# Creating Music with the Roland FP7F Digital Piano

Category: Jam Session

## Post 1 by Shepherdwolf (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Thursday, 31-Mar-2016 10:35:02

Hi guys,
I'm hoping one of you with a little more experience in this field can help me a little bit.
I'm trying to figure out the best way to record on my Roland FP7F digital piano. I love this thing, but I don't just want to use my iPhone's microphone and record live that way. Background noise gets in, and the recording loses nearly all of its bass in the process.
I suppose there are two possible ways to do this, but I'm very unclear on the first and need more info on the second.
1. Recording with the Roland and exporting
I wish I could do this. The Roland has the capability. But it seems to necessitate navigating menus without speech that are a couple of levels deep. If any of you have this keyboard or have extensive experience, perhaps you could walk me through it, but otherwise...
2. Attaching the Roland to my laptop and recording using a sound editor
From what I am led to understand, I should be able to attach the laptop to the keyboard via USB, record in a way that translates the product to the laptop and then edit as I please on the laptop. Is this true, and if so, what sort of cable would I need? Would you recommend any particular programs to do it with?
I'm really eager to start doing this. I've had this piano for nearly five years, have used it quite a bit, but have never managed to find out how to record well with it. It's way way past time I figured this out, and I'd be grateful for any help someone here might be able to provide.
Thanks in advance.

## Post 2 by DevilishAnthony (Just go on and agree with me. You know you want to.) on Thursday, 31-Mar-2016 14:32:48

If all else fails, do the old fashioned patch cord. Plug it in to the headphone jack of the keyboard and the line in jack of the computer, then record with GoldWave, SoundForge, audacity or any number of other recorders.

## Post 3 by Remy (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 31-Mar-2016 16:17:37

Anthony's right, and it's a good idea. The only thing to consider doing that is the delay you will likely experience between the time you press the key, the time you hear the note/the time the note will be laid down. It can really throw off your timing. the Asio drivers can really help here, and they are free. Search for Asio4all. They really help with latency. As far as I know, Audacity does not latently support these. The other option is using a USB cable to plug into your PC and recording as MIDI. Personally I use Reaper for this. It's not fully, ccessible for someone without any sight at all, but it's prety accessible. I've heard Sonar os good too for accessibility. If you have a MAC, Protools might be good.

## Post 4 by Shepherdwolf (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Friday, 01-Apr-2016 12:02:52

I'm using a Windows machine if that makes any difference.
So it seems like my options are recording USB and getting midi, or recording with a patch cord. Hmm. Thanks for the recommendations. I will have to decide on one of those and find out how well it works.

## Post 5 by Remy (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Friday, 01-Apr-2016 13:57:33

Patch cord, simply a cable you plug one end into your Roland's headphone jack, and the other into your PC's line in port, is really good if you're wanting to record the actual sound. If you want midi, then the USB would be necessary. Just keep in mind the issue of latency corection.

## Post 6 by Liquid tension experiment (move over school!) on Friday, 01-Apr-2016 14:00:56

it depends on what kind of sound card you have, and how well shielded your line in port is. I have recorded via patch cord, and if its not shielded properly, it will pick up electronic hum from the computer. Midi is nice if you can find a program that will take it, and I know a lot of people who use all of the programs listed above.