Hi Scott,

I don't use midi at all, ever. I have my two keyboards (a Pa80 and a Trinity V3) connected to two inputs, each, on the D1600 and then I have the mic on another input so that I'm using a total of 5 wired up inputs on the D1600. I then set up the Pa80 for the style I want to use and make any instrument subsitutions and/or volume changes, etc. so that the style is the way I want it. Then I record the count in and then play, in real time, the chords, comping through the song using two tracks on the D1600. Then I come back and lay down the lead line, usually on two tracks also. If the lead I'm using is on the Trinity, then I play it and the style at the same time and record on four tracks at once. I do it this way simply to get adjustability between the "band" and the "lead". Then last, I come back and record the vocals, using about eight tracks individually so that I can 1) have enough to be sure of getting a good one, or 2) have enough that I can cut and paste to get a good one (don't like doing that very much because it is labor intensive and I'd rather have it all in one go) or 3) have a good male chorus sound if I use them all at the same time. I have an album of gospel songs I did for friends and family where I discovered, accidentally, about the choir effect from using all eight tracks for the vocal. It just happened to turn out that I sang them close enough to the same way on all eight tracks that I could mix them together and get a really full sound.

By working this way I have minimum hassle. I just turn on the D1600, the keyboards and the mic and then arm whatever tracks I'm going to use and get on with it. However, I do practice the song so that I can play it without making many, if any, mistakes and don't have to do a lot of re-recording so I don't actually need a sequenced midi track. Rather than record the drums to one midi track, the bass to another, etc. so I can adjust volume and so on, I do all that in the setup of the style before I start recording so I don't need to spread the tracks out across a sequencer. I also record with NO effects other than what is naturally on the keyboard sounds; I save the compression etc. for the editing/mastering phase which I do on my laptop using Sound Forge 7, sometimes Wavelab 4, sometimes T-rackS 24 and then burn to CD from the laptop. Those programs are MUCH better for editing/mastering than Sonar will ever be.

Anyway, that's just the way I personally choose to go about doing this. It is, after all, my hobby. I'm retired (& 69) and my paying gig is as principal organist and music minister at the local catholic church where I have a current state of the art two manual Rodgers organ with midi to play.

Tom

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Bigger is not always better