Unit 01- setting up and operate a digital audio workstation

By Alfie fennemore

What a digital audio workstation is

• A digital audio workstation (or DAW) is a computer program that is exclusively designed for the recording, editing and playing of digital audio files. A DAW allows you to edit and mix multiple audio sources simultaneously on a musical timing grid and to visually see how they line up over time.

List 3 (DAW)

• Cubase• Sony acid pro • Apple logic

Cubase is able to process large audio files with ease Cubase cost £680 which is quite a lot of money for a piece of software

Strengths and weaknesses of Cubase

Cubase new features

• The many new features include: multi track drum editing and quantizing, multi take comping, advanced tempo detection, drum replacement and VST instruments such as Halion Sonic SE and Loop Mash 2. This version also supports 64-bit technology under

Opening up Cubase

First you click the start button if Cubase is not on the main screen go to all programmes then click the Cubase icon

Then it comes up with a screen with icons on it so u click more then it says default of empty you have to click empty then create

This is your arranger window where you can start creating and editing music.

Midi

What is midi

• A midi is a technical standard that describes a protocol digital interface

What are the benefits of a midi

• •File sizes are smaller• •All aspects of the sound can be edited• •Effects can be applied to individual

instruments• •Dependent on quality of sound card for

overall sound• •Can not store vocals• •Effects are limited

Audio

• Audio, an electrical or other representation of sound

• Digital audio, representation of sound in a form processed and/or stored by computers or other digital electronics

• Audio, audible content in media production and publishing

• There are two main types of acoustic guitar namely steel-string acoustic guitars and classical guitars. Steel-string acoustic guitars produce a metallic sound that is a distinctive component of a wide range of popular genres.

• Electric guitar

Audio Instruments

What is the differences between a midi and a audio

• years gone by, player pianos played music by "reading" holes punched in a roll of paper. You could hold that paper to your ear all day long and never hear any sound from it. That's because the paper was only a conveyor of information. It told the piano what notes to play, but the piano did the actual playing

• They can reproduce exact sounds with better-than-CD quality, including all yelps, screeches and caterwauls

Screenshots of midi Fist you open Cubase and then you click the grey area and press add midi track

Then you get to a screen were it says no vst instrument you click the little arrow then it says synth click synth Then it should come up with a grey box

the you click the box with the little red box it says all midi inputs

Then you start recording a song you want to play

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4

Screenshots of audio1 2

3

4

Firstly you open Cubase and click devices

Then you go to another page then you click in the middle of the page it should say i0/21

Connecting audio

Guitar lead goes into the one that says guitar input

The part of the interface for a guitar is a jack lead that connects the guitar to the computer

The dial Is the gain button, and gain is the volume in the middle of the interface there is a bar that tells you what gain it is on and what volume it is

Connecting midi

First you get a usb wire then plug it into the back of the computer then you plug a wire into the midi piano

then you plug a wire into the midi piano

Then it is connected to the computer