Do I need a mixer to record?

Hello All,

do i need a mixer in order to play my keyboard and have it record onto my mpc 1000? i am able to play my keyboard from my mpc pads but i cant play my keyboard and have it recording on my mpc 1000? Any help would be appreciated>>>>

You will need some way of getting the sounds from your keybord to your recorder. I am going to try and put this in a way that you will understand... This kicked my ass for a while... Here we go:

Because you are dealing with MIDI, you will need a way transmitting (not the MIDI) the "sounds" from the Keyboard to your recorder. When you use MIDI, all you are doing is sending a signal to either device telling it that apad/key has been pressed. Thatsignal in turn tells your device (Whichever one is receiving thesignal) to produce whatever onboard sound is mapped to that MIDI signal.



So in order to get the sounds that are coming from the keyboard, you will need to get an audio signal (Not Midi) out to your recording device.

What I have done is I have connected the "HeadPhone" out of my keyboard to my mixer. So whenever I playback a sequence thatI recorded with MIDI signals, the sounds are also played thorugh the mixer...... The sounds themselves are being produced by the keyboard, but being triggered by the MPC MIDI signal. IF I were to disconnect the keyboard from the mixer, I would not hear the sounds from the keyboard, but they are still being triggered by the MIDI signal.


I really hope this helps you out. It is the best I could do at explaining how/why it works this way.

you'll need a pre amp to get the audio signal of your keyboard up to the necessary level to record into your mpc.
most mixers have premaps. so a mixer will do the job. but you don't need one - what you need is a pre amp.
a mixer is a useful tool to have. i don't use one. i have a single channel high-quality pre amp.