Mix midi tracks to mono audio track in bandlab Sonar free version

[Kurt Barkdull]

Hi,

I perform solo using my midi keyboard that I've programmed all the tracks and effects. Works great live. If my keyboard ever went out I always have audio files of the midi songs as backup.To make backup audio tracks from the midi  I have always just played the midi tracks and route the keyboard outs to a mono audio track then export audio. Has always worked great but the mix is not as clean as the live midi out of keyboard. This brings me to my question. I would like to play the midi tracks into a mono audio track but use compressor. I attached video showing all my midi tracks being recorded to mono audio track 19. How can I add compression while recording? or do I have to bounce to audio track then add compression?

[Wookiee]

99% of DAW's record the audio raw, i.e. unprocessed no affects added. FX get added post record, however if you enable input monitoring you can hear the effects in the FX bin or Pro Channel without printing them. Then you can tweak prior to the final mix down. 

[Kurt Barkdull]

Thanks for response and Happy Thanksgiving. I actually have all effects and and mix totally programmed from the korg keyboard. I just want to add compression when sending finished midi song to audio track.  I can route the keyboard line outs to an external compressor then into DAW and record the audio track. Was just trying to figure out how to do it within the DAW using compressor in Sonar instead of external compressor. Will be out for few days but will check in later.

[Xoo]

You can using Patch Points.  I just wouldn't in case it goes wrong - do what @Wookiee says.

[David Baay]

Put the Compressor on the Master bus. When you're ready to bounce/export, set Buses as the source in the dialog, and choose the Master bus only. If the project has other buses, you can first Ctrl+Shift-Click the Master to clear all checkmarks and re-check the Master.

Incidentally, if done correctly, the sound of your rendered mix will not differ at all from live playback (assuming both are mono) unless you're playing it back through a different app or hardware or in a different environment.  If you're talking about it soundiing different through a mono amp in the performance venue than it does when listening to dual-mono monitoring in your studio, that's one thing, but the live and rendered digital signals should be identical.

[Bass Guitar]

When you say the audio quality is not very good that brings up a red flag. 

Are you using an audio interface or just some  an adapter cable into your computers line input. 

If so that would explain possible pour quality audio. Who knows what's going on there. They could have some sort of auto leveling as well as the quality of the A/D convertors will be questionable. I've owned a lot of different laptops as example and there can be a huge difference in the built in audio quality. 

And then a second red flag would be why are you thinking a compressor would solve this. 

You should be recording the tracks at a safe level, like -12db. After they are recorded you can easily adjust if needed. 

The way all Daw's work is the recorded audio will go directly to "tape" .  And the next question is do you want to squash the sound or simply limit its output? 

Possibly what you want is a Brickwall Limiter. like pro channel the concrete limiter.  

[David Baay]

15 hours ago, Kurt Barkdull said:

live midi out of keyboard

Maybe I misunderstood. I thought we were talking about comparing a real-time bounce to live output being input-monitored through Sonar. Those should sound the same. But if we're talking about comparing the bounce to direct monitoring of the analog output of the keyboard synth, that could easily sound different for various reasons.

[Amberwolf]

16 hours ago, Kurt Barkdull said:

Has always worked great but the mix is not as clean as the live midi out of keyboard

That usually means that you need to turn down the levels of all the input tracks that feed the combined output to compensate for the total combined track levels being higher than the output can tolerate.

You can either turn down the input gain of the combined track, or you can gang (permanently or temporarily) all the output volume controls of the audio tracks feeding that combined track and reduce them all by the same amount. 

Teh amount you need to reduce by depends on the total number of tracks (and their actual output levels).  I tried a quick search for a rule of thumb on how many dB to turn a certain number of tracks down by get that combined output to be below what a combined track input should have, but didn't get any useful answers. (there may be no good rule). 

So I'd just gang all the faders of the tracks feeding the combined track, and turn them down until it sounds "as clean as the live" output of the keyboard.  

 

A compressor / limiter can also do this job but the result will sound significantly different from the way it does when you simply turn them all down by the same amount.   The compressor will only change hte volume at the points where it gets louder than the "knee" point you've set in the compressor (or whatever other settings it has; some of them are complex).   

 

If you want it to just sound exactly like it would all coming out of hte keyboard at the same time, then unless the keyboard itself has a compressor effect on the master out that is used in combining all the sounds it's playing at the same time (not likely), you're probably giong to get a closer result by turning all the tracks down. 

 

 

BTW, you say the "live midi out of keyboard" but I presume you actually mean the *audio* output of the keyboard, since the midi is just a data stream to tell some other synth what sounds to make and when.  

If you actually mean something else you'll want to specifiy that, as it changes what you need to do to accomplish your goal.  

[57Gregy]

Why mono?