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Hey guys.

I am trying to record MIDI data from the keyboard (PX-150) onto my computer. The keyboard has a USB-MIDI port (connects to the computer via USB B male to A male). The keyboard also has 2 1/4 inch headphone jacks.

How would I go about:

1. Sending MIDI data to the computer (guessing I need to download software to record the data as I play it? What's the best free software for this? And if so, what should I be using in order to play the MIDI? Since I can't use the keyboards voices this way).

2. Recording the actual audio output to the computer. I tried connecting the keyboard to the computer via a 2 sided aux cord (from the headphone jack in the keyboard to the jack in the PC, and then record via Audacity. However it couldn't recognize the connection. I guess I am plugging into the wrong place on the PC? Maybe I should be going directly to the soundcard, which I have no idea how to do.)

But yeah. Basically all I want to do is record what I am playing. I would rather record the actual audio, but if MIDI is the only option I have, then I am happy as long as I can record it and play it back with decent voices.

Thanks guys.

I would rather record the actual audio, but if MIDI is the only option I have, then I am happy as long as I can record it and play it back with decent voices.

I record the audio by using the 1\4" outs from the piano to the 1\8" mic input of the computer. There's freeware program named Audacity which does the audio recording trick for me.

The only initial issue is setting the levels and spending a little time learning Audacity. It's pretty straightforward but you still have to figure it out.

The biggest expense is buying the correct cable and\or adapters.

I have a 1/4 -> 1/8 connecter. Didn't seem to work though. I opened audacity and tried to change the input device, but the keyboard didn't come up.

Maybe I am trying to change the right setting? What do you have to press in order to set up audacity to use the keyboards output as input?

How have you set the audio input in Audacity? It's under the Edit menu in Preferences/ Devices.

If the audio input is set to your current sound card, then the microphone input should be reading. If it is not, then you maybe need to reconfigure the audio setup in Windows to connect directly to the external mike input.

I got it to work. I was using the output jack, rather than the input jack (which I didn't even consider because I have never used it in my life. Silly me -_-').

Thanks for the help! Audacity seems to be working perfectly. Now my only problem is that my only 1/8th -> 1/4th connector is about 5cm long haha. May have to purchase a legit connector (I have practically tacked my headphones 1/4th adapter onto the short 1/8th - 1/8th connector in order to create a 1/4th side. Luckily it seemed to connect quite nicely, even though the adapder wasn't built for this cord lol.


The only problem is that I can't hear the song as I am recording it. Since it isn't playing through the keyboards speakers (or the computers). Unless there is a setting that can be changed in order to allow audacity to simultaneously output the recording?

Audacity will not recognize your keyboard as an audio input. You simply use your PC sound card as the input. On my Mac version, there is a little drop down menu in the upper left corner under the playback controls and Core Audio is already selected. Next to it is an Output drop-down, and next to that is a mic drop-down menu.

Be sure you aren't plugged into the headphone jack on your computer. I always confuse those two and they're always right next to each other. Anyways, you should be able to just hit Record and go.

If you are plugging the cable from your keyboard into the Microphone socket on a PC then it will be your default microphone which you need to select as the recording device, you would be better off however (should you have one) using the line in port (usually light blue if colour coded) as this is set at a standard line level and will give you the cleanest audio.

If you record MIDI information, firstly you will need the drivers to see the virtual midi device on the PC... second of all as I'm sure you are aware, MIDI is simply a set of instructions being recorded/played back and not audio.

You can however record MIDI in a free DAW package (google will give you a good few) which you can then play through a virtual instrument such as Pianoteq/Synthogy Ivory and many many others, you can then record the resulting output as a stereo audio track and have your recording ready for sharing (usually referred to as an audio mixdown).

Of course if you want it to sound like your keyboard does with its own built-in samples then your best option is to simply record the audio directly, this can be achieved either through a dedicated line out/in on the keyboard/computer or by going into a microphone socket on a computer and using that as the default recording device (though be sure to adjust the recording levels and turn off any pre-amplifications/mic gain boosts software side to get the cleanest possible audio in before processing)

Good Luck


p.s.

