recording synths

how do y'all usually record synths & keyboards? i've been doing DI and then adding any effects later, but i started messing around with going through my friend's line 6 pod first with mixed results. it helps for some sounds, but digital synths + digital gain/distortion seems to make for really harsh, bad sounds.

i guess ideally i would be running the keys into a decent amp and micing that, but i don't really want to buy an amp just for this. any other tricks?

sorry if this is an s. rose question. actually there is a nice vox amp at my place right now, but apparently it is very expensive and i don't think it's safe to run a keyboard through a guitar amp. maybe i should start a new thread to find out?

I'll usually record straight from the synth into the computer, and add effects in Reaper. The main reason being the flexibility of adding/removing effects as appropriate. But I'm usually either adding crazy distortion effects or usually just delay/reverb. With guitars, I've had some good results with amp simulator plug-ins when I've been looking for a clean sound, but I've never got satisfactory distortion sounds that way. I've always used a small amp and either miked it up or used it's headphone output.

i like to DI hardware keys, that's always worked really well for me. with softsynths i always go out to an amp and mic it up otherwise it sounds hella gay

Usually record direct (I only use h/w, Kontakt apart), sometimes I'll record through a phaser pedal or TC Spatial Expander, generally speaking though, I'll add effects after. Cool trick for chord parts, especially if you're making spacey/ambient type effects is to play the part in, then detune the osvillators on your synth slightly and play it in again, pan the 2 tracks wide, it sounds super-nice. A good addition to this technique is to run the synth through a phaser or flanger pedal each time, and change the sweep rate as you're playing, that can be pretty wild.

hey guys, i have another stupid basic question.

so right now i'm recording stuff with my microKorg and i'm sequencing parts that i can't physically play (or play well), but i want to do filter sweeps and mess with the sound too. is this what people use MIDI for? i've always stayed away from it. is there any other way to accomplish this?

sorry, i feel like the tuomas of electronic music. if tombot has to make fun of me before he tells me the answer, i can deal with it.

Here's what's awesome and I did this all over my college demos. You got your midi notes on the computer, right? like your arpeggios and shit. You run that out to the synth on USB or midi interface or what have you. Now you got audio running into another channel from the synth BACK N2 THA KOMPUTE. All you need to do now is to hit make sure you're recording audio into the input channel, that your arpeggios are sending out to the right voice on the synth, and hit the spacebar. then you just rock out while the computer does all the work and you play the meanest knob solo ever heard.

that's what i want to do, i just have to figure out midi (honestly never touched it before)

It tends to be pretty straightforward. The only issue you might run into, with Tom's method, is if there's any latency or lag with your computer, which might leave the incoming Korg audio coming in later than the MIDI note was placed. (If this happens, you can always add some put some sort of "click" mark at the beginning, so you can line that back up with the right start point.)

i bought some midi cables last night so i'm going to mess around with it this weekend. how do you program the actual notes in the first place, with the keyboard or with the mouse?

Depending on latency, what program you're using, and how well you play keyboards, the best method might be a little bit of both? I.e., record the MIDI from your keyboard (at a slower tempo, if it helps), then go over it all to quantize notes, fix mistakes, and mouse in anything that's not playable ...

yeah, that sounds like a plan, thx!

(i'm definitely expecting some latency, that's why i stopped using soft synths)

Yeah, latency might lead to some small headaches -- if the software doesn't compensate right, you might have to put in those click notes and drag the MIDI recording back into sync. Not necessarily a big deal. (You'll also need to set up monitoring so you're not hearing the delayed sound as you play.)

I assume you're talking about lead stuff, by the way. You'll probably want those to sound a lot more played-by-hand -- whereas some other stuff, like really electronic basslines and backing chords, sounds way better if it's rigid and on the grid.