Recording a digital piano, with an Elektron sequencer

The Lounge General Discussion
#1

When we play the piano, gear like the MPC Live enables us record the MIDI data nicely. I can play the piano “normally”, without having to worry about limits in regard to MIDI recording.

With Elektron gear, afaik, MIDI sequencing is a bit more limited: notes of a chord need to have the same length, for example.

I wanted to ask about your experiences with recording MIDI data, for gear that you play organically – like a piano.

How do you go about it?
Do you simply use a DAW?

I’d love to have the Elektron sequencer for this, but so far I wasn’t able to establish a proper workflow.

Thanks for your help!

#2

Unfortunately, the Elektron sequencer was not designed to do this. It should be thought of as a step sequencer that has the ability to record multiple MIDI notes per step. For true polyphonic sequencing capabilities there are many better options: Akai , Squarp, and Synstrom come to mind.

To answer your question, I don’t record “normal” keyboard playing into my hardware at all, I play them live.

If I had to, I’d probably want to sample the whole keyboard part and play it back. You’d need an Octatrack for that sticking to strictly Elektron gear. The Digitakt can do that as well, but you have to split it into 33 second chunks which could get annoying.

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#3

I just use a DAW for keyboard jamming.

The RK-008 is a good minimalistic way to record whatever you throw at it. An MPC gives you editing and DAW functionality. But Ableton or Logic would be my first choice in your situation.

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#4

so unquantized recording is no bueno? you have to use microtiming to add nuance back to the length of the actual note data after the fact? bummer…

#5

I’ve been using the OT to record my live playing, and this works perfectly.

Thanks for the gear you mention, I’ll take a look!

#6

I’m not sure I understand :confused:

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#7

sorry it was a question and not an answer. I was asking if the act of unquantized recording did not provide accurate enough note data and that in order to reproduce the actual organic note timing for the sake of midi recording you had to access the trig data and change the note length with micro timing (which would be tedious) to get an acceptable result.

apologize for the lack of clarity in my carefree grammarless posting habits :sweat_smile:

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#8

Thanks for the clarification! So my situation is like this: I can play well enough for life settings – but I love this specific tightness of sequenced music, which is why I’d want to experiment with that workflow (and also music; it’s as much about the workflow, as it is about the music that this would result in).

It’s true that the music could sound too exact, without microtimings. But then again, it might not :))

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#9

no no, I like things to sound quantized after I record them, at least enough to drown out my own inconsistency as a musician. I am not so dilla-fied that I want everything a 32nd swing note out of time.

So just curious, have you messed around a lot with the percentage of quantization applied during recording?

#10

Well with the OT’s midi recording, the problem happens earlier for me: I tend to play 3-6 notes at the same time, which the OT can’t record. Playing eg. Four notes consecutively, results in the OT recording a chord of these four notes, each starting and stopping at the same time.

As someone mentioned in a previous reply: the OT might not be made for this. That’s why I wanted to ask for your experiences and approaches.

#11

(so: I didn’t play around with the quantization, since the notes aren’t recorded “correctly”. I’d have to edit the notes manually, or play in a way that wouldn’t feel natural for me: to eg. play the left hand first for MIDI channel 1, then the right hand for MIDI channel 2.)

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#12

yeah that’s an unacceptable way to have to do it. really unfortunate, I mean I know the OT isn’t made for this, so it’s a bummer, but it would be great if the sequencer itself had the power in multiple note real time midi recording that it does in regards to manual sequencing. probably not helpful but I do agree, that sucks. more than likely you’ll have to find an option outside of elektron for this. I have a keystep pro which I have not done a lot of 8 note real time polyphonic chord recording with, but is fairly good in theory with what you’re trying to do. Certainly would not recommend such a lavish purchase just to achieve this one objective though. More than likely (unfortunately) a daw option is the correct one here. sorry.

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#13

Thanks for all your thoughts! And yes, I’ll see where the DAW path leads me, for this specific situation :slight_smile:

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#14

if your audio interface allows for it, definitely a situation where 100% mix to real time monitoring would be your best option.

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#15

I’ll try it out! I think that should work out with my Focusrite.

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