How to transfer high-quality audio from a digital piano to your computer?

[Sovereign]

Haha, not sure which forum this should go in...so I'll try it here.

I have a digital piano and would like to begin recording my own compositions, either for my own game or to help with someone else's.  I'm still kind of a n00b, but I think I have a knack for music.  I can record tracks on the piano and save them to my flash drive as a MIDI, which of course sounds nowhere near as beautiful as the actual piano.  I was wondering if there's a way to have more of an MP3 quality sound?  I can connect my piano directly to my computer through USB, but it seems I can't record directly or play through my speakers or anything like that, at least not that I know of.  I have a Yamaha YPG-625 in case that helps.  Thanks in advance.

 

[Reives]

On your keyboard, there should be a headphone plug - although that might require a large-headed plug. If so, buy a plug converter (sorry for my lack of technical terms) that changes a small head into a big head. Then, buy an two-sided input/output chord wire that matches the audio/mic plug of your comp and the keyboard (you might need to use the size-changer mentioned priorly for that). Now, plug one end of that chord to the keyboard's output/headphones plug, and plug the other end to the computer's mic plug.

Now, get a recording program (google Audacity if you don't know one). Set recording source to microphone.

And record. Voila, the mic input is now the output of your keyboard/electric piano.

[If you want to be able to hear what you are playing at the same time, you might need a splitter - one of those things that separates one plug into two. More $$$ spent. But hey, those are good to watch a movie with the person beside you on a long bus ride when you have your laptop with ya. :p ]


Have fun.

 

[Sovereign]

Ha, sounds like that would work.  I'm gonna have to go get me one of those two-way plugs.

I have the "plug converter" you're talking about; I have to use it in order to plug my PC headphones into my keyboard when I play at night.  So I'm good there.  I believe the size designation of the mic input is 3.5mm.  So basically, I just need to get a 3.5mm input/output wire, attach the converter to one end and put that in the keyboard, then the other should go into my mic port?  Sounds like a plan.

If I get a split cord, I should be able to plug it into my surround sound receiver and hear it through my speakers, too.  Haha.

 

[Fallofthetyrant]

For real high-quality you'll need to plug your piano using a sound card designed for music (Digi002r, Mbox 2, Firebox, etc)
Or using specially designed microphones... You can check companies like Sennheiser, Shure, etc