion, the winner is.......*drumroll*....ScreenFlow. ScreenFlow is the most balanced out of all the applications. I said I would like to have the source video saved to a specific folder over a built in editor, but it was something I could overlook due to how great the video quality was. Camtasia might have some more effects, but the video quality wasn't anywhere near ScreenFlow's when using my compression. So there you have it, the king has been chosen. Keep in mind I didn't consider price as one of the criteria, so you might want something in your budget. Quicktime X is free with OS X Snow Leopard, iShowU HD is $59.95 for the Pro version, ScreenFlow is $99, and Camtasia is also $99 but will go up to $149 soon. Thanks for reading everyone, I'll see you in the next post.

-David (periahdark)

 YouTube:  http://youtube.com/periahdark