How To Record Audio and MIDI At The Same Time In Recording Software

Time needed: 10 minutes.

Step-by-step guide: How to record audio and MIDI from your digital piano or keyboard at the same time

1. Audio Interface Setup

   Make sure you have correctly connected up your audio interface, and have checked in the Audio/MIDI setup on your computer that it is correctly installed. If you want to record the sound of your piano or keyboard then connect the audio output of your keyboard (either the line out, aux out or headphone out) to the line inputs of the interface. If you are not sure how, then this post on audio cable types might help.

2. Make the MIDI connection

   Most keyboards have a USB MIDI output so you should be able to connect your piano or keyboard directly up to the PC or Mac. Only got MIDI ports? Then you can use a USB MIDI interface. Or if your audio interface has MIDI in and out (for example my Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 has MIDI i/o, then you can use standard MIDI leads to connect your keyboard via your interface.
   If at this point you are unsure about the difference between MIDI and Audio, then you can read all about What is MIDI here.

3. Check the Preferences in your DAW

   Open up your DAW recording software (Reaper, Cubase, Garageband, Pro Tools, Ableton ….. etc) and check all the settings to make sure you have correctly enabled your audio interface for audio recording, and your keyboard for MIDI input. For example, in Reaper you navigate in the menu to Reaper -> Preferences. In Garageband, the software will detect your default audio and MIDI connections. Check your Audio/MIDI setup in the Mac settings.

4. Create New Tracks in your Recording Software – one MIDI and one Audio

   Create a new MIDI track, and a newaudio track. Check that you have routed the audio output of your interface to the audio track, and the MIDI input to your MIDI track. Assign a virtual instrument to your MIDI track. In Reaper, you can simply double-click to create a new track, then choose the type of input. It will be a MIDI track if you choose MIDI input. It will be an audio track if you choose audio input. In Garageband, if you create a new empty project you will be asked what type of track to create. Once you have created one, you can right-click and add more tracks. Create a Software Instrument track (for MIDI) and an Audio Track (for audio!)
   Need to start with something more basic? Then check out our step-by-step guide to make your first home studio recording.

5. Select a virtual instrument for the MIDI track

   For your MIDI track to sound, you will need to select a virtual instrument in your DAW. Then when you play the MIDI back, it will play the software instrument you have selected

6. Arm Both Your Tracks For Recording

   Arm (enable) both the MIDI and the Audio tracks for recording. To do this, you press the red ‘arm’ button on the track. In Garageband, you might have to right-click -> configure track header and check to display the record enable button. Also, note that in Garageband, you should enable the audio track FIRST, and the software instrument track SECOND. For some reason it does not work the other way round.

7. Now You Can Press Record

   On the main transport bar, hit record …. if everything has been set up correctly then you should find you are will record audio and MIDI tracks simultaneously.