Exporting Midi track to Audio vs Tracking keyboard with ADAT

[Victor Flores]

Hello Forum: I saw a video once on youtube stating that using a SPDIF cable or ADAT to track a music Keyboard is way better quality than using an analog cable to record the track. Now...I thought that bouncing a midi file or exporting it to audio; was a digital truest form of audio or is there a difference in quality between the two?

Is buying an ADAT or SPDIF cable going to give me that much better quality? and if so...that means getting a keyboard that has an ADAT port in the back right? I have a Scarlett 18i20, but my midi controller (M-Audio Keystation 49es) doesn't have an ADAT port, so if the quality is way better, that would mean having to get a new midi controller which is money I don't have at the moment. So I want to make sure it's worth it. 

[Byron Dickens]

31 minutes ago, Victor Flores said:

keyboard that has an ADAT port

Never heard of such a thing.

 

Never heard any of that other cockamamie nonsense either.

[Kalle Rantaaho]

MIDI has nothing t do with audio, so whatever/however you set your MIDI keyboard connections, it has nothing to do with your audio quality.

The only thing that matters audio-quality-wise  is what kind of samples/synths you trigger with the MIDI.

[David Baay]

Depends what you mean by "track a music keybooard". The A in ADAT is for Alesis. A lot (if not all) Alesis keyboard synths have ADAT Lightpipe out for audio, and I'm sure there are others. But ADAT from a MIDI-only controller keyboard makes no sense as noted.. ADAT is limited to 48kHz, 24-bit, so in theory an instrument  plugin that uses higher rate/depth samples or actual 'synthesis' can produce higher audio quality than a keyboard synth with ADAT output. But taking the ADAT output of a synth that has it will be superior to taking the analog output into an interface. But then you also need an ADAT-compatible interface.  I had an Alesis QS8 and still have a QSR that i used as a master clock with my MOTU interface slaved to it so that I could record digital audio direct from the synth.. The Alesis didn't like being slaved to the MOTU's clock for some reason, and that configuration would result in distorted audio.

[John Vere]

Here what you need to understand. 
As said the keyboard controller sends digital midi data to your computer. There is no audio involved so there’s no need to think about quality. The cheapest controller sends the same quality  data as the most expensive. 
 

Once that midi data is in your Daw  then you can generate audio of the highest quality if you so choose. You can go crazy high @192/32 which is well beyond what humans are capable of hearing any differences 
Then it’s a matter of how you deliver it to be played on other systems. That crazy high sample rate might make a .01% difference on a cell phone speaker 
If you burn a CD you have created a digital copy of the DAW version but at a quality level 44.1/16 which is still high quality to most of the world  

If your audio interface has a SPDIF output and your studio monitors also have that connection you have almost avoided analog for your audio playback system 
 

if you export it to a MP3 and upload to a web site you have also stayed digital but the conversation will have compromised your audio quality. 

Edited July 28, 2021 by John Vere

[Victor Flores]

Then I'll stick to my setup, thanks Forum. 😀

[bitflipper]

I have always recorded my keyboards via S/PDIF. Yes, the quality is marginally better because you bypass the D/A-A/D conversion, the output amplifier circuitry and cables. There is never any EMI/RFI interference, and you never worry about distortion. The only downside is that the levels are often too low, at least out of all my current and past instruments, requiring a gain adjustment after recording.

[John]

4 hours ago, John Vere said:

Here what you need to understand. 
As said the keyboard controller sends digital midi data to your computer. There is no audio involved so there’s no need to think about quality. The cheapest controller sends the same quality  data as the most expensive. 
 

MIDI is digital. Musical Instrument Digital Interface. There is no such thing as an analog MIDI. LOL I know you know this but the new users may not. 

[Victor Flores]

My keyboardist has a Yamaha Motif XF6 if I'm not mistaken, so I think it comes with SPDIF output, so when the time comes, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Thanks Bitflipper. Thanks again forum.