Recording Clavinova to laptop sounds simple enough. So easy, in fact, that it took me about 10 hours of failed attempts before I finally gave up. Three days later, after trawling through countless web tutorials, I waltzed into my local music store and purchased a focusrite Scarlette 2i4 digital interface. I installed the interface, but it still took me the better half of a day to figure out how to get everything to work together.
To prevent you doing the same, I decided to write a tutorial. I now give you a non-technical tutorial on Recording Clavinova to laptop.
(*I am not being paid in any way for writing this article. I have written this simply as a help to you!)
Things you will Need:
Clavinova (mine is a CVP 301)
Laptop
2 1/4 inch audio cables
Digital interface (mine is a focusrite scarlett 2i4)
USB cable (mine came with interface).
One end is USB A, the other end USB B. See photo.
Before you Start:
1. Record your piece onto your Clavinova.
2. Press the red “record” button. Start playing your piece. When you are finished, press “stop”.
3. Press the grey square which reads “song select”.
4. Press the right hand “tab”
5. Press “save” which is the down arrow on 6.
6. Name your piece.
7. Press “ok” which is the top arrow on 8.
8. Congratulations, you have now saved your piece!
9. Now plug the back of your interface into your computer using the usb cable.
10. When prompted, register and install onto laptop. Leave connected.
11. Take the 1/4 inch audio cables.
12. Plug one side of each cable into the mic socket under the left hand side on the keyboard. This is just behind the earphone holder.
13. Plug the other end of each cable into the front of your digital interface. (If you plug it into the back it won’t work. Don’t ask me how I know this.)
14. Install free recording software “Audacity” onto your computer.
Recording Clavinova to laptop
1. Ensure that your Clavinova is turned on.
2. Select the piece you want to record. Song Select, Right tab, then select your piece. (see #3-#4 above.)
3. Open Audacity
4. Check that microphone setting is to scarlett 2i4
5. Check that speaker is set to scarlett 2i4
(photo: see #5)
6. Click “record” which is the red dot at the top left of the screen.
7. Click “Play” on the Clavinova.
8. You should now see your piece recording onto audacity.
9. When your piece is finished, click the square “stop” button in audacity.
10. Save your piece by going to file/export piece and save to your computer as mp3.
And this is how I record my music onto my laptop. It takes me about 5 minutes now that I have the routine down, and I’m sure you will get the hang of it soon! You can listen to A Mighty Fortress is our God on my YouTube channel and hear the fantastic quality of the recording.
Now it’s your turn to try recording your Clavinova to your laptop. Please feel free to ask questions below in the comments section, and I will do my best to answer them. Thanks and happy recording!
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