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Home music studio excellence is no longer a matter of money like it has been for so many years. Nowadays, you can produce professional audio right from your laptop, and certainly from any desktop computer, for dirt cheap prices. Boy, I sure wish these prices existed when I was just getting started! But I digress.

Once you have recording software on your computer, you will need a midi keyboard to hook up to a USB port or sound card midi jack. You can get a wide range of midi keyboards from as little as $50. Try Radio Shack or your local music store.

Now let's talk about sounds. I'm sure you're familiar with the typical sounds a computer plays when a midi file is launched. These are computer-y sounding cheesy "instruments" that come built into most sound cards. Let me state right up front that these are NOT the sounds I refer to when I say "virtual instrument." Oh no. What I want you to know about is the host of real-sounding software instruments available to load up on your computer and then play with your midi keyboard. If you can think of an instrument, odds are you can find a virtual version on-line somewhere.

What is the difference between the cheesy sounds on your sound card and the virtual instruments I'm talking about? The major difference is that a virtual instrument can (usually does) sound indistinguishable from the "real" version of the instrument. At least to most people. Try this experiment (for which you won't even need the keyboard). Find a simple midi file on the internet. They are everywhere, just type "midi file" into a search engine and download one for a tune you know. Nursery rhymes work well...just something simple. Double-click that file (midi files have a ".mid" extension) and listen to it play through your soundcard's piano sound.

Now we'll listen to the same midi file played through a free virtual instrument. There are several types of virtual instruments out there, the most popular of which is probably a "VST" (virtual studio technology) file. So we need to download something called a "VST host" from the web. There are several free ones to choose from (yup, type "free VST host" into a search engine). A VST host is just a piece of software that can play VST virtual instruments. Once you have the host program installed, you'll need to attach or "load" an instrument. For this let's use a free VST instrument called "4Front PIano Module" (you guessed it...search engine again;)). Once that is downloaded, all you have to do is load the 4Front Piano from within your VST host program and you're ready to rock. Import the midi file you played earlier on your sound card into the VST host (with the 4Front piano loaded up) and hit "play."

Hopefully you'll notice that the piano sound coming from the virtual instrument, 4Front Piano Module in this case, sounds vastly superior to when you heard it coming from your sound card's factory instrument. And this was just a free instrument! For a few bucks, you can get an even better sounding VST piano to plug into your VST host and play that same midi file.

Want to hear the same notes on a different instrument? Trumpet, maybe? Or violin? Download some trumpet and violin VST instruments and try those in your host program. You can play that same midi file through any midi instrument you can find! The possibilities are just about endless.

Eventually you'll learn to create your own midi files (another article I'm afraid) to play back through a virtual instrument, and then mix that instrument in with actual audio files you've recorded to create a rich ensemble. Use virtual bass guitar and virtual drums along with real electric guitar and real vocals to turn yourself into a rock band. Are you starting to see how this can be life-changing if you are a musician?

If you don't already have a home music studio, this can be your start. If you do have one but didn't know about virtual instruments, this will take your productions to a whole new level. There is not reason (at least no monetary reason, since the example here used only free stuff) to give this a try right now! You'll be amazed and inspired. I know I was.

Learn to record and produce professional-sounding audio from home. Home music recording or voiceover recording, fun and short video tutorials show you how. We'll show you how to start with a $0-$5 budget, and then how to improve your studio for a few dollars at a time as your knowledge and confidence increase. If you would like to start doing home recording on computer, visit us here: Home Music Studio
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