Didn't see the ninja replies above, but you should be able to hear your playing out of your keyboards speakers as you would normally (unless you are plugging it into the headphones socket which will re-direct the audio signal down that cable)

There are many ways of getting around that using a splitter/mixer/setting the PC to listen to the mic and output the mic to the speakers (can get noisy with feedback) and a few others as an example.

You mentioned the Casio has 2 headphones jacks.. why not plug into the second one. The only downside of this is won't be able to hear what the computer is recording (as the computer hears it), but once you make sure the recording levels are good it should be too much of an issue. .

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking just then. I tried playing back real time through the software, but the latency was too annoying. I will need to get a 1/4 - 1/8 cord (because I am using my headphones 1/4 adapter for my 1/8-1/8 cord, and therefore can't use the headphones simultaneously lol).

But yeah, I should be fine once I get that cord. Then I can record and listen in perfect unison.

Thanks for the awesome replies guys. I will also definitely look into those virtual instruments for MIDI playback in case I want to try different sounds.

Recording MIDI straight from the Casio's USB port is a breeze. If you were to use one of the better software pianos you'd get a far better result than recording the Casio. Have a look at the True Keys American D which is under discussion in this forum at the moment - there's a very good discount deal running till the end of the year.

I used the PX-150 myself, it's a good keyboard to play but using a good sampled or software piano will take it to another level.

I second dire tonic's suggestion for using a software piano. However, you can record direct to the piano's memory, according to the manual, which you can download by clicking this link.

http://support.casio.com/en/manual/008/PX150_EN.pdf

Then you can later hook up to a computer and copy the songs you recorded to your hard disk. The PX150 shows up as a drive in Windows Explorer (or the MAC and Linux equivalent explorer.)

A convenient option for those who don't want to have the piano connected to a computer when playing.

Yeah I had that revelation last night haha. Realized I could just record the song and then play it back while connected to the computer. Solves practically every problem. Thanks for that anyway. Pretty much read my mind.

Those true American keys looks nice. Might look into that since it's only $99 for December.

Glad it worked out for you, but I'm not a mind reader. Just listened to a YouTube demo of True Keys American Grand, sounds great. I'm tempted to get it myself, though I think the internal voices of my DP are at least good enough. I have Casio PX-5S, which has a tad better sounds than the PX-150, but the pianos have the same key weight/action. With the PX-5S I have a lot of possibilities to change the settings of the piano voices, and have been experimenting with that a little bit.

Just out of curiosity, does the PX-150 record as audio or as MIDI? If it's MIDI, can you play the MIDIs on the piano (thus making the piano render the MIDIs with it's internal piano sounds) and record the resulting audio on the computer?

Another good solution. By the way, I think the sounds for the PX-5s are really nice considering the price. Casio's come a long way!

I am fairly certain it records the song in MIDI format. You can then play it back on the keyboard (which as you said, will make it perfect for recording since I can connect to the computer and record the playback). While I think it records in MIDI format, it confuses me that you can't change the voice the MIDI is played back with. It will only let you playback the song in the voice you initially used to record it.

I still think it's stored in MIDI format because after checking the internal file system of the keyboard, I saw that the recordings were stored in .csr format (which is probably Casio's slightly modified MIDI format). The file size was also far too small to be the actual audio recording.

How do you like the action on the PX-5S? I love it on the 150 so far, especially with the synthetic ebony/ivory textures on the keys.

Don't know anything about this *.csr format, you could try to change the extension of some file to RECORDING.mid, once the file is on your computer's hard disk and see if a MIDI player/notation program like Synthesia or MuseScore allows you to change the voice and then play the file. I've not yet come across a MIDI file in which I can't change the voice/tone.

I like the PX-5S, the action is just adequate. The texture on the keys has helped me to slip less on the black keys.

Jayden, if in fact you can't change the voice with the csr extension, simply rename that extension to mid and see what happens.

I forget the specifics but I did just that to circumvent a problem.

Or there may be some software out there to convert it for you. Sometimes just renaming the extension does it, but other times it's more than just the name that has been modified.

Ok I will give that a go later today. I am not too worried if that doesn't work anyway, since I can just record the MIDI to computer software through MIDI USB like normal.