How to output to mp3

[greentea23]

Hi,

I'm a complete newbie here and trying to figure out how to best output anything I play on my Yamaha keyboard to mp3.

I have Cubase 3 installed on my laptop, and the keyboard is hooked up via a USB-Midi cable. I have a feeling my setup is not really complete because whatever I play on the keyboard doesn't seem to "sound out" in the program. I can only hear what I play using headphones connected directly to my keyboard.

After I record my track on my keyboard, it goes into Cubase and I can see the score and everything so that means the program registers the input, right? But how do I get it output into mp3 from inside the program so it sounds as good as when I hear it directly from my keyboard via headphones? Is that even possible?

I hope I've explained my problem well... I know it might sound a little confusing but I seriously don't know the right terminology.

Hope someone can advise!! Thanks!

 

[Cheez]

Midi signals have no sound. Your USB midi cable connecting your keyboard to your computer only records info like what note you pressed on the key, how long you press, how hard you press, and if you are using any other controls etc. To make sound, you need a sound generator.

Your keyboard itself is a sound generator, hence you'll hear a sound from the keyboard when you play. You can also generate sound by connecting your keyboard to an external sound module via midi. The sound module itself will generate the sound. However, your computer is not a sound generator in itself. You'll need software synths (softsynths) plugins or similar software so that the midi signals trigger some kind of sound generator.

If you computer soundcard has sound in itself (usually consumer audio cards like Creative), then all you need to is to select the output to your soundcard's generator within Cubase. However, note that most soundcards that comes with built in sounds will sound "cheesy".

 

[Lawliet]

I have the same problem yesterday but solved it by changing the output to the instrument in the software in cubase (also using yamaha keyboard, midi to usb interface).

Is there anywhere to find sound from my yamaha keyboard, which is a P140? o.o

And if I line-in my interface to laptop/keyboard, can I record the sound when the software playback the instrument playing my midi?

 

[soft]

There are 2 separate issue we are looking here.

1 . MIDI

2. Analog audio signal

When we use the midi-usb cable to connect the keyboard to computer, it is basically MIDI communication. As highlighted by Cheez, it is a recording of "sequence'. These are digital information like Key Down, Duration and Velocity. These signal does not content the actual audio. ie piano sound or strings. It just remember that you hit a C6 for 1 Quaver at 90(velocity). In editing, you can re-assign this data to trigger any sound source by simply changing the sound generator patch.

On the other hand, when you plug in your headphones to your keyboard, what you hear is the analog signal. Piano, strings, brass ...

For you to record the actual audio into Cubase, you need to connect the OUTPUT of your keyboard to the INPUT of your soundcard. While playing back the midi track, you got to enable another track to record audio which is coming from your keyboard Line Out.

Once you got the tracks record, simply export it out to MP3.