In the first part of a new series, Paul White looks at the business of setting up a desktop computer‑based studio. The first stage of planning is to determine exactly what you want your system to be capable of. This is the second article in a three‑part series.
Over the past few years, the project studio paradigm has changed dramatically. Where once the mixer and multitrack tape recorder took centre stage, these days the home studio is more likely to be based around a computer combined with a little external hardware. Today's computers are built to meet the needs of multimedia (sound plus picture) as well as processing text or spreadsheets, and because they are mass‑produced, they are relatively inexpensive, considering the enormous computational power they place at our disposal. In short, computers provide us with the means to set up music studios hugely more powerful than anything that has gone before, at a fraction of the cost of the traditional tape‑based recording setup. The catch, if there is one, is that computer‑based systems can be complicated to set up — sophistication brings power, but it also brings complexity.
Because of the ways in which pieces of computer hardware and software interact, and, because of the number of permutations available, putting together a computer‑based music studio is not to be entered into lightly. Furthermore, technology is throwing new possibilities at us every few months, so musicians with a background in traditional recording hardware may not even know the extent of what today's computer‑based desktop studio has to offer. The aim of this series, therefore, is to examine the role of computers in music‑making, specifically to find out what traditional recording and sound‑creation tasks they can undertake.
What Can Computers Offer?
System 1a.
If you've come from a tape machine/mixer background, you may still be unclear as to what the benefits of a computer system are. Most musicians will be aware that computers can be used as MIDI sequencers, and it was on the Atari that we saw MIDI sequencers develop beyond the 'interesting toy' stage to become serious tools for music production.
To record audio onto a computer, you need either a soundcard or interface with audio I/O capability; all Macs come with basic built‑in stereo audio I/O, and most PCs are sold with at least a basic soundcard. As well as dozens of tracks of MIDI recording, modern sequencers can provide eight or more audio tracks, software‑based effects and software‑based instruments. However, it's vitally important to understand that even the most powerful computer is limited in how much processing it can do in a given time, which means computer audio is always a bit of a trade‑off. In general, such things as the number of audio tracks that can be played back simultaneously, and the number of software effects that can be run, are limited not by the recording software but by the processing power of the computer's CPU and the speed of the hard disk, and have to be balanced: the more software effects you run, for instance, the less CPU power will be available for other tasks, so you may find that you can play back fewer tracks simultaneously.
A MIDI‑only System
System 1b.
The simplest type of computer music system to set up is the MIDI sequencer. MIDI places relatively modest demands on a computer, so even fairly old models will still run a MIDI sequencer effectively. Virtually any Mac or PC made in the past four or five years will be powerful enough to cope with MIDI sequencing, and there are still countless Atari STs in service that are 10 years old or more. Having said that, with very low‑powered computers, you may notice that functions such as screen redraws are irritatingly slow. For this reason, it's probably best not to use anything before a Pentium I PC or a Power PC Macintosh for serious MIDI work.
To get MIDI into or out of a computer (other than the Atari ST, which has a built‑in MIDI interface), you'll need to install a separate MIDI interface (or use one of the MIDI synthesizers that has a direct 'to host' computer connection). If you're using a soundcard synth or 'virtual' software synth, no MIDI Out is required as the MIDI information never has to leave the computer, but you still need a MIDI input for your MIDI keyboard.
In practice, all MIDI interfaces come with both inputs and outputs. PC users will find a MIDI interface included as a part of virtually all soundcards developed for games or multimedia use, while Mac users need to buy an external hardware MIDI interface unit (Again, Macs with serial interfaces may be used with modules that have a serial Mac Host connector port.) Larger MIDI systems may require a multi‑port MIDI interface; these invariably come as separate hardware boxes as opposed to being part of a soundcard.
Though the majority of modern sequencing software comes with some audio recording capability, you'll only be able to take advantage of this if your computer is reasonably fast. Pre‑Pentium PCs or pre‑Power PC Macintosh models are not really suitable for audio use, while the Atari ST doesn't even come with a hard drive as standard.
System 1a, right, shows a very simple MIDI setup using the MIDI In interface of the PC's soundcard to connect the MIDI keyboard. Mac users will need to add an external MIDI interface, but a simple one‑in, one out interface is quite inexpensive. The only sound source here is the synth built in to the soundcard — PC games soundcards will include a General MIDI synth section while Mac users will need to buy a dedicated synth card (such as the Yamaha SW1000XG), or rely on QuickTime Musical Instruments, a pretty rudimentary set of GM sounds generated in software. I don't want to introduce more serious software‑based sound synthesis or sampling software at this point as it requires a host computer powerful enough to be able to handle multitrack audio. Systems including audio will be covered later in this series.
The output of the soundcard is shown plugged into a standard hi‑fi amp to which a stereo recorder has been wired for mastering purposes. This arrangement makes operation very simple as it's necessary only to press the Tape button when you need to play back a stereo mix.
System 1b shows a similar setup, but this time the controlling MIDI keyboard is also used as a sound source. This is controlled via the MIDI Out of the soundcard or MIDI interface — note that the synth should be set to Local Off mode to prevent MIDI feedback loops. MIDI feedback loops occur whenever the output from a MIDI device is routed back to its input, and the most common symptoms are doubled notes, sticking notes or generally sluggish operation. Most sequencer software has provision to disable the MIDI Thru function on the track currently being recorded, so you can use this facility if your keyboard doesn't have a Local Off mode.
