MIDI Strategies

[harmonicat]

OK,I've recorded everything into my onboard sequencer and am still wondering about a lot of things that I never seemed to see in print-Whats the best way to record MIDI tracks?

 

I'm not talking levels or effects here,just assignments and panning.I'll throw out a few scenarios and see what you think

 

My keyboard has 2 pairs of stereo outs-Ones main,the other is Auxilary.OK?

 

So,do I :

 

1.Just use the main stereo outs,pan from the keyboard and record to a stereo mix?

 

2.Use the mains AND the aux(assign strings and percussion to the aux) pan from the keyboard and record to a stereo mix?

 

3.All of the above PLUS do panning from the recorder?

 

4.All of the above PLUS record to MORE than 2 tracks(4?,6?)

 

Wow,just asking the above questions has almost thrown me.

I mean with plain old multitrack recording,each instrument has it's own track(barring collapsing tracks) and therefore,each element of the mix is easier to manipulate.

But with MIDI,you're "wholesale"recording from a main source(the keyboard) and trying to get a nice aural spread on something that is essentially still "bunched up".

 

I guess what I'm asking is how does one get MIDI to sound as separated as multitrack recording?

 

Phil O'Keefe,if you're out there,I sure could use some enlightenment.....

[alcohol]

If I was in your situation, I'd like to do it this way.

 

I would slave the keyboard to the recorder and record 4 tracks at a time, muting tracks to be recorded at another pass.

 

This would allow you to take advantage of the recorder's (DAW) plug-ins and EQ, which are probably superior to the keyboard's.