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Standalone digital audio/MIDI recorder


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I've always had trouble recording live, both with MIDI and line in. There's too much latency with the default settings and if I adjust the settings to get the latency down to an acceptable level in my DAW it glitches out. A new sound card would probably fix that but it's not an option with my current computer (all in one thing, basically a giant tablet).

 

I was watching a guy use old "toy" keyboards to recreate classic 8 bit songs (mostly from Commodore 64 games) and I noticed he had his keyboards plugged into a device that was plugged into his computer. I doubt that would help me with my latency issues, but it did get me to thinking.

 

Is there an affordable (i.e. $200 or less) device where I can just plug in the line out of my keyboard, record some tracks, plug it into the USB port of my computer, and export it? If it could handle MIDI as well that would be great, but not vital because I can still do that with my mouse, but multitrack recording (which will likely require a line out on the device itself to monitor it) would be a pretty important feature.

 

Right now I have my Yamaha DX7 sitting idle because I can't record with it, neither using the native sound (which I'd like to use because the VST plug-ins I tried just didn't have the same sound) nor using it as a MIDI controller. Clicking in each note is too slow for everything but the drums plus I never thought I'd see a DX7 in person, let alone own one so I'd like to use it.

Edited by BigBubbaBrown
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My DX7 is one of the originals. It's been modded. There's a knob on it next to the volume slider with settings labeled A - H, but I have no idea what it does (changing the settings did nothing) and apparently the guy who modded and sold it to the music store that sold it to me doesn't use Craig's List so I couldn't find a way to contact him. Despite the mod it still works, minus the dead battery (which isn't an issue because I don't like presets anyway). It's a bit noisy but truthfully I kind of like the lo-fi sound. It has a nostalgia value to me and I'm sure it won't be noticeable in a full mix with effects added.

 

So basically I would be better off going with an interface than trying to find a digital recorder, right? Do you have any recommendations? I have some unavoidable expenses coming up (and I won't know how much I'll have to pay until it's all over) so I can't really afford anything higher than $250. I have a MIDI to USB adapter but latency keeps me from recording with it. Even recording with no VSTs hooked up there's still too much lag. I have to spend so much time editing the results that I might as well do it all with a mouse from the beginning.

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