As soon as you start to use sound sources other than those provided within the computer or soundcard, an external mixer will be needed to combine the computer and hardware sound sources. This can be a simple line‑level mixer with nothing more then level and pan controls, or it can be a sophisticated studio mixer. A mixer with some EQ and aux send capability provides extra flexibility for fine‑tuning sounds or adding external effects. If the mixer has stereo tape sends and returns, the master stereo machine may be connected here rather than to the hi‑fi amp as shown.
System 1c adds a multi‑port MIDI interface so that additional multitimbral MIDI modules may be added to the system. Each MIDI port can support up to 16 MIDI channels and most MIDI modules now offer 16‑part multitimbrality. Some now provide 32 parts: if you want to take advantage of this, you'll need to feed them from two MIDI ports. Again, the external mixer is used to combine these sounds with those from the main keyboard and from the soundcard.
Applications
System 1c.
Any of the system variations shown will enable the user to work on MIDI music compositions, though for the best sounding results high‑quality soundcard synths or external modules are required. The GM sections of budget soundcards are normally less than inspiring, while the Mac QuickTime Musical Instruments are even worse than that. Some of the more serious soundcards, though, rival hardware synths for sound quality.
Though the system shown doesn't support audio, virtually all sequencers can sync to MTC (MIDI Time Code), which means they can be slaved to any audio recording device capable of outputting MTC. This provides a simple means to add audio to a composition, though if all you need are a few vocal parts, a sampler may be all you need. A typical sampler with a 32Mb memory will hold around six minutes of high‑quality, mono audio.
Upgrade Path
The MIDI‑only composer may wish to upgrade by investing in additional hardware instruments, either by adding external boxes or investing in a better soundcard. Soundcards such as the Yamaha SW1000XG are particularly interesting as they are able to accommodate daughterboards that add to their synthesis capability. Other companies are also producing cards capable of synthesis, and in most cases these place little additional burden on the host computer.
Another useful option is to add a hardware MIDI controller box that can be used to directly control the levels of the various MIDI parts, and may also be configurable for editing different MIDI synthesizers.
To add audio or native (CPU‑powered) synthesis to a system such as the one described, the computer will ideally need to be a Pentium II/III model (PC) or a G3/G4 (Mac). Various computer audio options will be discussed next month.
The Upgrade Spiral
The world of computer music is anything but static, but if you only need MIDI sequencing and you're not interested in audio, virtual instruments, software effects and so on, then you don't need the latest and greatest computer. However, if you want audio with all the bells and whistles, you'll need a powerful computer. Even if you get a Mac G4 or a Pentium III machine, you may still need to upgrade to a newer and faster model in a year or two. Why this need to upgrade all the time? After all, if your new system does all you want of it now, why change it at all?
One reason for the upgrade spiral is that music software undergoes frequent revisions to add more features. Naturally these features are very attractive, so we want them, but more features means more computing power is needed to run them. Another reason is that more software is becoming available that will run at the same time as your main sequencer package — I'm thinking now of plug‑ins such as audio processing effects and software‑based instruments like synthesizers, samplers and drum machines. Nobody says you have to be seduced by all these modern wonders, but admit it — all this new stuff is tempting. The harsh reality is that if you want to maintain a state‑of‑the‑art system, you have to keep upgrading your computer.
If you're not prepared to play this game, or you're happy with the facilities you already have, then accept that you'll always be a year or two behind the state of the art, but console yourself in the knowledge that when the time comes, you'll be able to upgrade using bargain‑priced, second‑hand computers as they become available. My own system is more than a year behind being current, but it's still more than powerful enough for my own requirements.
MIDI Interfacing
The MIDI Interface is a vital part of any MIDI system, and for serious applications a multi‑port interface is to be recommended as it offers scope for future expansion and also makes it possible to connect more than one external multitimbral instrument without first having to switch off certain channels within each sound module to prevent two parts playing at the same time.
In the beige era, Mac interfaces used to connect via the serial Modem or Printer ports, but since the introduction of the iMac and the coloured G3/G4 machines, the serial ports have been discontinued and replaced by USB (Universal Serial bus) connectors. Though third‑party adaptors are available that provide serial ports for these new‑generation Mac machines, not all of them will work properly with all MIDI interfaces, so check with the manufacturer of your interface before buying one. Unless you already have a perfectly good serial interface that you wish to continue using, it's probably safest to go with a USB interface (check that it's supported by your software) as this offers a better degree of futureproofing.
In the world of PCs, MIDI interfaces connect via either the serial or parallel ports, or more recently via USB. The basic MIDI interface built into most games‑type soundcards is accessed via the joystick port and requires only an inexpensive adaptor lead, if one wasn't provided with the card. See Martin Walker's PC Notes in the May 2000 issue of SOS for important information on USB MIDI interfaces.
Finally, there's nothing wrong with using an Atari ST1040 for MIDI work and, as stated earlier, a MIDI interface is built‑in. Additonal ports may be provided by hardware such as the C‑Lab Unitor or Export; if you're thinking of buying a second‑hand Atari for music and you need additional ports, try to get one with these useful items thrown in as picking them up separately could be difficult.