Music Factory

You’ll occasionally hear skeptics and curmudgeons badmouthing electronic music. These are the same people who draw a sharp distinction between organic rock and roll and everything that has come after. To them, anything prerecorded is useless in a live setting. Fortunately, history is not on their side. Krautrock legends Kraftwerk released their seminal album “Autobahn” back in the ’70s, forever blurring the line between electronic music and standard rock.

More recently, Radiohead went into the studio with Nigel Godrich in preparation for 2000’s “Kid A” – a record that turned out to be a dramatic departure from their pop-heavy rock roots. As rock and electronic genres become more and more intertwined, it pays to have experience with discount electronic keyboards. These instruments can be played in a number of tones and styles, and they can also record your sonic experiments as you go.

MIDI or Musical Instrument Digital Interface, is the most common way to record music on a computer. Midi allows you to change effects on instruments at will no differently than you’d highlight a piece of text and change the font. MIDI is core to the computer-recording revolution.

Things You’ll Need:
A DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)
Midi Controller 

• Check to see if your PC’s soundcard has MIDI compatibility. Some will, some won’t.

• Get yourself a MIDI adaptor. Older components, such as non-Midi compatible keyboards will need a midi interface so you can plug the component directly into the computer.

• Get a MIDI controller. This is the number one way to use midi. A standard keyboard can play guitar, drums, strings, and most any other instrument. You will need a software program that contains musical instruments—a Midi controller just triggers sounds, it doesn’t make sounds on its own. There are other Midi instruments as well, such as Midi guitars.

• Use a sequencer. This is more complicated than using a single controller. A sequencer lets you set Midi controls on several channels at once—sort of like a multi-track recorder. However, hardware sequencers are not as necessary now that computer software can act as the sequencer, and house virtually unlimited tracks. In addition, you need to ensure that a sequencer and keyboard are compatible before sending info back and forth between the Midi In and Out ports.